Angels & Demons: Before The Da Vinci Code Book Controversy

Any of you familiar with the movie version of Angels & Demons? Several years before the movie version came out I've already read this book and loved it so I just have to share my book review on it.

However if you haven't heard of the book author yet, let me tell you about Dan Brown.

♣ Short Dan Brown Bio ♣

The Robert Langdon series is created by Dan Brown, an American author who became famous worldwide because of the controversial The Da Vinci Code novel.

_{(Artgirl's screen cap of a variety of the series book covers via DuckDuckGo web search result + the author's profile photo from GoodReads)}

Angels & Demons is the first book in the Langdon series. The second is the one I mentioned above which made him famous since it is more fictionally fantastic and quite outrageous. Because of that book he was finally doing interviews left and right.

If you research about him online you will read more about him after The Da Vinci code was published. Only then did interviews about Angels & Demons also got written and videos were made together with the second book because hey he became famous for the fictional elements in his stories. Plus, you know how science combined with religion can be such a hot topic right?

According to Dan Brown's GoodReads's author profile:

The son of a mathematics teacher and a church organist, Brown was raised on a prep school campus where he developed a fascination with the paradoxical interplay between science and religion. These themes eventually formed the backdrop for his books. He is a graduate of Amherst College and Phillips Exeter Academy, where he later returned to teach English before focusing his attention full time to writing.

So if you read his books, you will notice the influence and combination of both math or science and Christianity. Plus the treasure hunting activities in his books is due to his upbringing, where during Christmases in his childhood his father would have gift hunting activities for him and his siblings.

♦ Quick Summary ♦

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This is the book cover version that caught my eyes years ago. I did buy it eventually and I'm still happy I did!

Basically the story involves Maximilian Kohler who is a fictional CERN director, a physicist's daughter named Vittoria Vetra and world renowned symbologist Robert Langdon. Langdon and Vittoria must prevent the Vatican from getting destroyed by antimatter created by her murdered father. That creation was remade into a weapon thus Langdon and the Italian scientist Vittoria will go through a kind of puzzle solving treasure hunt which will involve various ancient places and several people like the Pope, priests and the Illuminati. They do this in order to find the "bomb" and stop the destruction of the "home of the Catholic Church".

♥ My Angels & Demons Review ♥

This fictional novel shows you how to combine Science & Religion in one fast-paced and fun book.

Less than a decade ago, I saw the Angels & Demons cover (as shown above) in a bookstore shelf and from then on I’ve always wanted to read it. I didn't know anything about it at all – never looked for it online or even asked anyone if they’ve read it and I never touched it too. I used to just look at it from afar whenever I saw it thinking I'd be reading it one day. When I eventually bought it, I was surprised to to find out that it is about one of the famous rivalries on Earth!

Angels & Demons is quite an intelligent and fascinating read because it's Science vs. Religion angle is superbly written. This is a really fun, kinda educational and Christian-inspired book-in-one! It doesn't preach religion at all, nor does it teach math or science, but it deals with all of that and more.

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In ancient times, the Catholic Church had always found a way to condemn scientists’ findings or to punish those who proves the opposite of what the church had been teaching. All those centuries ago, a lot of people were killed, got excommunicated or prosecuted because of science and how it could prove how things actually are. It disproved how the Bible explained some things thus many individuals got hurt because of what they learned from science.

Excellently and carefully, Dan Brown weaved a story that somehow fictionally answers questions about religion and science but also leads us in search for more answers. The reader is made to question his/her beliefs in a Higher Being and our trust in Science and Technology.

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His novel asks us, if science can prove that what the Bible says can scientifically be done instead, where would religion go? Would science finally be able to connect with Religion? What use will Christianity or religion be in general if science “reveals” all of Christianity’s secrets? Would belief in a God or religion then cease to exist? Where would the “shattered” universal mysteries and people’s faith go if that happened? Where will science bring us? These are some of the questions that may arise upon reading it.

If one reads the story intently, understand it without bias and ponder on the fictional wisdom it imparts, the answers to the above questions perhaps will come to each of us. All that plus enjoyment in reading the story makes it such a recommendable book. It is such a page turner also because of the "treasure hunting" activities that happens all over Rome, Italy. One would definitely think of having a tour of Rome or the Vatican because of this novel.

This literary piece shows us how science and religion should be looked upon as partners, like coffee & cream, man & woman, the sun & moon or yin & yang.

Certainly, all things have an origin (which is the title of his newest book in the series by the way) and yes, all of God’s miracles will perhaps be explained someday or maybe scientifically done too but still there is no doubt a Higher Being is behind everything (even science).

If I was to rate the book from 1 to 10, 10 being the most excellent, I give this book a big fat 10!
_{'Cause hey I love sci-fi and fantasy stuff. (^_)}

P. S. Do I prefer the book over the movie?

Based on the movie trailer, even though it looks kinda exciting now than when I first saw it years ago, yes I still prefer the book. I haven't seen the movie even up to now because I'd hate to overwrite the wonderful images of the book in my head. Lol. But never say never right? Who knows, I might watch it one of these days.

You can buy a copy of the book online here on eBay too.

XOXO,