The Dan Brown Code

Last Friday a London judge ruled that Da Vinci Code's Dan Brown did not steal the ideas for his novel from an earlier book, although he did read it (which Brown has never made a secret of). The case lasted three weeks, attracted reporters from all over the world, and featured the usually elusive Brown as a witness. That was probably the most interesting part of the case, for Brown, who rarely talks with the media, introduced a long and revealing witness statement.

The document was intended for the court rather than for reporters or the public, but the London Times had the good idea to publish a full transcript on its website. It's in four installments - and for easier reading I've repackaged it into a single, 59-pages PDF (636 Kb) (The Times' version contains several typos: I've left it unchanged).

It's less of a page-turner than his thrillers, but it offers many details (many more than were so far known about him) on his life and his writing. It's a sort of unofficial memoir, worth reading if you're a fan of Brown, a writer interested in how he works, or just curious about the "backstory" of his exceedingly successful novels, while waiting for the Da Vinci Code movie (it will be released first in Switzerland and a handful of other small countries on May 18 and then in the rest of the world) and for Brown's next thriller, titled The Solomon Key and which will feature again symbologist Robert Langdon as main character.

[tags: Dan Brown Da Vinci Code]