Ashley Johnson Books

A fast-paced suspense (more than pure mystery) novel about the Holy Grail and the secret societies (apparently a veritable Yellow Pages worth) whose goal is either to protect or expose it.

Good fun, although its statements about the verity of the Bible, the orthodox canon, and other apocryphal works are disturbing. In fact, my distaste for this part of the book, plus its fast-food-like lack of weightiness knocks it down a peg from the "Worth my Time" level.

Makes sense to me!! I loved this book! I know it was fiction but somehow I think he speaks a bit of truth in this book! You will love this book!

Dan Brown is an illusionist. It attracted, like all good writers successful thrillers American audiences. The ingredients are familiar: Action brutal murder in the singular and plural (serial killing), incomprehension, investigation, doubt, lack of knowledge, tenacity (alone against all), happy ending. Passion thrillers (see my listmania), I know the ropes most used to give the maximum chances of a successful sale. On the "thriller", "Da Vinci" is lourdaud.

Dan Brown is a forger doubled a liar. How can one argue that the Bible (and therefore the Old and New Testament) was a work commissioned by the Roman Emperor Constantine in the fourth century? How can you write that the "Priory of Sion is a secret society founded at the end of XI century by Godfrey de Bouillon" who knows the truth about marriage with Mary Magdalene and the descendants of Christ and therefore lies founder the Church? ... then it is a supposed French association under the 1901 law declared in 1956. And how many other pearls ... like the androgyny of Mona Lisa (Mona Lisa) ... I still laugh.

Dan Brown is a man who has faith hatred of the Christianity in general and the Catholic Church in particular. He is a descendant - representing heresies fought with accuracy since its inception by the Church. These are called heresies the arianism, Catharism and Jansenism. They say that God is a pure spiritual being therefore could not have had a Son of a similar nature to him. But Jesus Christ is fully man and fully God. That is what the Church professes, in full transparency, everyone. The profession of faith of the Church is radically opposed to any elitist philosophy - elected on the one hand and esoteric on the other.

Dan Brown has mixed genres: the thriller, the invention sometimes committed to history, sometimes lies, and hatred skillfully distilled the Church.

I invite the reader critical read the excellent book by Jesuit Father Bernard Sesboüé which dismantles this horror: "The Da Vinci Code explained to its readers." (in French)

Ok, I have neither bought nor read this 'book', and never will, but I read the excerpt.
If English is Dan Brown's first language, then he has major problems, unless he is a 10 year old slow learner. Ok, he has made a lot of money from this piece of rubbish, but why not take a quick course in creative writing beforehand to learn the basics of style.
The Hardy Boys books are advanced literature in comparison!

Dan Brown's second novel The Da Vinci Code has become a literary phenomena, spawning countless books related to the topic, a movie, a myriad of discussions, and so much more. But let's take a look inside this book shall we? The book starts with the murder of the head curator of the museum. Ah but that is just the beginning! The curator was able to leave clues for his daughter, who is a cryptographer herself, follows these clues to France and England, through the past and the present, Through cultured religion and the unorthodox searching for the Knight's Templar and the code the world's masterpieces hold. Dan Brown is a master of suspense and The Da Vinci Codes is just one more notch in this fabled author's cap. Beautifully written and without flaws this is one book I highly recommend!!

And for those who enjoy books on ancient cultures, I'd recommend: Fates

This book is a good book if you are taking a class that requires it. It is easy to read and understand. I would have liked to know that it was supposed to have a cd with it. It did not come with the cd. Overall the book was as expected.

The tenth edition is not very well organized. Overall, a very boring book.

Like I said in a precious review, I like National University, but they could have chosen a different book. I am Caucasian, white, Christian, heterosexual, male, with blonde hair and blue eyes, and let me tell you, this book will make it seem that the whit people in this country are racist bigots. And that we are trying to indoctrinate every single child that comes to America while keeping all the other people in lower classes. That is how I felt.

I was shocked by how biased this book is. I am beginning to think that the publishers Allyn and Bacon have an agenda.

One of the only topics I liked about this book is the short parts at the end of each chapter that tells the reader different ideas for making a professional portfolio. But, I can imagine that there are other books better.

This book wasn't too bad, considering it is a textbook. If you're forced to read it for class, take heart! It's not too boring--once you get started, it actually moves pretty quickly, and you will learn a lot. If this isn't required for a class, I would not suggest curling up in front of the fireplace with this book, or, really, reading it at all, unless you're really into learning more about the basics of American Education.

The university where I teach allows us to choose our own composition text. After much research and personal experience with several composition texts, I use this guide. While I agree that the selected essays do have a liberal slant I do not agree that the writing is too difficult for a freshman to understand.

There is no way that I would assign the entire textbook, cover to cover, for one semester. Even the authors do not suggest this. I use the chapters on reading and writing rhetoric, research, critical data analysis, and writer conferencing with all of my composition classes. Then I pick and choose which specific writing projects/chapters I will use for different levels.

I highly recommend this textbook. It has a lot of acurate and useful information and is a great source for a composition course.

To counterbalance the liberal essays, I add in several others from many different perspectives and fields to allow students to have a wider understanding of the world.

The book contains good up to date information and it has helped me with my College writing class.

I have been required to use this text at one school where I teach, and it is a dismal experience. Most of the other instructors feel the same way, but we are overruled by a minority opinion.

The authors do not have a clue that they are writing this book for a freshman college audience. You need advanced reading skills in order to be able to understand some of the chapters in this book. For example, they overly complicate the chapter on writing evaluations.

The readings are also dry and have a noticeably liberal slant. Although, there are a couple of interesting ones, such as the essay about Sesame Street being sexist. However, there are not enough readings to provide good examples for students to use as models.

If I was not forced to use the book, I would not. This is too much money to spend on a book that is not especially useful.