<![CDATA[The Rule of Four]]>

false <![CDATA[The Rule of Four]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166913264m/18431.jpg 18431 39 An ivy league murder, a mysterious coded manuscript, and the secrets of a Renaissance prince collide memorably in The Rule of Four - a brilliant work of fiction that weaves together suspense and scholarship, high art and unimaginable treachery. It's Easter at Princeton. Seniors are scrambling to finish their theses. And two students, Tom Sullivan and Paul Harris, are a hair's breadth from solving the mysteries of the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili - a renowned text attributed to an Italian nobleman, a work that has baffled scholars since its publication in 1499. For Tom, their research has been a link to his family's past - and an obstacle to the woman he loves. For Paul, it has become an obsession, the very reason for living. But as their deadline looms, research has stalled - until a long-lost diary surfaces with a vital clue. And when a fellow researcher is murdered just hours later, Tom and Paul realize that they are not the first to glimpse the Hypnerotomachia 's secrets. Suddenly the stakes are raised, and as the two friends sift through the codes and riddles at the heart of the text, they are beginnning to see the manuscript in a new light - not simply as a story of faith, eroticism and pedantry, but as a bizarre, coded mathematical maze. And as they come closer and closer to deciphering the final puzzle of a book that has shattered careers, friendships and families, they know that their own lives are in mortal danger. Because at least one person has been killed for knowing too much. And they know even more. From the streets of fifteenth-century Rome to the rarified realm of the Ivy League, from a shocking 500 year-old murder scene to the drama of a young man's coming of age, The Rule of Four takes us on an entertaining, illuminating tour of history - as it builds to a pinnacle of nearly unbearable suspense. From the Hardcover edition. 3805 28 6 2004 The Rule of Four total:6075|5:487|4:1431|3:2278|2:1333|1:547| 6075 18204 7409 707 3 11 false false Thu Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Wed Jul 11 09:24:07 -0700 2007 Wed Jul 11 11:24:26 -0700 2007 more...]]> 1 7 false false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Tue May 01 08:31:24 -0700 2007 Sun Dec 23 22:01:47 -0800 2007
As trashy as you'd expect, with the unfortunate surprise of being almost completely uninteresting. Also, the end of the book thinks it is romanticizing academics, but it's really insulting them.

the long version (what I wrote about the book when I first ...more...]]> 1 8 false false Sat Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Wed Sep 05 13:06:38 -0700 2007 Sun Sep 09 20:21:51 -0700 2007 The Rule of Four." I don't believe...I just can't...words fail me. F. Scott Fitzgerald must be spinning in his grave right now. Compar...more...]]> 1 5 false false Mon Sep 10 20:14:05 -0700 2007 Mon Sep 10 20:14:05 -0700 2007 After I first finished reading it, I wondered if the reason I hated it was because it had been mismarketed as a Da Vinci Code analogue, and I do love me some sleuthing among historical artifacts. But no.
I hated it because I disliked the pretentio...more...]]> 5 3 false false Fri Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Wed Feb 13 11:23:15 -0800 2008 Thu Mar 27 09:32:16 -0700 2008 more...]]> 1 3 false false Wed Jan 23 07:57:13 -0800 2008 Mon Jun 23 12:21:14 -0700 2008 more...]]> 1 3 false false Fri Jul 04 00:17:02 -0700 2008 Fri Jul 04 00:21:06 -0700 2008 more...]]> 1 3 false false Mon Jan 07 11:33:37 -0800 2008 Thu Jan 10 13:31:18 -0800 2008
Let me think for a minute.......hmm........er........uh....... No, I guess I was wrong.

Many books may suck, but few can exceed this one for true crappiness.]]> 1 2 false false Sat Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Tue Dec 02 07:59:19 -0800 2008 Tue Dec 02 07:59:19 -0800 2008 1 two copies at my local thrift store yesterday. It came out in 2004.

Yes, it's that awesome. This treasure was published on the heels of The DaVinci Code- it was r...more...]]> 3 2 false false Sat Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2005 Wed Sep 12 15:06:43 -0700 2007 Wed Sep 12 15:29:05 -0700 2007 The Da Vinci Code, my roommate recommended this book as a more satisfying read that blends art history with a murder mystery. I liked it (and greatly preferred the authors' style over that hack Dan Brown's), but I didn't love it.

...more...]]> 5 3 false false Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2006 Wed Sep 12 17:10:33 -0700 2007 Wed Sep 12 17:10:48 -0700 2007 more...]]> 3 1 false false Tue Aug 25 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Aug 21 12:32:28 -0700 2009 Wed Aug 26 22:16:03 -0700 2009 more...]]> 1 2 false false Fri Sep 12 08:10:52 -0700 2008 Fri Sep 12 08:11:22 -0700 2008 2 2 true false Sun Aug 17 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Aug 13 04:50:51 -0700 2008 Sun Aug 17 07:39:56 -0700 2008
Sigh. Yeah. More like a book for anyone who passed English 101 freshman year of college. At least the Da Vinci Code was a page-turner ... an idiotic and predictable page-turner, but still entertaining. In The Rule of ...more...]]> 4 2 false false Fri Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2006 Thu Jul 05 01:15:14 -0700 2007 Thu Jul 05 01:24:56 -0700 2007 Da Vinci Code, in that it has the same sort of genre. The difference is that The Rule of Four has more character development, and less thriller action. To me, the book seemed similar in pretense, but was smarter in the content. It had a scholarly feel, and not just a govern...more...]]> 2 1 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2002 Mon Dec 15 21:57:37 -0800 2008 Mon Dec 15 22:04:27 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 1 false false Wed Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2005 Sun Jul 08 10:50:28 -0700 2007 Sat Sep 22 10:02:12 -0700 2007 The Rule of Four came out around the same time as when the Da Vinci Code was a big deal, and other authors were jumping on the suspense/ historical fiction bandwagon. This was one of those books on that bandwagon. That being said, this is still a good read. The setting...more...]]> 3 1 false false Fri Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2006 Fri Jan 04 15:02:22 -0800 2008 Fri Jan 04 15:02:41 -0800 2008 more...]]> 2 1 false false Mon Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2005 Wed May 23 07:27:37 -0700 2007 Wed May 23 07:30:33 -0700 2007
Fortunat...more...]]> 2 1 false false Sun Apr 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Mon Apr 23 10:16:24 -0700 2007 Mon Apr 23 10:22:57 -0700 2007 more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=18431