How To Decode The Da Vinci Code

There has been a lot of attention on the Da Vinci Code over the last couple years, but there has been a lot of attention lately on Dan Brown’s novel for other reasons.

It was interesting last night when I was flipping through the channels and every channel had something on about the legal battle started by Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh, the authors of the 1982 book Holy Blood, Holy Grail.

Like most of you I have read the Da Vinci Code and I have to admit that I have not read the Holy Blood, Holy Grail, but from what I have heard this whole legal battle is a little too much.

Brown did research Holy Blood, Holy Grail while writing the Da Vinci Code. I have heard that there are references to its authors on Brown’s website and there are characters in the novel named after the previous book’s authors.

This is all about money if you ask me. The Da Vinci Code has been a huge success and there is an upcoming big budget film starring Tom Hanks based on the book, they are saying that they may have to delay or block the film adaptation's release because of these problems.

Most authors are also huge readers. I really don’t think there has ever been a book written without the influence of another author. A book like the Da Vinci Code is loaded with plenty of religious theory and Holy Blood, Holy Grail was a good source for the information. Ironically enough both of the books are published by the same company, Random House.

The Da Vinci Code was a great book and provided many water cooler discussions and I really hate to see a novel like this get questioned for plagiarism, especially with the arguments I have heard.