Group 1 - Why was the Da Vinci Code so popular and controversial? 2/24/11.

Today during religion class, the Da Vinci code was introduced to me as a very controversial topic. The Da Vinci code contains many factual errors, but that is not a significant problem since it is labeled as fiction. However, when asked how much of his book was true, Dan Brown (the author of The Da Vinci Code) replied, "all of it". This is a very big claim, since much of the book's historical information can easily be proved wrong. He was accused of deliberately presenting a fictitious book as historical fact. There are many possible explanations as to why Dan Brown would have written this book this way. Perhaps he was trying to convey the difference between true and false information. With his, book, he is displaying false conspiracies that may exist, and telling about whether they are true possibilities or just scams. Perhaps, like Steven Timmis said, the book became popular because popular people have read it and talked about it, making more people interested. For example, if Oprah read and complimented the Da Vinci Code in one of her shows, half of the world's women would get and read the Da Vinci Code. Also, because the Da Vinci Code was written as a fictitious novel, it is not assumed to have factual information included, contradicting Brown's statement. Brown creates this controversial environment very meticulously, and is a great teaching aid to questioning teenagers.