The Rough Guide to The Da Vinci Code: History, Legends, Locations

by Michael Haag, Veronica Haag, James McConnachie

Dan Brown's thriller The Da Vinci Code has created an extraordinary Christian controversy, with its sub-plots of the sacred feminine in religion, the bloodline of Christ, the legend of the Holy Grail, and the role of sects like Opus Dei within the church.

This Rough Guide explores the context of the novel, including:

- How the early Christian Church ''edited'' The Bible and drew on earlier religions.
- What art historians make of Leonardo Da Vinci''s symbolism in the Last Supper and other works.
- The true history of the Holy Grail and the Priory of Sion, and the debate on Mary Magdalene and the bloodline of Christ.
- Location guides to Da Vinci Code sites in Paris, Rome, Jerusalem, New York, London and Edinburgh.
- Reviews of Da Vinci Code sources and a glossary of everything from the Templars to the Fibonacci Sequence.

Whatever you think of Dan Brown's novel, this Rough Guide has the key to understanding its wider background.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Books About Books

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Michael Haag, who lived in London, was a writer, historian and biographer. He wrote widely on the Egyptian, Classical and Medieval worlds; and on the Mediterranean and the Middle East.

Reviews

[Sherrie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three stars for the detailed descriptions and research but the book is more concerned with putting Dan Brown down and throwing out his ideas. Would he care? He must be laughing all the way to the bank!

[Mitch Reynolds · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Rough Guide To The Da Vinci Code (2004) by Michael Haag, Veronica Haag and James McConnachie is a very interesting read.

I found the book very intriguing, quite a page turner and there was clearly a lot of research which went into it. It deals with all things The Da Vinci Code which the name suggests but by consequence has lots of information about religion, art, history and geography and a little bit about mythology and tarot cards. There is also lots of further reading material suggested as well as websites to check out. A really informative glossary is provided too. There is many interesting parts in this book like The Sacred Feminine and all the information about Leonardo da Vinci and it was very interesting to read about all the locations in The Da Vinci Code. Reading the history of parts of Paris, London, Edinburgh, Italy, Jerusalem and New York was very engrossing.

There is parts of the book which are quite old-fashioned. Some of the wording is a bit off. But other than that, quite interesting all in all. Learned a lot from the book and it was enjoyable to read. Lots of great photographs and illustrations to back up a lot of the research.

[Melanie Rippon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reasonably methodical guide examining the factual basis or otherwise, and the sources, of the claims made in Dan Brown's thriller. The overall tone is very much about debunking most of the book, though I expected that. Some of the photos aren't as legible as they could be owing to their being small and in black-and-white, this is very apparent with the artworks e.g. The Last Supper. In the glossary the authors/editors have unfortunately confused pentagon (5-sided shape), pentagram (5-pointed star) & pentacle (5-pointed star enclosed in a circle). I picked up a copy 2nd-hand so this may have been corrected in later editions.

[Nadia · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is written in absolute poor taste. Amateur attempt at critiquing Brown's novel.

[Greg · Rating 2 out of 5]

Shame on Rough Guide for publishing such trash!
Just one example to show what I mean:-
"'The Last Supper' is based on the Gospel of John where the supper is over, the table has been cleared, and Jesus dramatically announces that one among them will betray him. There is no reason why there should be a cup or chalice evident in this scene." (from the Glossary at the back)

Words of sheer lying desperation!

Just look at the actual picture and you see -
1 - Quite a few untouched small bread rolls.
2 - 1 Large Plate with what appears to me to be a joint of meat on it, not yet touched.
3 - Another Large plate with a large mound of something that could be perhaps Humous to spread on your bread??
4 - Lots and lots of small plates, possibly one for each person.
5 - A Large Plate in front of 'Jesus', which is admittedly empty.
6 - Quite a few drinking goblets. No large single one though.

TOUGH LUCK GUYS - the table hasn't been cleared. I think this is just another example of 'Scotoma' - the mind seeing what it wants to see. And they are SO desperate for The Da Vinci Code to be wrong!
So desperate that they lied in print!

Despite the rather pathetic and lamentable opinions and lies of the authors, there is actually useful information in the book, so I gave it two stars.

[Roger Buck · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is OK for something very, very basic.

But after numerous visits to Rennes le Chateau over 20 years, the best key I ever found to the mystery of Rennes was the anonymous French masterpiece Meditations on the Tarot.

Link to my review of the English edition of that here:http://corjesusacratissimum.org/2009/...

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great follow-up to reading the novel or watching the movie in order to sweep out some residual cobwebish confusion.
I especially appreciate these authors' pointing out Dan Brown's flights of literary license or nonsense. I wish that I had not read Da Vinci Code so long ago.
I even read the Glossary for greater gnosis.

[محمد عبدالمحسن · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amazingly analysed, a thorough research that has to be read after watching the famous movie not before,

[Denissa Levou · Rating 2 out of 5]

Resulto algo esclarecedor.

[Nhadz Mohammad · Rating 5 out of 5]

theoretically fantastic! great research!