Just a note on "The Da Vinci Code":
Anyone looking for any kind of good read throughout history for factual "Robert Ludlumesque stuff" need read no further than the history of the Catholic Church.
These guys are what any author would chomp his dentures at.
Read this for a small example of titillation:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inquisition
And please don't forget how Ponce De Leon, Pizzaro and even Columbus screwed up the Incas, Aztecs and countless others, up to and including the Jews throughout history culminating in their latest, greatest coup; allied, or threatened by,the Nazis and Hitler's promised annointing of a second pope.
In fact, as an unbiased observer and student of history;...
I find it very difficult to find anything good at all that the Catholic Church has done in any way to improve the human condition throughout time.
Honestly, they have gone farther to further inhuman conditions for their own people and just about anyone else they've come into contact with for their own monetary and political gain.
Only thing that I can see is that the Catholic church has always gotten richer riding on the backs and bodies of it's own people and those of their "enlightened" future converts.
I think if I had to choose amongst all the religions of this world I would lean towards the Japanes "Shinto" religion which gives everything a soul and respects it.
Might not make a great movie though.
Although...
Hard to have the main character talking to a rock or a tree unless you're Tom Hanks and fall in love with a volleyball.
My
