The Da Vinci Code

I just finished The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. Revisiting the antagonist from Angels and Demons, Robert Langdon, The Da Vinci Code explores Langdon’s encounters with the secret world of Grail legends and the Catholic Church.

The Da Vinci Code follows Langdon and co-protagonist Sophia Collet in their pursuit of a series of clues and puzzles left by the latter’s murdered grandfather.Armed with a mountain of metaphysical, numerological and historical curiosities (truths, mysteries, conspiracies depending on your tastes), Brown attempts to create a sense of discovery and revelations for the reader. Indeed, several asides in the book attempt to relate the miraculous nature of these factoids upon the “common man”. In my opinion, however, Brown fails to do more than brush with these intriguing topics.

I was left with the impression of visiting an basic check list of interesting reading rather than a truly engaging and challenging engagement of the topics.I was somewhat disappointed that such a stimulating collection were so casually delved.

To his credit, Brown does cast a (brief and dim) light on a series of items that the neophyte reader might well enjoy perusing in a more intense exploration. In any case, students of such topics may be a little frustrated with the basic and cursory nature of the subject matter but overall the book is a quick and casual read. I suggest tackling it in a day or two followed by some follow-up on any of the items within that catch your attention.