Amazon's No. 1 seller for 2013 is Inferno by Dan Brown

[spellbanisher]

Originally Posted by cfrizz

I seriously doubt that was what he was trying to accomplish. They were written for entertainment pure & simple. As were the movies.

I didn't mean to say that Brown was trying to change religious people's minds. What I meant is that the whole idea of some vast, centuries long conspiracy to suppress information that could discredit Christianity just didn't make a very compelling storyline element to me. Since religion is based on faith, a storyline revolving around protecting or exposing some great religious secret or cover up simply didn't evoke in me any tension or suspense.

I also in general didn't find him to be a very good writer. His characters came off as kind of cartoonish to me, as did the dialogue.

As for the movies, well, I fell asleep while watching Angels and Demons.

[Fluribus]

I've only read Da Vinci Code. An assassin who goes out to kill multiple people armed with a revolver and doesn't bring any extra ammo.... An assassin who thinks that a shot in the gut from a handgun is a guaranteed kill.... Howdy Doody would be a more capable assassin.

I would have forgiven the vast historical inaccuracies if Dan Brown hadn't touted the book as being historically accurate. This snippet from Wikipedia agrees with my memory of his interviews:

In 2003, while promoting the novel, Brown was asked in interviews what parts of the history in his novel actually happened. He replied "Absolutely all of it." In a 2003 interview with CNN's Martin Savidge he was again asked how much of the historical background was true. He replied, "99% is true... the background is all true". Asked by Elizabeth Vargas in an ABC News special if the book would have been different if he had written it as non-fiction he replied, "I don't think it would have."

[Timoleon]

Vomitus Maximus

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by spellbanisher

I didn't mean to say that Brown was trying to change religious people's minds. What I meant is that the whole idea of some vast, centuries long conspiracy to suppress information that could discredit Christianity just didn't make a very compelling storyline element to me. Since religion is based on faith, a storyline revolving around protecting or exposing some great religious secret or cover up simply didn't evoke in me any tension or suspense.

Many people would claim, myself included, that the Bible itself is that information. It doesn't need suppression. So I would have to agree, that no proof is ever going to convince anyone. Proof requires you to accept that it is proof, before it can work. And people like to guard the sanctity of their illusions -- it's human nature.

As a religious Jew, I am rather biased perhaps, but any religious Jew will tell you that the Bible is has creatively misread the Torah in a variety of ways.

But we probably don't want to turn this into THAT thread, now do we?

[DiapDealer]

I really enjoyed Angels & Demons, but quickly became bored with later titles. I've always been amused at how Brown seems to inspire such criticism. But then again, bashing popularity is the world's most popular pastime. Ironic, that.

[Canuck_in_Japan]

This news doesn't surprise me at all. What is the percentage of people who read more than 5 books per year? Like 15%? But if 75% of people read at least one book per year then all of those people who only read a single book a year would probably buy something like a Dan Brown novel. It's just the same as the "gamers" who only buy two games per year- Call of Duty and Madden.

[tubemonkey]

Inferno was also the #1 selling audiobook at Downpour.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Inferno was also the #1 selling audiobook at Downpour.

I would have thought a downpour would put out the inferno.....

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by kennyc

I would have thought a downpour would put out the inferno.....

Perhaps worth noting, from an etymological viewpoint, that the term "inferno", as used by Dante, had nothing to do with fire; it simply meant (in Latin) "of the lower regions" (ie hell). It was only in the mid 19th century that "inferno" came to mean a fire in English, from the supposed characteristics of those "lower regions".

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by kennyc

I would have thought a downpour would put out the inferno.....

LOL ...fire is cool

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

LOL ...fire is cool

[kennyc]

And more along the lines of Harry's comment: