Comments | inverarity: Dan Brown Sucks, Too

inverarity

Dan Brown Sucks, Too

Dec 13, 2009 13:48

I've never read any of Dan Brown's books, not so much because I've heard he's a sucky author, but because they just don't interest me. I've never seen the movies, either.

Language Log has done some really excellent academic snarking on Dan Brown's literariness, but I just found a couple of excerpts from his first book, Digital FortressWell, now he ( Read more... )

dan brown, languages, reviews, mockety-mock-mock, writing

Comments 13

Languages, the NSA and Women jordan179 December 13 2009, 23:29:36 UTC

So the idea that this professor is interpreting strings of Chinese characters and giving "Mandarin" translations (by the way, Chinese has lots and lots of different spoken dialects, but they are all written in pretty much the same way!), and then suddenly suggests translating them into "kanji" (or Japanese) makes as much sense as me reading a string of text and then saying, "Oh, you wanted the German translation? I was giving you the English translation!"

This might apply (in the Latin alphabet anyway) to "false friends" (words that were once cognate but have since changed meaning) such as you frequently find between English and French (frex, "une fille jolie" may or may not be cheerful but she is definitely pretty,and she's a human girl not a young female horse), but -- as my example shows -- it only applies to single words. Anyone who could actually read English or French would be able to tell that "une fille jolie" is in French and "a jolly filly" is in English, because of the difference in the article and the syntax.

The NSA ( ... )

Re: security clearances fpb December 14 2009, 07:24:14 UTC

You don't even have to work for the Federal Government to have an idea of how Americans feel about security - especially American corporate lawyers. I recently took a test as a prospective staff writer for a well-known language teaching company. Before I so much as registered for the test I had to sign a three-page confidentiality agreement invoking the most horrible legal punishments upon my own head if I ever so much as began to disclose anything about the teaching material that would be part of the test. And I know stories of cartoonists who were not allowed to show their work to their own wives and children for months, because they were working on adaptations of then-forthcoming movies.

Dan Brown is supposed to be American. At this point, I don't even know whether he knows his own country and countrymen.

NSA Computers Made of Explodium? jordan179 December 13 2009, 23:30:16 UTC

Lastly, I have to comment on the climax, which admittedly I am gleaning solely from the Wikipedia summary of the book. Apparently the villain commits suicide by standing next to an NSA supercomputer as it "overheats" and explodes.

WTF? Is this computer powered by a diesel engine or something? Computers don't explode! Occasionally, a computer that overheats can catch fire. Theoretically, the capacitors in a computer can explode, but it won't make some big Hollywood-type explosion, even in a supercomputer. You'd just have lots of burning circuit boards and maybe an electrical fire. I suppose the villain could commit suicide by standing in the fire. (Umm, cooling systems? Automatic fire extinguishers? You think maybe the NSA has them? Where they keep their really expensive supercomputers? Naaaaaah....)

Made of Explodium. :)

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MadeOfExplodium

In reality, while computers can (under the right circumstances) ( ... )

Re: NSA Computers Made of Explodium? fpb December 14 2009, 07:16:24 UTC

I did once own a computer that caught fire. I just turned it off and slowly watched it die down. And as you can tell, I am still here now - at least, if I am a ghost, I am the most cantankerous ghost you ever met.

Re: NSA Computers Made of Explodium? jordan179 December 14 2009, 16:43:21 UTC

Same thing happened to me, with a laptop. As with your experience, nothing much happened -- some wiring caught fire inside, and I simply shut off the computer and let the fire die down. Computers just aren't violently flammable.

ebilgatoloco December 14 2009, 00:15:37 UTC

LOL!
You know I've read Dan Brown. Digital Fortress was the first one. I wasn't all that impressed with that one, btw. Then The Da Vinci Code. It was amusing. But as much as I love conspiracy theories this one was a bit a far-fetched and I can see why it angered so many Christians.

I'll have you know that I own Digital Fortress but I ahven't read it in years. Lol.

inverarity December 14 2009, 00:37:07 UTC

I don't care if an author's premise offends religious sensibilities, but it should at least make sense.

Blasphemy doesn't offend me; stupidity does.

ebilgatoloco December 14 2009, 04:49:06 UTC

XD

Well we have one thing in common. =]

simple research fail anonymous December 14 2009, 01:17:20 UTC

I enjoyed _Angels and Demons_ and quasi-enjoyed _The Da Vinci Code_ despite the poor writing and the suspension of belief required to believe that all of the events took place in a single night (_A&D_, I don't remember about _Code_ ( ... )

Yes indeed - Dan Brown suckage anonymous December 14 2009, 03:29:10 UTC

The first time I heard of Dan Brown was when a friend pressed upon me one of his books. The name probably doesn't matter since he only has one plot and one set of characters. The names and details change a bit. I didn't finish it.

When DaVinci Code was at the height of media froth I picked up a copy and started reading. "Hey," I said to myself, "this sounds really familiar - haven't I read this somewhere before?" The repetition of the previous book's plot was so strong I felt no need to finish.

I'm sure Dan Brown is crying all the way to the bank.