Book Review of The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
This week I chose to read the book "The Da Vinci Code" written by Dan
Brown. He is the author of numerous bestselling novels, including the
#1 New York Times bestseller, "The Da Vinci Code", one of the best
selling novels of all time. In early 2004, all four of Dan Brown's
novels held spots on the New York Times bestseller list during the
same week.
Dan Brown has made appearances on CNN, The Today Show, National Public
Radio, Voice of America, as well as in the pages of Newsweek, TIME,
Forbes, People, GQ, The New Yorker, and others. His novels have been
translated and published in more than 40 languages around the world.
Dan is a graduate of Amherst College and Phillips Exeter Academy,
where he spent time as an English teacher before turning his efforts
fully to writing. In 1996, his interest in code-breaking and covert
government agencies led him to write his first novel, Digital
Fortress, which quickly became a #1 national bestselling e-Book. Set
within the clandestine National Security Agency, the novel explores
the fine line between civilian privacy and national security. Brown's
follow-up techno-thriller, Deception Point, centred on similar issues
of morality in politics, national security, and classified technology.
The son of a Presidential Award winning math professor and of a
professional sacred musician, Dan grew up surrounded by the
paradoxical philosophies of science and religion. These complementary
perspectives served as inspiration for his acclaimed novel Angels &
Demons-a science vs. religion thriller set within a Swiss physics lab
and Vatican City. Recently, he has begun work on a series of symbology
thrillers featuring his popular protagonist Robert Langdon, a Harvard
professor of iconography and religious art. The upcoming series will
include books set in Paris, London, and Washington D.C.
Dan's wife Blythe-an art historian and painter-collaborates on his
research and accompanies him on his frequent research trips, their
latest to Paris, where they spent time in the Louvre for his thriller,
The Da Vinci Code.
Living Buddha, Living Christ has opened up my eyes to the world, and it has served as a learning experience for me. I was never really sure what Buddhism was, and I never knew their values were so enlightening. Buddhism has shown me a different outlook to the world around me, and this book has also.
Temptation, guilt, and good intentions: many associate these terms with the Bible but few with Spiderman. Niall Richardson is one of the few. He wrote, “The Gospel According to Spider-Man,” published in 2004 it compares the world of Spider-Man to that of a biblical allegory. Namely, that of Christ being tempted by the Devil after weeks of fasting in the desert. Through his use of biblical imagery and quotations Richardson successfully draws a parallel between the Bible and Spider-Man even though some of his further claims ultimately fall flat.
...ildred sounds like dread which would be fitting since she must be depressed as she attempted suicide in the beginning of the book.
Review of Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 In Ray Bradbury's novel Fahrenheit 451, the author utilizes the
The Outsiders, a timeless novel by S.E Hinton, is one that takes readers on a roller coaster of emotions. Hinton wrote the novel in her teen years and mainly targeted it toward young adult readers. However, the plot, the characters, and the action result in the novel being read and enjoyed by a universal audience. The story follows the lives of two rival gangs. The Greasers live on the East and poorer side of town; the Socs, short for Socials, live on the West and more affluent side of town. The story is narrated by the protagonist and Greaser, Ponyboy Curtis.
They walk amongst us, thinly veiled by thoroughly thought out plans and deceitful alibis. In a time of great wonder and excitement, a murderer hides in plain sight. The title of Erik Larson’s accurately named novel, The Devil in the White City, takes the reader through a haunting story about the simultaneous building of the Chicago’ World Fair, which brought redemption to Chicago and happiness to Chicagoans; and the revealing of one of the very first serial killers, H.H. Holmes, which brought darkness and wreaked havoc though Chicago. In this novel, Erik Larson uses juxtaposition, sinister diction, and multiple different types of figurative language to portray the intense similarities and differences of an artist whose specialty is architecture, and an artist whose specialty is murder.
The future is viewed as a place of wonder, amazement, and prosperity. Ray Bradbury takes those aspects and forms a society of control, technology, and conformity in the novel Fahrenheit 451. Bradbury based those aspects off of World War II and the cold war which sparked a time of change and conflict for many citizens. Fahrenheit 451 bases its themes off of the conflicts going on in the 1950s by presenting a critical view point of the social and political systems. Fahrenheit 451 follows Guy Montag, a firefighter, and his struggle with society promoting his overall change of opinion. Through his contemplation of the good of his society, Montag metamorphosizes based on his interactions with his environment. Bradbury was able to create a conflicting
Kindle or hardback, that is the question! I often hear the older generations talk about how they like to feel a book in their hands, and sometimes the weird ones talk about smelling a book. Does a book really smell? Now picture a world where books are not debated between electronic reading or good old paper books, but reading is outlawed. Do you think it is possible for the world to shun books and focus so much on the electronic world that we eventually do away with books too? Could we someday rely on the computer, television and media to teach us? Maybe even cut books off completely. Now try to imagine this in the 24th century, but instead of people shunning books, they are burning them. In the book “ Fahrenheit 451” by Ray Bradbury, it has
After reading a few of the chapters in "Psychology Through the Eyes of Faith", I feel as if I have learned more in one sitting than many in years of my life. The chapters were not life altering, but simply stated things that I have overlooked. The topics that affected me most were on living with the mysteries of faith, benefits of true rest, and the emotion of happiness. Yes, they are really in no way related, but each of these topics impacted me in a different way, and made me think about what was being presented.
The Salem witch craft trials are the most learned about and notable of Europe's and North America's witch hunts. Its notoriety and fame comes from the horrendous amount of people that were not only involved, but killed in the witch hunt and that it took place in the late 1700's being one of the last of all witch hunts. The witch craft crises blew out of control for several reasons. Firstly, Salem town was facing hard economic times along with disease and famine making it plausible that the only explanation of the town's despoilment was because of witches and the devil. As well, with the stimulation of the idea of witch's from specific constituents of the town and adolescent boredom the idea of causing entertainment among the town was an ever intriguing way of passing time.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest Hoang Tran English 3A - Mr. Nguyen Period 5 11/27/17 One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, written by Ken Kesey, takes place within the 1960’s and centralizes its plot around the patients of the mental hospital. The asylum is governed with a matriarchy by Nurse Ratched. Nurse Ratched keeps her dominance within the ward through strict rules that keeps the patients in order. Her ways to keep her patient's intact may be a bit extreme
Pullman's first novel from the His Dark Materials collection, The Golden Compass has many imaginary and realistic modern-day aspects of the world he envisions; such as Daemons, Dust, and the Alethiometer. The Golden Compass takes place in an alternate universe with definite similarities to that of our own Earth. Slight differences, however, define this innovative and beautiful world Pullman has created for his audience. A key difference between the two worlds is the existence and association of Daemons with Humans. These otherworldly creatures known as Daemons are the window to a person's soul. They expose you for who you really are as a person in the world. Daemons are representation of the emotional and mental state of a person, especially the humans' ‟ souls" which can communicate with their "owners”. Ultimately, revealing their true inner self, intentions and a way of life. Daemons are important throughout the entire novel, because it gives us a look under the mask of each main character presented to us in the novel. This relationship between daemon and human can be observed heavily through Lyra, the main protagonist and her daemon; Pantalaimon and Lord Asriel and his daemon; Stelmaria the Snow Leopard and finally, Mrs. Coulter with her daemon, The Golden Monkey. Daemons associated with different lifestyles and mindsets of their owner. They not only help their predestined owner with various tasks and devising plans, as shown from Lyra, but as well are an external representation of themselves that understand the owner's motives and thinking shown by Mrs. Coulter.
Divergent is set in a futuristic Chicago were everyone is separated into 5 sections of Chicago. Throughout the story the characters take trips to the Ferris Wheel of Navy Prier, the Hancock building, the Willis (formally Sears) Tower, and Millennium Park.
I choose to read the book “The Color Purple” by Alice Walker. The book talks about the life of an African-American lady by the name of Celie that lived in the southern United States in the late 1930s. It addresses the numerous issues that included the low ranking of American social culture. In the book it talks about how she wrote books to God because the father she had would beat her and rape her. He also got her pregnant and then she gave birth to a beautiful baby boy. Her father end up taking the baby shortly after birth.
Religion has been an area of doubt for me for many years. My faith in the Christian religion has wavered so much, yet there was so much I did not know. So I took a Bible and Literature class this semester. It was the best decision I could have ever made. I learned so much from studying the Bible as a piece of literature rather than a faith. It allowed me to question the teachings I learned as a young child, and I did not feel guilty for disagreeing with what I had learned. It has made me want to learn more and question more in order to experience the true passions behind religious faith.