personal interest
What is your interest in cooking?
Dan Brown's book includes a good deal of information about a world that has been hidden in plain sight for a very long time. To a greater or lesser extent depending on the denomination, Christian religious practices include many pagan rites and rituals. The most obvious center on pagan holidays such as Samhain (Halloween = hallowed eve of All Saints Day) or the example in Brown's book that involves the rites of spring.  Those with art history and/or comparative religion backgrounds will be familiar with most of the `occult' information Brown shares (if you can find it in books I guess it isn't too well hidden).However, it is important to keep in mind that Brown's tale is a work of fiction, and as such, the comments and thoughts of the protagonist (Robert) and other characters may or may not be accurate.  For example, the purported millions of people burned at the stake for "witchcraft" is exaggerated as are the assertions that they were all women and the Roman Catholic church was responsible for all the deaths. Research conducted in the 1990s shows: 1) The numbers of "witches" burned at the stake was much lower than previously thought; 2) Many of those executed for "witchcraft" met their fate in Germany, Denmark, and Scotland (nominally Protestant countries at the time of the witch burnings); and most of those executed were not killed by church or secular authorities, but by apparently hysterical illiterate villagers who were both Catholic and Protestant (i.e. Salem in the New World). Perhaps as a result, Italy-a nominally Catholic country-is purported to be the home of the "evil eye" and many modern witches. (Raven Grimassi, a hereditary Italian witch, has written extensively on this topic).Fiction versus non-fiction aside, my one irritation with Brown's storytelling is that he pulls his punches in the denouement-probably because the editors wanted to increase book sales.  I can't say more without giving away the plot-but this book is not THE NAME OF THE ROSE.While I admit to reading the book non-stop, I wasn't "scared" after the first few pages. I read on because I found Brown's  weaving of occult information, art history, pagan lore, technology, Templars, Masons, and Paris fascinating. I have a personal interest in the machinations of Rome and the Knights Templar. My grandfather was a very high ranking Mason (as have been most of the male members of my mother's family) and my grandmother was a member of the Eastern Star (as have been most of the female members of my mother's family).  On the other hand, I was raised Roman Catholic because my father was RC (and a Knight of Columbus). To say I absorbed a good deal of conflicting information during my growing up years is an understatement. I could really identify with Sophia. 