# Article examining some of Dan Brown's "facts"



## mwvickers (Jan 26, 2009)

I figured that with the release of _The Lost Symbol _ and the recent movie _Angels and Demons_, this may interest some.

As anyone knows who has read interviews with Brown, he consistently makes the statement that although his books are fiction, they are rooted in fact.

This article examines 50 of these "facts" to see if Brown is right.

*Warning, may contain plot spoilers.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/booknews/6232148/The-Lost-Symbol-and-The-Da-Vinci-Code-author-Dan-Brown-50-factual-errors.html


----------



## 4Katie (Jun 27, 2009)

I haven't read Lost Symbol, and after my disappointment in DaVinci Code I probably won't, but... I think his books are _rooted_ in facts. The thing to remember, however, is that the books are _fiction_.


----------



## Mike D. aka jmiked (Oct 28, 2008)

Even in fiction, authors generally do research to get accurate facts, such as historical dates and established landmarks. Apparently Mr. Brown is being taken to task for not doing his fact-checking properly. As he should be.

If I wrote a book in which Columbus discovered America in 1537 by landing on the west coast, I'd be a sloppy researcher, unless I was writing an alternate-reality work.

Mike


----------



## Scheherazade (Apr 11, 2009)

I've known authors to do more research for fantasy books in which things are completely made up but they wanted the situations to make sense than Dan Brown does for his supposed historical facts.  I have a really long diatribe written the head of my History Department on just a few of the inaccuracies in The DaVinci Code if anyone is interested.  She had to write it up for high school history teachers who had students in class telling them they were wrong about things because they had read it in one of his books another way.


----------



## Chad Winters (Oct 28, 2008)

I don't mind Mr. Brown writing fiction, but it bugs that he implies all the historical facts he gives out are true and it bugs me even more that people believe him!  It must be true..I read it in Dan Brown's book!!


----------



## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

Chad Winters (#102) said:


> I don't mind Mr. Brown writing fiction, but it bugs that he implies all the historical facts he gives out are true and it bugs me even more that people believe him! It must be true..I read it in Dan Brown's book!!


Yes; if instead of starting his books with statements about how this that and the other thing are "facts" (and anyone who's done any serious study of history knows how slippery "facts" can be), and instead said that the following story is based on some historical accounts as well as allegations, suppositions, and urban myths; then I'd have no problem with it.


----------



## intinst (Dec 23, 2008)

Or just say they (the books) are fiction and leave it at that.


----------



## ak rain (Nov 15, 2008)

it can bring the fear factor into a book to think it might be real.

have you read "7 days of the condor"

sylvia


----------



## intinst (Dec 23, 2008)

ak rain said:


> it can bring the fear factor into a book to think it might be real.
> 
> have you read "7 days of the condor"
> 
> sylvia


No, but I have read (and seen) _Fail-Safe_ and _The Andromeda Strain_, back in the day, so I do know what you are saying


----------



## Scheherazade (Apr 11, 2009)

Here's a copy of the historical facts our Department of History Head found inaccurate.

http://ancientmuse.netfirms.com/davincicode.htm


----------



## Mike D. aka jmiked (Oct 28, 2008)

Scheherazade said:


> Here's a copy of the historical facts our Department of History Head found inaccurate.
> 
> http://ancientmuse.netfirms.com/davincicode.htm


Very interesting, thanks.

Mike


----------



## intinst (Dec 23, 2008)

Scheherazade said:


> Here's a copy of the historical facts our Department of History Head found inaccurate.
> 
> http://ancientmuse.netfirms.com/davincicode.htm


Thank you for that, an interesting read.


----------



## Rasputina (May 6, 2009)

He should just admit that he is writing fiction that is set in a parallel universe that looks a lot like earth. And I agree it's sad that kids think his books are factually true, but what is even worse is that I know some adults who think they are too.


----------



## 911jason (Aug 17, 2009)

Chad Winters (#102) said:


> It must be true..I read it in Dan Brown's book!!


My kids have begun doing this same thing with the internet. "No really dad, I saw it on Facebook!"


----------



## 4Katie (Jun 27, 2009)

Rasputina said:


> He should just admit that he is writing fiction that is set in a parallel universe that looks a lot like earth.


I assume that of any fiction I read.


----------



## Scheherazade (Apr 11, 2009)

4Katie said:


> I assume that of any fiction I read.


Unfortunately this isn't true for the vast majority of people. Even more dangerous are movies like "300" and of course the DaVinci Code movie which I bet is where most students really got their information from and not the book. You even have to take programs on the History Channel with loads of salt half the time.


----------



## intinst (Dec 23, 2008)

Scheherazade said:


> Unfortunately this isn't true for the vast majority of people. Even more dangerous are movies like "300" and of course the DaVinci Code movie which I bet is where most students really got their information from and not the book. You even have to take programs on the History Channel with loads of salt half the time.


Your kidding me, right? The movies and the media don't separate fact from fiction? Well, I am appalled!
Unfortunately you are right, and most people never learn or teach their children to think critically, or even just to think for themselves. If it is on the internet, TV or the movies, it must be right. How sad, for them and for the rest of us.


----------



## Archer (Apr 25, 2009)

What's also sad is that students are being trained to rely on the internet. It's a wonderful resource, but often full o'bologna.

Try running a critical thinking exercise in an academic classroom these days. (sigh.)

Plagiarism is now so easy to commit (copy, paste, re-format) that we need computer services (Turnitin.com) to check for it.    In fact, many of my students don't have a clue as to what plagiarism IS, let alone why it's wrong. (Sorry to get a little off topic, but I'm a discouraged academic at the moment, and this issue thrusts right into the heart of the problem.)


----------



## intinst (Dec 23, 2008)

archer said:


> What's also sad is that students are being trained to rely on the internet. It's a wonderful resource, but often full o'bologna.
> 
> Try running a critical thinking exercise in an academic classroom these days. (sigh.)
> 
> Plagiarism is now so easy to commit (copy, paste, re-format) that we need computer services (Turnitin.com) to check for it.  In fact, many of my students don't have a clue as to what plagiarism IS, let alone why it's wrong. (Sorry to get a little off topic, but I'm a discouraged academic at the moment, and this issue thrusts right into the heart of the problem.)


"A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is still putting on its shoes"

"It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so."

"Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please."

Mark Twain could turn a phrase and see into the future, couldn't he?


----------



## Scheherazade (Apr 11, 2009)

archer said:


> What's also sad is that students are being trained to rely on the internet. It's a wonderful resource, but often full o'bologna.
> 
> Try running a critical thinking exercise in an academic classroom these days. (sigh.)
> 
> Plagiarism is now so easy to commit (copy, paste, re-format) that we need computer services (Turnitin.com) to check for it.  In fact, many of my students don't have a clue as to what plagiarism IS, let alone why it's wrong. (Sorry to get a little off topic, but I'm a discouraged academic at the moment, and this issue thrusts right into the heart of the problem.)


I'm taking my 201 course which is teaching me how to write papers (after having written my senior thesis already) and we're learning about plagiarism and I'd be willing to bet hardly anyone knows all the ways you can plagiarize. But yeah, the websites that sell term papers and the like are so bad that pretty much all schools are employing services to scan papers for it.

If you know how to use the internet correctly, it's wonderful. I would hate to be without it and am almost glad I waited to continue school for a few years. Wikipedia is a good resource for quick primers on a topic you have no clue on, but to rely on it is bad bad bad... for the moment at least. There's talk that they're getting in fact checkers. I know if you site a wikipedia article in many of my History courses you will get a failing grade on your paper.

But the internet also has all those wonderful sites that end in .edu and those contain a wealth of knowledge. Even a well written wikipedia article will cite its sources at the bottom and give you a jumping off point for books on the subject. Google books is also a huge boon to me. I search that and can find just about any book on any subject and sometimes I only need a couple facts from it and they're available on the preview pages. Then, the coup de grace... JSTOR! I love love love JSTOR and never need to dig through the stacks again for journals and magazines because of it. JSTOR also cost me about $600 this semester cuz it made me buy a DX but that's beside the point. I literally wrote my thesis without stepping foot in a library. It was all Google books, JSTOR and Kindle books.

High Schools are really dropping the ball though. They don't teach History correctly, they don't even bother teaching about plagiarism except that "copying is wrong" and these tests that the students have to take now in order to pass only encourage an even narrower field of education. Schools teach their students to pass these tests so their scores look good and that's it.


----------



## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

Scheherazade said:


> Unfortunately this isn't true for the vast majority of people. Even more dangerous are movies like "300" and of course the DaVinci Code movie which I bet is where most students really got their information from and not the book. You even have to take programs on the History Channel with loads of salt half the time.


Ah, "300": at least they made it _look_ like a comic book.


----------



## kellyabell (Sep 4, 2009)

intinst said:


> Your kidding me, right? The movies and the media don't separate fact from fiction? Well, I am appalled!
> Unfortunately you are right, and most people never learn or teach their children to think critically, or even just to think for themselves. If it is on the internet, TV or the movies, it must be right. How sad, for them and for the rest of us.


I couldn't agree with you more. It is very important to teach our children to think critically. If we don't we are doing them a HUGE disservice.
As for Dan Brown, you would think that making a statement like that just challenges historians to prove him wrong. Why would you want to look foolish with a claim like that. I've never been very impressed with his writing style and I'm sorry that so much negative press about his facts is surfacing, but when you lay down the gauntlet...


----------



## Scheherazade (Apr 11, 2009)

NogDog said:


> Ah, "300": at least they made it _look_ like a comic book.


The "documentaries" on the History Channel that fail to mention or gloss over the thousands of Spartan slaves and Greeks who helped these 300 men fight the Persians didn't look like comic books though  It was still a small force, but it definitely wasn't just 300. I've accidentally seen enough of 300 that I would hope people didn't believe that the Persians were really like that, but I've had professors assure me that some do even then.


----------



## Rasputina (May 6, 2009)

We just had a thread not too long ago about a prep school that got rid of their 20k+ library in favor of an internet cafe with some kindles for use. And it was praised by some as the future of learning. I love the internet but come on, there is more to research than a google search if you want to be fully informed.


----------



## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Well, personally, almost everything in the book was described in such a way as to make it seem that it _could_, just possibly, be so. . . . . .

well, except for one thing that really just threw everything else into serious doubt.

.

.

.


Spoiler



the Redskins were in the PLAYOFFS!


----------



## akpak (Mar 5, 2009)

NogDog said:


> Ah, "300": at least they made it _look_ like a comic book.


That's because the "source material" for the movie WAS a comic book


----------



## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

akjak said:


> That's because the "source material" for the movie WAS a comic book


I actually knew that, but have not read it, nor do I intend to: the actual history is a good enough story for me. 

That book or the movie might be good if it encourages the reader/viewer to do some more reading to learn about it, but as a sole source could give one any number of misconceptions, such as thinking that there were only the 300 Spartans at Thermopylae, when in fact there were over a 1000 other Greeks there as well, or that this was the decisive battle when in fact it was the later naval battle that was probably the single most important in defeating the Persians. But I digress....


----------



## 4Katie (Jun 27, 2009)

> As for Dan Brown, you would think that making a statement like that just challenges historians to prove him wrong. Why would you want to look foolish with a claim like that. I've never been very impressed with his writing style and I'm sorry that so much negative press about his facts is surfacing, but when you lay down the gauntlet...


You know what they say - any publicity is good publicity. I think Dan Brown knows exactly what he's doing.  After all, WE'RE talking about it!

And I have to admit, the more I hear about the book, the more I want to read it.


----------



## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

4Katie said:


> You know what they say - any publicity is good publicity. I think Dan Brown knows exactly what he's doing.  After all, WE'RE talking about it!
> 
> And I have to admit, the more I hear about the book, the more I want to read it.


Yep, I'm sure he's feeling bad about it until he check's his bank balance.


----------

