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| The cover of The Da
Vinci | Author Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code
has sold more than eight million copies worldwide in little over two
years, while his previous novels remain on best-seller lists around the
world.
According to his personal website, 39-year-old Dan Brown gets up and
starts writing each day at four in the morning. He writes with an antique
hour glass on his desk and at the end of each 60 minute period he does
sit-ups, stretches and push-ups .
He also confesses to wearing gravity boots, saying: "Hanging upside
down seems to help me solve plot challenges by shifting my entire
perspective."
He does not explain whether being upside down helped him develop his
book The Da Vinci Code, but a rush of blood to the head seems to have
transformed Brown from run-of-the-mill thriller writer to global
phenomenon.
The Da Vinci code is a classic whodunit , which centres on a global
conspiracy surrounding the Holy Grail mythology and places heavy emphasis
on symbols and cryptography .
Protagonist Robert Langdon,
a Harvard professor likened to a contemporary Indiana Jones, also appeared
in Brown's second book Angels and Demons.
The book mixes art history with mythology, semiotics with medieval history - and though
it does not sound like a potent mix, it has proved gripping to millions of
readers around the world.
British reviewer Mark Lawson described it as "irritatingly gripping
tosh", while other reviewers praised its mix of conspiracy theories and a
fast-paced narrative.
Until 1996, Brown was an English teacher at an exclusive US school. He
gave up his job to write full-time when he read a Sydney Sheldon novel on
holiday and felt he could do better.
His first book Digital Fortress was a colour-by-numbers affair and sold
moderately well.
His subsequent books Angels and Demons and Deception Point continued to
sell adequately, but few could have predicted the hysteria that would surround The Da
Vinci Code.
Like all his books, it centres on secret societies, global
conspiracies, codes and symbols.
The book went to the top of the New York Times book list in its first
week on release, and its success helped push sales of Brown's earlier
books.
Earlier this year all four of his novels were in the New York Times
best-seller list.
The Da Vinci Code has been translated into 42 languages and has spawned
its own cottage industry of publications, including guides on to how to
read the book, rebuttals and counter claims.
Brown himself admits that the success of the book has taken him by
surprise.
He told his website: "I never imagined so many people would be enjoying
it this much. I wrote this book essentially as a group of fictional
characters exploring ideas that I found personally intriguing."
He says the idea for the book stems from studying art history at the
University of Seville in Spain, where he learnt about "the mysteries of Da
Vinci's paintings".
(Agencies) | 
Updated: 2004-08-11 15:01