Dan Brown

[Tiki Tom]

Et tu, Dan Brown?

'Da Vinci Code' author settles lawsuit alleging secret life

“The Da Vinci Code” author Dan Brown and his ex-wife have agreed to settle a lawsuit in which she alleged he led a secret life during their marriage that included several affairs.

apnews.com

A secret life? How appropriate.

Of course, in this day and age, we are predisposed to conclude that Mr Brown is guilty of all charges. Given how common such shenanigans are, one might also be forgiven for wondering if there is something intrinsically or fundamentally wrong with the institution of marriage. But I guess that is reading too much into it.

Bad boy, Dan! (Whacks him on the nose with a rolled up newspaper.)

 

[Tiki Tom]

He’s baaaaaack!
Dan Brown has a new book out. It’s been ten years, or thereabouts. Here is the review. (The Guardian gives it a good review, albeit backhandedly and with tongue in cheek.)

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2...-weapons-grade-nonsense-from-beginning-to-end

Dan Brown is, of course, a guilty pleasure of mine, so I will rush out and buy this one… and then park it in the teetering stack of “to be read” books by my bed.

The McGuffin in Secret of Secrets is a manuscript about consciousness and the afterlife. I think we can safely say that Dan Brown has been reading “The Agents of F.L.A.S.K.“ thread that is to be found under the Observation Bar heading. If DB has stolen any material from FLASK (I wouldn’t put it past him), we take it as a huge compliment.

I will end my commentary here. I gotta rush out to a book store.

 

[Tiki Tom]

The downside of being rich and famous is that your private life gets splashed all over the front page.

https://www.the-sun.com/entertainment/15218404/the-da-vinci-code-author-dan-brown-engaged/

They say that, if someone has tons of money, they might succumb to the temptation to think that middle class morality does not apply to them Anymore. I wouldn’t know. I’ve never had that much money. I guess you can counter argue that poor people have affairs too. Fair enough. Still, this tale has something of a Great Gatsby feel to it; it’s on rather a grand scale.

BTW, The Secret of Secrets is now on the NYT’s bestseller list.

 

[Tiki Tom]

Just finished The Secret of Secrets! 671 pages.
I would rate this right up there with Dan Brown’s best books. It did not disappoint and is loaded with all the features that you expect in a Dan Brown book.
The pacing is fast. Each chapter is only 3, 4, or 5 pages and ends with a cliffhanger or an important question. The Story is filled with multiple plot twists that you don’t figure out until the last second before they drop. Robert Langdon is, as ever, super intelligent and able to drop appropriate quotes without having to pause For even a second. He solves puzzles on the run and while being chased. (I wouldn’t have gotten past that first code he cracks. Even though the solution makes perfect sense.) Langdon is still in fine physical shape and swims laps every morning. Although, thankfully, a couple of times he does acknowledge that he’s getting older. And for once, he’s in a stable relationship with a woman his own age. He’s appropriately humble, seems like a nice guy, and has a never failing moral compass pointing to true North.

I am perhaps biased in favor of this book because it ticks all my boxes of interest. It is set in Central Europe and is loaded with lots of history and local color. The central theme of the adventure/mystery is the Nature of consciousness and all things paranormal; especially near death experiences and psychic ability. Finally, the book is loaded with espionage and spy tradecraft. The Secret of Secrets will have you fact Checking It on Google all the time.

other things I liked: the book has several minor characters who are just normal people thrust into highly unusual circumstances. I was impressed how most of them, under pressure, “did the right thing” when they could have taken the easy way out. Also: the book contains a huge, violent scene that resolves the main conflict. The book could have ended there. But it doesn’t. The book acknowledges that such a dramatic ending creates as many problems as it solves. Another 75 pages are needed to clean up the mess, including geopolitical and moral considerations.

I really liked the book. Plot wise, it suffices to say that the Psychic arms race (think stargate project) is still raging. The book deals a lot with efforts to suppress a book that Langdon’s girlfriend has written. Towards the end it struck me that this book by Dan Brown maybe —possibly? Perhaps?— also discloses some awkward truths about what could be truly going on in the real world …although (almost certainly, I hope) the real life covert schinanigens* are not as wild, crazy, and dangerous as what’s going on in Secret of Secrets.

Do I have anything negative to say? Occasionally Katherine Solomon’s explanations get a little too thick and loaded with technobabble. At almost 700 pages, it was a long read and (perhaps) could have benefited from a little more editing. ALSO, Dan Brown does not make as strong a case for the existence of Psi as he could have, although he makes a strong case. [for you real geeks: if you are really interested in psychic phenomena, read the last several pages of the “Agents of F.L.A.S.K.” Thread, which covers much of the same ground in more detail and provides links. ].

Overall, I recommend this book. It’s entertaining and light while also loaded with stuff that’s worth thinking about. It strikes a great balance between silly entertainment and overly serious. If you need a Christmas present for someone who likes fun yet smart adventure stories, you would not go amiss by buying them Dan Brown’s Secret of Secrets.


* In a recent YouTube video by IONS, Dr Dean Radin states that, at a recent MIT conference he was told that the government is, indeed, still working on remote viewing.

 

[Trenchfriend]

I read "Meteor" (original: "Deception Point") in 2003, when the german edition came out.

Don't want to read that incredible rubbish again.