The Da Vinci Codebreaker: An Easy-To-Use Fact Checker

by James L. Garlow

Book Overview

'The Da Vinci Codebreaker' is 'designed like a dictionary', with over 500 terms, people, locations, events, and definitions, including explanations that are historically accurate."

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0764201859
• ISBN13: 9780764201851
• Release Date: April 2006
• Publisher: Bethany House Publishers
• Length: 203 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.6" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

It Helps You Break the Code

Even though I am predisposed to dislike "The Da Vinci Code," reading James Garlow's book has given me many more reasons. It is an easy dictionary for names, places, and terms referenced in or related to Dan Brown's novel. Though it appears to be written for the reader who is already familiar with the novel, I haven't read it all yet and didn't find The Code Breaker less easy to understand. Garlow says that hosts asked him during interviews for his preceding book, Cracking Da Vinci's Code co-authored with Peter Jones, why he was attacking a work of fiction. The reason is Brown claims that only the story is fiction. All the historic details, he says, are true. Garlow says the average reader can't tell the fiction from the fact, which I can understand completely because so many tiny details are untrue. 1. Do you know who founded Paris? A Gallic tribe called Parisi. Brown gets that wrong. 2. Do you know how many glass panes are in Le Louvre Pyramide? It isn't 666. The museum reports 673. 3. Brown describes La Pyramide Inversée as having a tip "suspended only six feet above the floor"; below it is "a miniature pyramid, only three feet tall." The tips of these two structures are "almost touching." Doesn't a yard's distance seems a little far for "almost touching"? 4. That miniature pyramid is described as coming "up through the floor," but a close observer can see that it actually sits on the floor and can be moved aside for sweepers. 5. Leonardo Da Vinci did not name his famous painting Mona Lisa, so he wasn't sending a message through the title. Brown says L'isa is an alternative name for Isis. The Code Breaker states that it isn't. The English name Mona Lisa was given to the painting by a Da Vinci biographer many years after the artist's death. 6. Leonardo made notes while painting The Last Supper in which he refers to the figure at Jesus' right hand as a man, clearly from the artist's context to be the Apostle John, not Mary Magdalene. Details like these wouldn't make up the text of many books if Brown hadn't boasted his accuracy at the start of his novel and in interviews afterward. I don't doubt he believes the hoax and that he thought he got many minor details right; but The Da Vinci Code and his other novels suffer, at least a little bit, from careless research. But The Code Breaker reveals more disturbing errors or hoaxes which many people will assume to be true. Why make up stuff like this? 1. The Vatican, which Brown says ruled Christianity and suppressed the true accounts of Jesus' life in the fourth century, existed only as a simple church at that time. It was not building its new power base, as Brown claims. 2. The books and letters which make up the New Testament were not declared God's Word by a council. Most of them had been accepted by disciples of Jesus since the time they were first circulated. 3. Brown says English is a pure language, free from the corruption of the Vatican. This is idiotic. The Engl

Fact finder: Encyclopedia of terms and ideas in Dan Brown's 'The Da Vinci Code'

There have been roughly 14 books that spun off the writing of Dan Brown's novel, 'The Da Vinci Code.' Some are commentary, some are scathing commentary, and some discuss the facts and fictions of the book and movie. This book does the latter. This is not a commentary on Gnostic or Christian thought, although the authors are a pastor, a doctor of theology and an art historian. The book serves as a reference discussing the proposed facts by Dan Brown, who has caused confusion in some when saying in his novel that the facts within his book, The Da Vinci Code, are accurate and well researched. The book is laid out in an encyclopedic format, discussing topics alphabetically that may weigh or have been discussed in Brown's book and movie. The authors' theology is that of conservative evangelicals. For those who are not of this theological persuasion: this book shows little in the way of slant, so don't be turned off by this. The main area where non-evangelicals might disagree is in the discussion of the Canon, but otherwise, this book is neutral in its defining of terms and ideas from the movie. Since Brown's work centers around art to a large extent, having an art historian as co-author lends credence to this work discussing Brown's proposed facts. Several glaring mistakes by Brown are described in detail in this book. This book does a superb job as a research tool to discern fact from fiction in 'The Da Vinci Code,' which is the stated purpose of the writing. In fact, I gave this book 5 stars because it fulfills its stated task so well. So, if you are interested in finding out where Brown was right and where he was wrong, this would be one of the first and easiest places to go.

Enlightening and easy to use

Although I knew that "The Da Vinci Code" was a work of fiction with some historical errors in it, I didn't realize how many errors it contained until I started reading through The Da Vinci Code Breaker.This is the Da Vinci Code dictionary. It contains over 500 facts and terms used in the Dan Brown book, with their correct meanings and interpretation. I found The Code Breaker very enlightening and easy to use since it is organized in alphabetical order. This is a must read for Christians because if you are uninformed, you can be misled. Now when friends wonder if the assertions in the Dan Brown book may be true, I am armed with the truth.

Great Resource!

If you are like most people, Christians included, you have wondered about The Da Vinci Code and where Dan Brown gets his "facts." A lot of people have even bought into the story, believing the "facts" Dan Brown uses to spin his story of intrigue and ancient mystery. But, just how accurate are those "facts" Dan Brown speaks of? Well, look no more! James L. Garlow has written the book that will clear up all those pesky misconceptions. The Da Vinci Codebreaker is an easy-to-use fact checker that covers all the terms, jargon, locations, and people used in The Da Vinci Code. If you want to know who Isis was and who was her lover, it's covered. If you want to know what the Dialogue of the Savior is, it's in there. From who Richard Abanes was to what is the zodiac ... James Garlow spells it out without fictional spin or mysterious code. All you get is the facts, pure and simple. I found this book to be extremely valuable. While it started out as an intention to include a glossary in his previously published book, Cracking Da Vinci's Code, time constraints prevented that. I think that was a good thing. This book really should stand alone as the resource it is. Whatever book you read, whether it is The Da Vinci Code or any of the numerous books written as a result, keep this book handy. It will be the book you will come to again and again.

An Easy-to-Use Reference Guide

"The Da Vinci Codebreaker" by Dr. James L. Garlow is a welcome addition to the recent "Da Vinci Code" material. We've needed a handy reference guide to the people and places mentioned in the novel for three years, and now we have one. The book is arranged in encyclopedic format, so all you have to do is look up the desired reference, be it for the Priory of Sion, the Louvre, Michael Baigeant, Caravaggio, etc. The reader can get quick, concise references setting forth the historical facts and the way Brown either ignores or distorts them in the novel. A great response to the supruious claims of historical accuracy made in the novel. Any pastor or teacher doing a class on "The Da Vinci Code" should add this little reference book to their list of sources.