I read it a couple of months ago.  I know some people don't rate it much, but I thought it was an intelligent and gripping read.  I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Famous Fivey...  heh heh heh.  Nicely put, Copp.   Couldn't agree more.

I was singularly unimpressed by both this and it's prequel Angel & Demons.  I found Dan Bown's writing style to be unengaging and the protagonist to be... uninteresting.  Oh...  and the two books are almost identical.... except for the subject matter, which kinda spews out in an uncontrolled torrent of unsourced factoids. 

I'm not entirely sure why this became a massive bestseller.  I suspect I may have been the marketing campaign that offered a prize to the first reader who solved the 4 codes in the book and the fact that it's a quick, easy read that delivers the facts to the reader on a silver platter without them needing to engage the brain, rather than it's literary merits.

Umberto Eco wrote a book that covered much of the same ground called 'Foucault's Pendulum' which was somewhat better.

Watch it!  I'll start a Crusade on you!

Anyways... the bible only starts to make some sense when you actually put some thought into it.  So it ain't the same.  So there!

Interestingly, the other thing I got from these books was a strong sense of anti-catholocism.  Dan clearly has issues with the church (and I'm not saying this is wrong) and didn't feel the need to write objectively.

-- Edited by ddvmor at 12:56, 2005-07-25

HaloBurn wrote:

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I thought it was ok, stretched a bit in places but people forget it’s fiction (so is the Bible). It’s Brown’s right to question years and years or religious brainwashing.

Personally I think it’s funny how many people don’t question more of what they are told or investigate with an unbiased mind things they are going to make such major life decisions on.

Incidentally Tom Hanks is starring in the movie adaptation coming out next year.

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And just to be provocative if we put religion aside for a while there wouldn't have been bombings in London or Sept 11th, that and a fossil fuel free economy so the US didn't have to invade every country with Oil and I rekon the world would be a better place.

ddvmor wrote:

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HaloBurn wrote:
HaloBurn wrote: I thought it was ok, stretched a bit in places but people forget it’s fiction (so is the Bible). It’s Brown’s right to question years and years or religious brainwashing. Personally I think it’s funny how many people don’t question more of what they are told or investigate with an unbiased mind things they are going to make such major life decisions on.

And you know that the bible is fiction... how?
You're right though - people don't question enough.  And the Catholic Church is certainly guilty of engendering an environment of non-questioningness.  (I so just made that word up!)

HaloBurn wrote:

And just to be provocative if we put religion aside for a while there wouldn't have been bombings in London or Sept 11th, that and a fossil fuel free economy so the US didn't have to invade every country with Oil and I rekon the world would be a better place.

Well, I'm certainly provoked!  Grrrr.  Take that ye scurrrvy sea-dag, ye!

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yaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrr



Google council of nicea, basically the Bible as you or anyone else knows it was an extremly edited version COMISSIONED by constantine the great and written in 400bc. Basically Constantine converted Rome to his idea of Christianity and tied up all the many factions of the early Christian teachings, among things decided at comitte were the divinity of Jesus, the time of easter (which is a reflection of canstantines sun worship, we was a pagan) and the date of Christmas. All that and we know from the dead sea scrolls and other documents that were found that what we have in the Bible of today is a tool that Rome used to control the Population.

And the power the Catholic church has to create monarchs etc was supposed to be passed from Constantine in a document called the donation of Constantine, which it later turned out to be a complete fake made by the Church to get power over the Monarchy!

-- Edited by HaloBurn at 14:09, 2005-07-25

Because if the Bible was true there would have been no need to edit the scrolls, heal a rift between opposing factions of the Christian faith, create a time for Easter or decide the divinity of Jesus from a meeting if the original Bible had been written as a "Gospal".

And I'll only walk the plank if you can convince me that the Bible is anything other than fiction or you provide water wings, until then I'm going to adopt the relgious answer to glaring facts and stick my fingers in my ears, "La, La, La, La.........Galilao...........La, La, La"

Read this

then

this

and

also this

finally

this

Ok it's pretty hard going but a few important things to note:

1. the politics of the council
2. Constantine was not a Christian
3. The Sabbith moved to Sunday to celebrate Sol Ivicitus (Constantine's pagan god)
4. The divinity of Jesus being "Decided"
5. The writing of a single Bible to unite the Christian Faith
6. The church fabricating a legal document passing them power
7. Easter decided to co-incide with the solsticem in line with the Sun worship of Caonstantine

Now which ever way you dress it a lot of cornerstones of Christian belief come from this point, i.e. made up 400 years after Jesus died.

Now if you can come back and tell me that none of this happened and the Bible was "faxed" from God I am willing to suspend my point of view and get wet with the sharks. But the Bible has talking animals and the dead being risen, I wonder if in two thousand years our decendants will think there was a real Wizard called Harry Potter.

bonniepirateanne wrote:

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HaloBurn wrote:


Now which ever way you dress it a lot of cornerstones of Christian belief come from this point, i.e. made up 400 years after Jesus died.



ahh, so you do admit he lived?


HaloBurn wrote:

But the Bible has talking animals


errrrr.. what bit is that?

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four beasts full of eyes before and behind. And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle. And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within; and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty" (Rev.4:6-8).

oh and the snake in the Garden of Eden, I think there was a talking camel as well.

And I didn't say Jesus didn't exist, I just think he was a pacifist take out the God nonsence and the sermon on the mound is a good moral reference for peace between people.