Learning untold history from Dan Brown's books
The Books
Holding Harvard professor Robert Langdon as the protagonist in most of his novels, Dan Brown explores the American history of freemasonry in The Lost Symbol; Italian architecture, the Catholic Church and the Illuminati in Angels and Demons and the controversial story of Jesus Christ's after-death in The Da Vinci Code.
Each story is set in a 24-hour frame with a thrilling, hold on to the edge-of-your-seats type of excitement as a form of almost a treasure hunt which is something we all love no matter how grown up we are.
Some claim the stories are anti-Christian while in reality it is just a form of say an intellectual debate as to the actual history and according to me, only enables us to believe in our faith more than put it down. But then everyone has their own view point so this is most argued about.
You are introduced each time to Langdon in each of the books so there's no need to have a pattern of reading it as a series.
Each book is filled with its own sense of humor and is a really good read for people interested in thriller novels and a touch of history here and there. Plus, I learnt the entire freemason cipher (the pig-pen cipher) through The Lost Symbol! And knowing about the Fibonacci series from The Da Vinci Code helped me out in computer programming questions on it.
So entertainment, knowledge and an adrenaline rush await you with each book that you read of Brown's.
Are the facts really true?
I don't want to play around much with this because it's highly debated.
The historical places and monuments have all been well researched and explained but some of the other facts like that of Mary Magdalene being present next to Jesus in the Last Supper painting could very well be false because first off, Christ's disciple John is missing in the painting and since he was known to have feminine looks, 'Magdalene' in the painting could very well be John.
i would suggest the readers to go through this article about the errors in The Da Vinci Code for a clearer understanding.
http://www.rense.com/general71/davvi.htm
If the facts are not true, what's the point in reading them?
I didn't say all the facts are not true. You can say that most of them are.
From Angels and Demons, if you actually go to Rome and follow the path of illumination described in the book, it will lead you to the final location - the building claimed to be the meeting place of the Illuminati in the past. I've read that the path from the lair to the Vatican also exists. So hey, you can actually get a bit of fun out of exploring the places pointed out in the books.
Freemasonry described in The Lost Symbol is still existing in today's world. The fact that George Washington was a free mason and that the dollar bill holds one of the cult's symbols (the pyramid with the eye at the top) maybe a bit far-fetched but not too far away from truth.
Should I spend on these books and are they a good read?
Most definitely!
If you're looking for a roller-coaster ride while reading with just a few short breaks in between to brush up your history, this is the book for you.
Brown's books are good for anyone age 15+. It puts a lot of meaning into the places we otherwise just take for granted and are ignorant about. And it tells us a lot about history that we never knew about or never bothered to know.
When it comes to facts, I'm sorry to say that many of them have been proven wrong. But for the sake of just fiction, it's worth reading the books.
