Originally posted by Northwind:
I agree with most of what you say. Even the bit about the other two
books not being quite as good.
And I agree that certain facts were incorrect, such as the number
of windows. He ALSO states in his book that there may be mistakes
in research and he aplogizes - He uses the standard phrasing ALL
research-based novels use for this.
Thanks... this is a great step forward from the "Wrong. You're taking things out of context
and mixing and matching so that it agrees with your accusation of
the man. " statement you made previously.
Two things about the windows bit....
Simply because there are inaccuracies in some minute details, that
does not mean you can throw it all out...And second...I am pretty
sure that he had intentionally used the number as it reinforced the
theme of the work...The information about venus, occult, etc...as
portrayed in the book, as well as the information about the
"female" aspect was also correct.
This is just my guess, however once again - it is a good NOVEL with
good research, albeit errors.
And let me ask you this....
What if he did not put in the "FACT" page, and what if he did not
make any errors, and what if the storyline used the whole
mary/grail thing as a "theory" someone had in the story, but the
feeling was that the person with this theory was crazy and
wrong....?
Here's is the crux of the matter. If he had not put the fact
page and did not purposely highlight the "facts", he would not have
his book scrutinized this way.
You are obviously quite well informed, but most people are not. And
most people do not even question what they read as long as someone
says "it's a fact". The moment fact and fiction gets intertwined in
this manner, it takes more than normal reading to splice these two
aspects. So as we go to the book and read the 666 pieces of glass,
an uninformed/misinformed individual will jump at the satanic
conspiracy theory. It goes downhill the moment Brown does not
specifically state which is fact and which is fiction.... and it
goes through the entire book where such blurred lines
occured.
Do you think the book would have sold so well?
And again - he states often enough the same thing I am always on
about:
Learn more about your religion!
Of course not.... but then it depends. Harry Potter has not such
"factual" disclaimer. It still sells. So is it about the sales or
is it about the research? Probably only Brown knows.
Let me pose another question.
How many people in the world would have knowledge about general
symbolism, and its use in spiritual paths, art, etc. without the
dvc? Definitely not as much....So the guy did what he set out to
do. And if he was as interested in all his FACTS being FACTS, I
somehow think he'd have written "speculative fiction", "alternative
history" or just plain "history". But he didn't. He wrote a novel,
with nice gems inside for those who care enough to do their own
research.......[/
Exactly. This is what I meant in one of my above paragraphs, in
that many people are uninformed. Having said that, Brown is not
helping because of errors in research, and sometimes error in
translation of symbolism. All this presented in the guise of
factual research (which you too, have admitted, can be error in
some instances)
Going back about learning about my religion. I do that constantly
and I have some views about Christianity that differs greatly from
some of my more traditional brethens. That does not hide the fact
that Brown is either sensationalizing or misleading or both, issues
of religious and cultural history.
Please note that I am not one of the go-by-the-book Christian. I
read quite widely into comparative religion, history of religion,
history of culture and all these from the non-Christian
viewpoint.
