Customer Reviews

Secrets of Angels & Demons: The Unauthorized Guide to the Bestselling Novel

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The book's style is clear so you do not have to be a Scholar of history (which I am not) to understand the material presented. I believe that most readers will enjoy the opportunity to learn more about topics covered in the novel. However, it is disturbing that only sixteen pages into the book there are two obvious mistakes that leave one questioning the accuracy of the book and facts discussed. They have the conclave system beginning dated to July 7, 1724 then state that the first conclave election occurred in 1276. They state that the first Pope to use two names (Albino Luciani) did so in 1978 by selecting John Paul, but then say there is a John Paul XXII several pages later. These most likely are typos but still troubling all the same considering the book's genre (i.e. it is not a romance novel). I don't know if any of the book's twelve editors assisted with proofreading but the next printed edition needs a tighter review of the text.

The "secret" of bestselling author Dan Brown's books is his unmarked transitions from fact to fiction, a slight-of-word move that makes for a good read but often leaves you asking "Is that true?" Unless you know a LOT more about religion, ritual, symbolism, and other arcane areas than I do, this companion volume is essential. At the very least, it will keep you from losing a dinner party bet over what was and wasn't true in "Angels & Demons."

"Secrets of Angels & Demons" redraws the missing line between fact and fiction through essays by many experts on the themes, events, controversies, rituals and symbols that are major plot points in "Angels & Demons." The author/editors of "Secrets" managed to find not just experts, but experts who could communicate well to the rest of us--well enough that their essays draw you in and make you want to know more. You leave each essay knowing what was true, what was made up, and what is simply as-yet unknown or in dispute.

As with any collection of materials by many authors, the materials vary in depth, style, and readability, but the range is from good to great. In many ways, this book is as good or better a read than "Angels & Demons", to which it is an essential companion.

The success of Dan Brown's books isn't all based on his talent for writing - a lot of it has to do with his claim that the "facts" (historical, artistic, scientific, etc.) are actual facts.

This book tests the various "facts" Dan Brown has written in Angels & Demons - in all relevant fields (Art, science, theology, etc), by inteviewing different experts in various aspects of these fields.

While this isn't as fulfilling or as thorough as doing the research yourself - it does give nice background for people who don't have the time, inclenation, or resources to do the research themslves in very "down to earth" language.

Dear Ms. Cannon,

I am writing this letter to you because I don't have an address for Dan Burstein.

I am in the process of reading his book (Secrets of Angels and Demons) and I've found some mistakes that should have been caught, especially in the section written by Mark S. Weil.

This book tells me that Mr. Weil is "a leading expert on the art of Gianlorenzo Bernini". Well, if this person is an expert on Bernini, then we are in real trouble.

Mr. Weil claims that Bernini's Cathedral Petri is at the east end of the basilica (of St. Peter's), when, in fact, it is at the west end.

Mr. Weil claims that the Angel Bridge links the papal fortress (Castel Sant'Angelo) and the Vatican, when, in fact, the Vatican is to the west of the fortress and the bridge runs north and south.

Mr. Weil claims that Pope Gregory organized a procession from Santa Maria Maggiore to St. Peter's, when, in fact, the procession started at the Catacombs of Saint Sebastian.

Mr. Weil, and this is the most amazing mistake, wrote that in the Chigi Chapel Bernini's "angel grabs Habakkuk by the beard", when, in fact, all you have to do is look at any picture of the sculpture group and you can see that the angel is grabbing Habakkuk by the hair on top of his head.

These are silly mistakes, the kind of mistakes that made me angry when I read the original Angels and Demons book by Dan Brown. There is no reason why these things should be allowed to go unchecked. I thought this new book was going to set things straight, but, instead, it is only adding to an amazing amount of misinformation about Rome.

Sincerely,

Dan Burstein and Arne de Keijzer deliver a worthy compendium from acknowledged experts who comment on issues surrounding Dan Brown's novel "Angels and Demons". Burstein previously edited a similar work, "Secrets of the Code" (itself a bestseller) on Brown's "The Da Vinci Code". However, I find Burstein's present book to be more balanced and, in my opinion, the better of the two.

"Secrets of Angels and Demons" makes it clear early on that Brown's prequel is strictly a novel. Contributor Rev. Richard P. McBrien, no stranger to avant-garde thinking, nevertheless pulls no punches. "'To portray Brown as anything beyond a novelist would be a mistake', McBrien says, pointing out that the author is neither a historian nor a theologian." Rev. McBrien should know -- he is both.

"Secrets" has seven parts, including "'Angels and Demons', Dan Brown, and the Art of Fictionalizing 'Fact'", "Galileo: the Pious Heretic", and "Two Windows on the Same Universe? The Science vs. Religion Discussion". This third one (Part 4 in the book) I found the most interesting, because it included much on the Big Bang Theory. Dan Brown's character Vittoria Vetra referred to her father Leonardo's antimatter research as linking the Big Bang with the Genesis creation, thus "uniting science and religion". Science and religion do not have to be at odds and Dan Brown recognized this through his characters.

Contributor Dr. Dean Hamer, geneticist, makes an insightful comment: "If you believe in the Big Bang, there was zilch before it ... Or, if you believe in God and a creator, that is the moment in which God would have been at work." Hamer seems almost to imply, "Why not both?" For example, in the Intelligent Design model, a higher power ("Prime Mover" in the old Aristotelian paradigm) might have created the universe from nothing with a Big Bang event at the start.

"Secrets", however, simply presents these issues without taking sides, and that is the beauty of it. As I see it, this book is quite balanced, helpful, and praiseworthy. Sure, it has a few glitches with dates and names of popes, but these are typos. The correct information is nearby in the text. After all, it is no secret that proofreading has become a lost art in this day of the ubiquitous spell-checker. "Secrets" not only sheds light on Brown's "Angels and Demons", but it also lends a perspective on "The Da Vinci Code" -- mainly that, as the sequel to A&D, it too is purely a novel. Rev. Dennis J. Mercieri

Unless you have a photographic memory you won't be able to remember half of the historical facts and rules about the Pope, papacy, and the scenarios surrounding them. I've also read "Secrets of the Code", which I gave a 4 star and contained much more intersting materials. The first chapter has succeeded in putting me to sleep; had to fight my way through it. It's still a great reference for those of you that are meticulous.

This book is an excellent buy for anyone who would like to learn more about the places, artifacts, and secrets mentioned in Dan Brown's novel. Provides a lot of information from many different sources and allows the reader to draw their own conclusion based on the material presented. I recommend this to anyone who would like to learn more about the things covered in Angels & Demons.

The wide variety of viewpoints from numerous scholars was refreshing and informative. They clarified numerous 'facts' that had been (mildly) distorted by Dan Brown's novel. The book could stand on its own as a good read.

Its obvius that Angels and Demons is a novel (a great one indeed), and that Dan Brown is a writer that writes fiction based in reality, but as he writes he includes many facts mixed with fiction, something that the common reader might mistake as reality.

A book like this is helpful to the people with lazzyness to read about the different topics to do their own research, but what is not fair is to take advantage of the success of others, as all this books of interpretation, secrets, etc. of Angels and Demons and The Davinci Code are trying to make a profit out of others effort and success.