Secrets of the Code (ed. by Dan Burstein)

Retrieved from: the library (although I think my copy was another library's)
(1593150229)

Started this in July, put it away while on vacation and during the Great Vacation Readup, and now it's finally done. If you read and enjoyed The Da Vinci Code (which I did, two years ago, but it's only a thriller people!), this might pique your interest. Burstein has rounded up some of the sources that Dan Brown used and either reprinted the crux of their works or interviewed them specifically for this book. He then goes and finds a rebuttal for all this kooky stuff. :-)

It's a bit boggy at times, and if you're in a hurry you could get by with just reading the glossary. Had I know about it, I think I might have done just that. Especially regarding the bits I didn't care about at all. I scoured the pages pertaining to the Leonardo debate, and I find the Mary Magdalene arguments to be flat-out fun to observe. I so enjoy taking the piss out of Fundamentalists... heh.

Again, however, I must say: The original book is a NOVEL. And Burstein generally keeps that pretty clearly in sight as he investigates the non-fictional possibilities that spring from Brown's book.