Steve Gets A Life

literacy weekend

i read "The DaVinci Code" over the weekend. pretty good. a bit overrated though.
coming off of "Cryptonomicon," i suppose i was under-impressed (is that a word? err compound-word?) by the crypto/puzzles used in DaVinci. the puzzles were pretty good (mostly just anagrams) and often had several layers of meaning (all thoroughly explained, of course). the best parts of the book, in my opinion, were the insights into the real art, history, architecture, etc that the book covers. the bits about the prime meridian, the androgyny of Mona Lisa, etc were pretty neat. The whole idea of the goddess was interesting as well.
i think my dad put it well when he said that this was a good fiction book that might be taken as non-fiction. quite true. the idea of the secret societies, the knights' true quest, the meaning of the Grail were all very well thought out, and potentially quite based on real research. but im afraid people might take this as gospel (pun intended) and really start digging up cathedrals all over.
anyway, its a good, fast read. if you are planning a long plane ride, take it along. it had the holding power of a Harry Potter (for me, at least) without any real need to think too hard.
also, you can get it in softback for $8. not bad for a weekend's entertainment.
i have to gloat and say i called most of the surprises / puzzles in the book, but i have to admit that i didn't guess who the secret bad guy was. i guess im an idiot.