L for Leonardo Da Vinci

Posting the A-Z of Dan Brown's books through his words, characters, places and more. Welcome to the A-Z April 2015 challenge...

L is for Leonardo Da Vinci

"Langdon was talking in rapid bursts now. 'The Priory's membership has included some of history's most cultured individuals: men like Botticelli, Sir Isaac Newton, Victor Hugo.' He paused, his voice brimming now with academic zeal. 'And, Leonardo Da Vinci.'

Sophie stared. 'Da Vinci was in a secret society?'

'Da Vinci presided over the Priory between 1510 and 1519 as the brotherhood's Grand Master, which might help explain your grandfather's passion for Leonardo's work. The two men share a historical fraternal bond. And it all fits perfectly with their fascination for goddess iconology, paganism, feminine deities, and contempt for the Church. The Priory has a well-documented history of reverence for the sacred feminine.'"

- from The Da Vinci Code, chapter 23

A portrait of Leonardo Da Vinci, a key figure in Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code

J for Jacques Sauniere

Posting the A-Z of Dan Brown's books through his words, characters, places and more. Welcome to the A-Z April 2015 challenge...

J is for Jacques Sauniere

"In the centre of the light, like an insect under a microscope, the corpse of the curator lay naked on the parquet floor.

"You saw the photograph," Fache said, "so this should be of no surprise."

Langdon felt a deep chill as they approached the body. Before him was one of the strangest images he had ever seen.

The pallid corpse of Jacques Sauniere lay on the parquet floor exactly as it appeared in the photograph. As Langdon stood over the body and squinted in the harsh light, he reminded himself to his amazement that Sauniere had spent his last minutes of life arranging his own body in this strange fashion."

- from The Da Vinci Code, chapter 6

The self-arranged corpse of Jacques Sauniere in the novel The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown

H for Hassassin

Posting the A-Z of Dan Brown's books through his words, characters, places and more. Welcome to the A-Z April 2015 challenge...

H is for Hassassin

"They were renowned not only for their brutal killings, but also for celebrating their slayings by plunging themselves into drug-induced stupors. Their drug of choice was a potent intoxicant they called hashish.

As their notoriety spread, these lethal men became known by a single word - Hassassin - literally, 'the followers of hashish.'

*   *   *   *   *   *   *

As the Hassassin stood there savoring his prize, he ignored the throb in his arm . . . 

Gazing down at his incapacitated prisoner, the Hassassin visualized what lay ahead. He ran a palm up beneath her shirt. Her breasts felt perfect beneath her bra. Yes, he smiled. You are more than worthy. Fighting the urge to take her right there, he closed the door and drove off into the night."

- from Angels and Demons, chapters 5 and 95

Hashish - not to be confused with chocolate!

Finally finished Inferno!

Just finished reading Dan Brown's "Inferno" (at long last!) after a stop-start adventure with his latest novel. Finished half of the book within the last week and it has got me back into reading again. (I always say that after finishing a Dan Brown novel)

The most stand-out thing for me was the 'villain' of the story, Bertrand Zobrist. He dies right at the start of the novel, but as the story goes deeper, he becomes less of a villain in my mind, and more of a hero, despite the somewhat controversial nature of his plans.

Basically Zobrist's theory says that in order to stop the uncontrollable growth of the human species and its destined extinction, there must be a huge cut to the population. Not seen as an act of killing, but rather an act of saving, Zobrist actually manages to carry out his plan successfully.

Yes, Robert Langdon and his 'accomplice', Sienna Brooks, run around Florence, Venice and Istanbul in vain, as Zobrist's plague was released to the world several days before the date they thought it would be poured out to the world.

Turns out that it wasn't a 'plague' after all, at least not one which kills. Bertrand Zobrist created a vector virus with his sharp intellect, which was way ahead of its time. This airborne virus was programmed to affect random people, roughly one-third of the world's population, making them sterile.

No-one would be killed, no-one would suffer, just 33% of the population would no longer be able to reproduce. Thus the population of humans would mercifully be lowered to a more sustainable number.

I actually guessed that this would be the outcome when Sienn Brooks announced that what he did was more dangerous than a plague. So I felt quite chuffed when in the next few chapters it was revealed exactly as I thought! :)

And so it turns out that the 'good guys' eventually listened to and embraced somewhat Bertrand Zobrist's ideas and that this culling of the population wasn't such a bad thing after all.

There is a fine line between 'good' and 'bad' and sometimes 'bad' is portrayed as 'bad' simply because we don't quite understand it yet. A very interesting read based on a very real problem we are encountering in our world today.

The Baptistry of San Giovani - A Layer Cake?

In Chapter 53 of Dan Brown's latest novel, "Inferno", Robert Langdon and Sienna Brooks find themselves at The Baptistry of San Giovani in Florence.

Brown describes it like this:

"Adorned in the same polychromatic facing stones and striped pilasters as the cathedral, the baptistry distinguished itself from the larger building by its striking shape - a perfect octagon. Resembling a layer cake, some had claimed, the eight-sided structure consisted of three distinct tiers that ascended to a shallow white roof."

Here is a picture of the Baptistry of San Giovani:

And here's a layer cake:

And this is a traditional Sarawak layer cake:

I say that is quite an accurate comparison!

Beginning a sentence with "because"

I have excitedly begun the adventure of reading through Dan Brown's new novel, Inferno. 

Immediately I have noticed within the first 80 pages a similar layout to Dan Brown's most famous novel, "The Da Vinci Code."

Langdon meets a girl, he's in trouble, they are running away from police, trying to piece together some clues. It seems Brown is going back to the successful layout of his greatest work. And that's fine with me.

When I was at school, my English teachers always taught me never to begin a good English sentence with the word "because." So I've avoided it ever since. It was therefore surprising somewhat when I came across this line on page 28 of Inferno:

"Because the walls were nothing but metal screens, Langdon found himself watching the inside of the elevator shaft slide rhythmically past them."

Shock horror! Dan Brown wrote a sentence starting with "because!" Is he purposely writing wrong English? Or is English grammar more flexible nowadays?

Dan Brown Website Fun

I do love to spend a good deal of time at Dan Brown's websites. And one of the most fun things to do is play the games/quizzes/treasure hunts he has posted there.

First up is "The Da Vinci Code Web Quest" which I've done a few times and had such fun in the process. The mysterious background music only adds to the, erm, tension?!

Check it out at this link: Da Vinci Code Web Quest

There is also a featured "Uncover The Code" challenge with similar eerie music aiding you on your way. It starts off pretty easily for the Dan Brown fan, but soon becomes very tricky. If you don't have the book handy you can select an image of the cover on the website to help you solve the clues.

So good luck with this one! Uncover The Code

The Lost Symbol is Dan Brown's most recent novel and is packed full of symbols, many of which are found on the base of the pyramid Robert Langdon finds. On this website, there is an unbelievably difficult game called "Symbol Quest". You just have to select the correct symbol from a cluster of symbols aided by a written clue. You are allowed just 3 wrong answers before the game is up!

Of course, you can always use Google to help you out, but see how many you can find based on your own knowledge!

Here's the link: Symbol Quest

Have fun!

Book trumps movie

I'm sure there are many others who also think of Tom Hanks every time they read Dan Brown's works involving Robert Langdon. In fact, it can be at times a little confusing as to which character is copying the other. We know that Tom Hanks plays the role of Robert Langdon. But he seems so perfect for that role that whenever I read the Da Vinci Code, it appears that Robert Langdon is playing the role of Tom Hanks!

I must admit that I find the book a whole lot better than the movie. I would always take a book over a movie. Although Tom Hanks plays Robert Langdon so well, that partnership is etched in my mind so clearly that reading the book is like a constant movie playing in my head.

Dan Brown does a fantastic job at writing a story which allows the reader to clearly 'view' the action in their minds page by page. Watching the movie takes away some of those 'scenes' I so enjoy whilst reading it.

Give me The Da Vinci Code book and I'm in my element!

The Louvre

The Louvre, in its various architectural facades, has dominated central Paris since the late 12th century. In 1190, Paris was Europe's biggest city. King Philippe Auguste (1180-1223) added a fortress on the banks of the Seine to the existing ramparts to protect the capital from an Anglo-Norman threat. This fortress was known as the Louvre.

As Paris began to expand during the next two centuries, the Louvre became enclosed within the city, losing its original defensive function.


In 1364 Raymond du Temple, Charles V's architect, began work on facelifting the fortress into a plush royal residence, boasting ornately decorated rooms with sculptures, tapestries and beautifully carved windows.


From 1527 and the reign of Francois I, the medieval Louvre began to transform into a Renaissance palace.

The construction of the Tuileries Palace some 500 metres away led to an ambitious plan to link the two buildings. This is where the Grand Galerie came into being. In 1566, Charles XI began to take the plan to task by building the ground floor of the Petite Galerie. It served as a starting point connecting the Louvre to the Tuileries via a long corridor.

Henry IV built the Grand Galerie between 1595 and 1610, providing the desired link between the royal apartments of the Louvre, to the Tuileries Palace. The work on the Grand Galerie interior was completed fifteen years later.

The reigns of Louis XIII, Louis XIV and Louis XV resulted in the Louvre that we see today, however it slipped into a period of dormancy. A number of projects were started, only to be abandoned shortly afterwards.

In 1791, the revolutionary Assemblee Nationale decreed that the "Louvre and the Tuileries together will be a national palace to house the king and for gathering together all the monuments of the sciences and the arts. On August 10th, 1793, the Museum Central des Arts opened to the public for free viewing. The collections of art and sculpture gradually spread over the entire building during the late 18th and 19th centuries.

The Tuileries burned down in May 1871 and were eventually demolished after lengthy disputes, in 1883. Thus began the birth of the modern Louvre. It no longer acted as the seat of power, and was devoted almost entirely to culture. The museum began to take over the entire huge complex of buildings.

President Francois Mitterand began the Grand Louvre Project consisting of a complete reorganization of the museum, on September 26th, 1981. The glass pyramid built by I. M. Pei was inaugurated on March 30th, 1989. It serves as an entrance to the large reception hall located beneath, which Robert Langdon used in "The Da Vinci Code."

In 1993 the renovated Richlieu wing opened, the biggest expansion in the museum's history.

The Louvre now enjoys some 6 million visitors every year, admiring its truly universal scope of collections amassed through the centuries. It is the most visited museum in the world. Almost 380,000 objects and 35,000 works of art from pre-history to the 19th century are exhibited, covering an area of 652,300 square feet ( 60,600 square metres). The curator is one Marie-Laure de Rochebrune. The Louvre currently employs a staff of 2,000, led by Director Henri Loyrette.

The museum earned a staggering $2.5million for allowing filming for "The Da Vinci Code" in its galleries. It is most famous for Leonardo Da Vinci's "Mona Lisa" painting in the Salle Des Etats, highly detailed in Dan Brown's book, "The Da Vinci Code."