Hatrack River Forum: CERN Angels and Demons FAQ

This is topic CERN Angels and Demons FAQ in forum Books, Films, Food and Culture at Hatrack River Forum.

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Posted by Destineer (Member # 821) on :

http://public.web.cern.ch/Public/Content/Chapters/Spotlight/SpotlightAandD-en.html

I've never read the book, but some of Dan Brown's use of poetic license is hilarious. Especially the idea that CERN has an X-33 spaceplane -- an aircraft that was never really built. Even funnier if you've ever been to CERN or Fermilab is the idea that particle physicists walk around in lab coats.

Posted by johnsonweed (Member # 8114) on :

yeah, but the book was fun anyway.

Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :

I don't get why Dan Brown is so popular. Seems kind of hacky to me.

Posted by johnsonweed (Member # 8114) on :

Formulaic as all get, but I still think they are pleasant diversions.

I think The Historian is also in this category...over rated, but a good diversion.

Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :

I read "Digital Fortress" on the recommendation of someone dear to me.

Oy.

Posted by kojabu (Member # 8042) on :

Reading Angels and Demons was only entertaining to me because I was reading it while I was studying abroad in Rome. That and I needed a change of pace from sociological books.

IMO, The Historian is much better and more developed than any of Dan Brown's books.

Posted by Nell Gwyn (Member # 8291) on :

I've read Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons and enjoyed them, but I refuse to read any of his other books because I know they'll follow his formula. That would just annoy me and make me start hating books I currently like, so I just avoid the issue.

Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :

I found it ridiculous the the riddles were so darn easy. And the super code-cracking hero-protagonists spend so much time scratching their heads over them.

"Wait! Maybe this is ANOTHER anagram!"

Uh...you think?

Posted by Eaquae Legit (Member # 3063) on :

The best line in the book is when one of CERN's supposed genius-scientists comments "oxygen is an oxidant." No, you think?

Posted by plaid (Member # 2393) on :

Indoor sky diving (like Brown says they have at CERN) actually does exist, I hope I can try it someday [Smile]

-- link to a San Diego place that does it.

Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :

What I find sad is the idea that there are adults who read at the level to which Dan Brown writes.

Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :

quote:
I read "Digital Fortress" on the recommendation of someone dear to me.

Oy.

As did I. I'll see your "Oy" and raise you an "Oh, holy hell!"

Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :

[ROFL]

Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :

I tried to read Angels and Demons, I couldn't make it through the first chapter. It was horrible.

Posted by Bokonon (Member # 480) on :

A&D gets better (marginally), kat. I despised the first several chapters of "anti-matter?!?! Uh, what is anti-matter again?"

I enjoyed Da Vinci much more, but I listened to it on audiobook (unabridged!) with a good voice actor.

-Bok

Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :

Tom, the average novel is written at about a 8th to 9th grade reading level...that is what half of the US reads at.

I was reading at that level when I was about 8. [Big Grin]

It explains why King sells so many books though. [Wink]

Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :

My tongue is ever so politely bitten.

Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :

I have given up any pretense of Dan Brown and now reading Foucoult's Pendulum, on recommendation of a Hatracker. Apparently, same genre, orders of magnitude better written.

Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :

"I'd like an Order of Magnitude and a Side Order of the Phoenix."