Dan Brown –  cryptography, art, and conspiracy theories

Dan Brown is an American author most famous for his book The Da Vinci Code.

Who is Dan Brown?

Brown was born June 22, 1964, in Exeter, New Hampshire.  He is the middle child of 3.  His father, Richard G. Brown, was a teacher of mathematics and wrote textbooks.  He retired in 1997.  His mother was a church organist and student of sacred music.  Brown was raised an Episcopalian.   He later, during school days, declared “The Bible doesn’t make sense.  Science makes much more sense to me”.

Dan Brown’s treasure hunt novels

Brown’s most popular novels include the 5 forming part of the Robert Langdon series.  These novels include themes of cryptography, art, and conspiracy theories which feature in each book.  These novels are deeply engaged with Christian themes and historical fiction.  Brown himself claims he is on a constant spiritual journey and declares his books not anti-Christian but more of a spiritual discussion and debate.

Dan Brown’s love for secrets and puzzles

Brown’s interest in secrets and puzzles stems from an early age.  At home, as a child, his parents would encourage riddles and treasure huts by, for instance, not putting presents under the Christmas tree, but by creating an elaborate treasure hunt to find the gifts with clues leading the children all around the house and town.   Brown also spent hours working out anagrams and crossword puzzles in his spare time.

When did Dan Brown begin writing novels?

Influenced by the novel The Doomsday Conspiracy by  Sidney Sheldon, Brown began writing after his holiday in  Tahiti in 1993.  He started writing his first novel Digital Fortress, setting much of it in Seville, where he had studied in 1985.

He quit teaching in 1996 to become a full-time writer but his novel Digital Fortress was published in 1998.  He continued next to writing  Angels & Demons and Deception Point which were released in 2000 and 2001.  Although these novels did not have much success, it was his fourth novel, The Da Vinci Code, became a bestseller, going to the top of the New York Times Best Seller list during its first week of release in 2003.  It has become one of the most popular novels of all time and has sold 81 million copies worldwide as of 2009.  The success influenced sales of the previous novels and landed all four novels on New York Times Best Seller list.

The Da Vinci Code was released as a film by Columbia Pictures in 2006.  It was listed as one of the worst films of 2006 on Ebert & Roeper but was the second highest-grossing film of the year.

What books has Dan Brown written?

Stand-alone novels

Digital Fortress (1998) – Available on Bakgat Books

Deception Point (2001)

Wild Symphony (2020), illustrated children’s book

Robert Langdon Series

Angels & Demons (2000) – Available on Bakgat Books

The Da Vinci Code (2003) – Available on Bakgat Books

The Lost Symbol (2009) – Available on Bakgat Books

Inferno (2013)

Origin (2017)

Main reference:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Brown