Duh DaVinci Code

Dan Brown is the author of the book The DaVinci Code. In his book, one of fiction, he appropriates theories and tales that go back as far as the 12th Century, and as recent as the 1960's. Mr. Brown weaves these tales into a suspense novel. I feel Mr. Brown is a fine writer. The huge sales of his book reflects that. But my gripe here with him is his conscious portrayal of a Historian, when in reality he is nothing but a gifted writer.....when in reality, nothing but a plagiarist.

There is a movie, "The DaVinci Code," being produced at this very moment, but things are put on hold right now because of a court case. Someone is suing Mr. Brown.

Here are the main tales weaved in Mr. Brown's book:

A) A secret society which was discovered in a library which purports the membership of Leonardo DaVinci, and Isaac Newton to name just a couple. This is a society created by a convicted con-man in the 1960's to which he was the president at one time.

B) The Knights Templar. These were the first international bankers. They began as Crusaders, and then guardians of pilgrims who made the trek to Jerusalem after the success of the first crusade. There is much mystery to this Catholic order. The tales of the Templars have been resonating for hundreds of years.

C) Jesus was married and his blood line has influenced royalty. It is surmised that the "Holy Grail" is not the chalice used at the Last Supper but the holy "blood line" of Jesus. Jesus married Mary Magdalene and had children who were and are still hunted down by the Catholic church and murdered.

It's this last myth that has Mr. Brown in trouble. In the 1980's authors Richard Leigh and Michael Baigent wrote another fictional book named Holy Blood, Holy Grail. The idea that Jesus was married and the elusive Holy Grail, (believed to be in the possession of the Knights Templars), was actually code pertaining to the royal bloodline of the married Jesus. Mr. Leigh and Mr. Baigent are now suing Brown and his publishers for incorporating their myth into Mr. Brown's celebrated myth, The DaVinci Code.

Mr. Brown denies knowingly stealing their controversial theory. An odd assertion when you factor in that one of Mr. Brown's main characters in his fictional story is named Sir Leigh Teabing. Leigh being the last name of one of the Holy Blood, Holy Grail authors, and Teabing being the scrambled result of co-author Mr. Baigent's last name.

Can you believe Brown's denials? Can you believe the premise of his best-selling book ? The answer to both questions is NO.