DaVinci This, DaVinci That

Above is a famous sketch from Leonardo himself.

book review of "The DaVinci Code" to follow. if you liked the book, don't get your hopes up.

A fairly ridiculous book; standard mystery plot with reasonably interesting questions raised about the origins of Christianity, but no proof of responsible scholarship anywhere. I'm really not sure why it has received so much attention. It is funny to me that organized religion has raised such strong objections.

Much of it is supposition, and makes for very interesting discussion. The point is that there is a whole lot we're never going to know about the Bible. I don't think there's much point in splitting hairs over what did or did not happen.

For me, it's simply about taking what works for me from the book and leaving the rest, as with any other text. I don't know if any of it is factual; that's not the point.

I'm amazed I was able to read the book at all, since I haven't really been able to read for so long. I read it in 2 days. I got my courage up and started "The Name of the Rose" which is a MUCH more intelligent book along the lines of "The DaVinci Code," written by a real scholar and incorporating history with conjecture. The author, Umberto Eco, admits in the Preface that much of it belongs to his imagination, and that while the outline of the plot came from manuscripts he discovered, and the rest is his fabrication.