Is Dan "Code" Brown the Thomas Kincaid of literature? Or...

...Is Thomas Kincaid the Dan Brown of art?

I poll, you decide.

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0671027387.01._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_AA240_SH20_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg

:evilgrin:

:scared:

He's writing is so-so, but he tells a good yarn, and I thought "Code" was a really good blend of truth, possible truth, legend, and outright imagination. Hey, it was good enough to freak out the Vatican! They have a DEPARTMENT that does nothing but discredit Dan Brown's "Code."

I think he's a hell of a storyteller.

HAHAHAHAHA!!!! :rofl: Good one, Richardo!

rather read Ian Pears any day.

..as anyone who has read 'Digital Fortress' will confirm.

gave me the impression that it gives the message that widespread access to cryptography technology is evil, and if the Good Old US of A can't eavesdrop on everything, the world will fall apart.

Am I off the mark?

...for 242 pages. :eyes:

Dan Brown's protagonists are barely functional morons.

I yell at the tv all the time, first time I yelled at a book "hey stupid, you call yourself an expert! My 10 yr old kid could figure that out!"

Actually, every government official in the book who was a high level code-breaker was completely inept at their job...and worse....they were swayed by the most ridiculous reasoning.

You could tell exactly how the book was going to end about a third of the way through.

It wasn't all that pro-USA. Leastwise I didn't think so.

It was mildly entertaining, but not enough to make me seek out more of his works. And Kinkade's art is pleasant enough for the walls of the average home, I guess. I don't think it's ugly or anything, but it's certainly nothing special.

I gather the problem with Kinkade is that he likes to market his stuff as "investments", and sell it at high cost to gullible people who think they're investing in something that will only increase in value (kinda like those Elvis or NASCAR commemorative plates). And THAT is where the crappy part of his work comes in. Van Gogh, he ain't.

Or so the gallery owners lawsuits say....

I got about 30 pages into the "Code" before I returned it to the library. Glad I didn't buy it.

Good going!

:rofl:

Or whatever it is. I simply don't understand the popularity of this book. Hell, it's been, what, on top of the New York Times bestseller list for a whole year??

I thought "The DaVinci Code" was warmed over Ludlam or Clive Cussler. Nothing more, nothing less. I just don't understand the big hoo-ha over this extraordinarily mediocre book.

wow. And the star of david is 3 triangles? wow.

People are stupid?

...shelf. After 18+ months.

you have to backstock a million copies in receiving. (Former B&N employee, here).

He exposed a lot of controvercial ideas to the world in an approachable way. These theories have been out there forever. Those familiar with them look at the book as interesting if that. But for the sheltered masses the idea is so out there and makes sense at a lot of levels so much that it just blows their mind.

I remember when The Matrix first came out. I was actively debating online at the time. We were swamped by born again solipsists coming out of the wood work because the movie had "Blown their mind". Suddenly solipsism was the rage. It opened a lot of minds up to some intrinsic philosophical problems about percieving reality.

Those of us that had been emmersed in these ideas for a long time were mildly amused by the philosophical aspect of the movie but were annoyed at the sudden wave of people proposing the brain in a vat argument.

However, I've never heard anything positive about his style. I've been reading "occult/secret history" stuff for many years, so I doubt the content would be new to me.

So I didn't vote. But let me add that Thomas Kincaid paints hideous dreck. If you want a nice bit of art to liven up a dull wall, you can find plenty of non-hideous stuff at Bed, Bath & Beyond (for example). Much better prices & frames are included!

Dan Brown isn't a religious nutbag like Kinkade.

He is a religious nutbag, just in a different way...

it's both offendable and demeanative!

:spray: