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Digital Fortress
The premise
The first page ("Prologue") is enough to draw you right in. A Japanese man in Seville, Spain, is dying, and in his last act he attempts to communicate with fellow tourists. We immediately wonder, What is he trying to say? How does this relate to the premise of the book?
Flipping the page literally flips across the Atlantic Ocean, to the National Security Agency (NSA) and to beautiful, intelligent Susan Fletcher, head cryptographer at the NSA. She is involved with a university language professor named David Becker--a man who will figure deeply into the story.
A mysterious phone call sends David to Spain and a phone call from Susan's boss, Commander Strathmore, brings her to NSA headquarters. It's there that she learns of a potentially fatal threat to the NSA's codebreaking supercomputer, TRANSLTR--an unbreakable encryption. Strathmore briefs her that a disgruntled former employee, Ensei Tankado, has threatened to release this encryption scheme to the highest bidder. If Tankado does so, the NSA will be crippled--a fact proven by the revelation that TRANSLTR normally spends minutes decoding a message, but has spent more than half a day trying to break Tankado's algorithm.
Tankado isn't stupid--Strathmore says he has an accomplice who will release the code in the event that something happens to Tankado. Unfortunately, Tankado is the Japanese man who has died in Seville...and thus the NSA is running out of time to locate Tankado's pass key to break the encryption before his accomplice can release it to the world.
Meanwhile, Becker is still in Spain, under orders--from Strathmore, it turns out--to do just that. He realizes that Tankado's ring is the "key" to the mystery, and thus he begins a frantic search that leads him from a French-Canadian writer in the clinic, to a fat German tourist and his red-haired "escort," to a punk rock bar on the outskirts of town. Did I mention he's being followed by a deaf assassin the whole time?
What I likedAs I mentioned, Digital Fortress has all the elements that I was looking for. It had just the right amount of main characters, and everyone had a proper place in the book and in the story. I'm appreciative of the tidbits of technical information here and there--mentions of PGP, NSA history, and other such morsels were well placed.
There was also a smattering of sexual energy (although no real "sex scenes") and humor here and there. Who said computer geeks can't have a good time?!
I'm also a fan of subplots in books, that magically mesh together near the climax. Dan Brown deserves praise in this regard: minor characters who initially make you question their presence are brought nicely into the fold and given purpose.
In any book like this, little puzzles and questions come up as a matter of course. The reader is challenged to solve them just as the characters are. In this book, there are many such puzzles: What does the inscription on the ring mean? Who is Tankado working with, and how? What is the pass-code for the encryption scheme? Why is David Becker being hunted down? I delighted in trying to come up with answers to these questions as I read the book, and was pleasantly surprised to see I was wrong in many respects.
What I didn't likeIn any mystery or thriller, the idea is to keep the reader guessing as long as possible, through plot twists, diverging plot lines that reconnect later, and the like. Brown does a fairly good job here, but this is where the book has its weakest points. For example, it is revealed early on that Tankado and the dead Japanese man in Spain are the same person. While this is perhaps unavoidable to push the plot along, I found it strange to have this happen so quickly. Later in the book, the author flips back and forth between who could be Tankado's accomplice, and who has committed a murder in Crypto. This flip-flopping is done poorly and leaves the reader thinking, "I already have my mind made up and you're not doing very well dangling red herrings." I had the bad guy pegged a couple of chapters before it was revealed, although I will admit that I was surprised at a particular turn of events afterwards.
Although this book was published in the late '90s, the technology aspects are still relevant--but this book gets some technical facts incorrect, or at least a bit off. However, they're fairly minor and don't detract from the book too much.
Some plot points are just too far fetched to be believable. For example, Susan's fiance, David Becker, tries to outrun a taxi--driven by the deaf assassin--while on a motorbike. The professional assassin fires several shots at Becker and misses every time, even though the bike is significantly slower than the taxi and the shots hit the bike body itself on several occasions.
Finally, some of the people in the NSA seem too stupid to be working there. In an effort to not give away spoilers, I can't be too much more specific than that, but suffice it to say that the "solution" is something that a high school science student wouldn't have much trouble figuring out.
Final thoughtsI tore into this book with high expectations. I finished the book with mixed feelings. As I look back on it, I can't help but feel that there was a lot of untapped potential and some glaring mistakes that could have been avoided. But I'm also pleased to have read what I consider a fairly good book, one that has served to heighten my interest in the genre, and made me even more ready to read The DaVinci Code.
Of course, it wouldn't be fair to compare this book to any of Dan Brown's later works. An author matures as he or she writes more books, and thus I'm certain that many of my quibbles would have been ironed out in future books. I'll have to find that out when I read DaVinci.
While it might seem that I had more bad to say about the book than good, I'd say that the reverse is actually true--the "good" goes all through the book, but there isn't really a way to quantify it.
I'd wholeheartedly recommend this novel to anyone who has an interest in technological thrillers, spy novels, or thrillers in general. It's a very accessible and enjoyable read, and I'm glad I bought it.
You can purchase Digital Fortress from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
Isn't the entire book based on something impossible?
Anything in parenthesis may (not) be ignored.
This book was simply awesome. And it had a hell of a better ending than DaVinci Code. 9 out of 10.
Now that's good fiction.
I read this book about a year ago, and i have to admit it was definitely addicting in the beginning, but after about the halfway point the auther i think tries to outsmart himself with too many plot twists and other such tricks to mislead the reader. Overall a good read, and i'd recommend it, but the newer books such as The Davinci Code are much cleaner and a better overall read. On the other hand the author, while making a few glaring errors, does a fairly decent job of dumbing down all the tech for the average reader to understand while still getting the gist correct, which is a nice change :)
drunk chemists
It was exactly what I was looking for
No it wasn't. You were looking for The DaVinci Code. Remember now?
Helpin' out,
Letter
Wheres WOPR? Here's some suspense for you a computer has to play tic-tac-toe against itself and learn the game has no winner before it gets the 10-character passcode to launch all US ICBM's, effectively destroying the world. Throw in a young Ferris Bueller and Stephanie from Short Circuit and you've got yourself a novel.
I read this book a while back and IIRC the genious computer programmer character has some sort of revelation at the end that inviolved binary. Like, "I see now, these are all powers of 2!"
Is it just me or shouldn't that be the first thing she noted about whatever system it was?
Like I said, it's been a while since I read the book and it didn't exactly stick with me.
Sipping on Jolt and Dew. Laid back. With my mind of my cubicle and my cubicle on my mind.
tr/a-zA-Z/n-za-mN-ZA-M/;
The cover blurbs mislead the reader into thinking it's the next book by the best-selling author, when in reality it was written before the best-sellers and dug up to cash in on Brown's popularity.
magically flips across the Atlantic Ocean, almost like a scene change in a movie, but it's amazing how well this movie technique translated into a novel.
That's "Mr. Soulless Automaton" to you, Bub.
might as well skip it now...
word.
Digital Fortress was a very fast read. Much like The Da Vinci Code, it's a well-paced, by-the-books thriller that fans of the genre will find entertaining. But, the technical mistakes are so glaringly bad, that I just spent most of the book being annoyed. I thought a book with cryptography as a plot point would be interesting and maybe even challenging, but there's nothing about cryptography anywhere. There's only a giant brute-force-and-ignorance hammer, no real problem solving. It really surprised me how off he was with some of the plot points and technical aspects since TDVC was so well researched. If you liked TDVC, skip DF
got biv?
I agree with this post.
Not to mention the author's piss-poor writing ability. He knows how to pick a good subject, but *man* does he write badly.
It's cliche'd shit like this: "The man hunkered down, sweat dripping off him. He looked everywhere, breathing hard. He was in deep trouble."
Naw, that's not bad enough. But you get the idea.
I read The Da Vinci Code like a lot of people then went back and read the rest of his works in reverse chronological order. I am fairly confident in saying that Mr. Brown has improved as an author markedly with each new publication. I would also argue that he has finally hit his stride with the 'Code because all previous books suck.
That said, I am eargerly awaiting his next work, it should be a pretty good read.
Speak truth to power.
As I look back on it, I can't help but feel that there was a lot of untapped potential and some glaring mistakes that could have been avoided.
This is a good summation of how I felt about DaVinci Code. Great premise, middling implementation.
...with some ugly stupid people. I'm tired of the same old same old.
were how realistic it was, and how hard the codes were to break. dripping sarcasm. Still better than daVinci Code, not quite Angels and Demons. Dan Brown has a great talent for writing FICTION. Enjoyable, fast read, and boy does it exercise your suspension of disbelief!!
it is revealed early on that Tankado and the dead Japanese man in Spain are the same person. While this is perhaps unavoidable to push the plot along, I found it strange to have this happen so quickly.
;)
And now I know that they're the same, even before I meet Tankado. Thanks, friendly book reviewer!
Doesn't sound like the author really understands cryptography or cryptology. It's the people that do the important work of breaking a code, not the uber machine that just automates the process once the system's been broken.
TZ
I first read The Da Vinci Code and thought it was really good. I've never read anything in this genre though, so I can't compare. I then read Angels and Demons, which is an earlier event in the life of the same main character from The Da Vinci Code. It was also written before the Da Vinci Code. This was obvious too. It seems the author has been slowly refining his writting skills, which lead to the popularity of The Da Vinci Code. I'd suspect his earlier works (such as Digital Fortress) are not as well thought out.
M y disapointment is that the "catch" is the same in both books. Someone close and assumed to be trusted turns out to be the bad guy.
However, I do recommend both of these books, just maybe in chronological order.
minor spoiler, no names or real details given...
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In the DaVinci code, Brown resolves his puzzles/riddles within 2 pages. It drove me nuts to have all of my boggles nicely wrapped up in a nice tidy bow within 30 seconds. Sometimes I can't stand authors who pander to those without an attention span or to those who only pick up the book and read only two pages at a time.
I read the DaVinci code and enjoyed it for it's creativity and it's suspense. I read the first few pages of Angels & Deamons and threw it away. Why? Because they're exactly the same. They start out exactly the same way. Ergh.
So, I saw Digital Fortress and figured I'd give Dan Brown another chance. I've always loved techno-thrillers and I thought this might not dissappoint. BBZZZZZT!
What a lame piece of crap! Anyone at least marginally knowledgeable about computers and cryptology and security will want to slap Dan for the inconsistencies and falsities littered throughout the book.
And the code at the back is really lame. Booo hiss!
Stay away from it if you like good literature.
Go get "Hackers" or "At Large" or any other of the good books if you want to actually like the book.
I read this book right before I jumped into DaVinci code, and really enjoyed both. Brown definitely has a place in his heart for crypto old and new, which was fascinating (even if he did fudge some other details...). Yes, the ending became painfully obvious as the final chapter unfolds, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. After reading both, go to DanBrown.com and try the scavenger hunt- its a clever distraction for a little while.
Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the War Room!
This is important information that is being posted
My favorite sience fiction books starts in a corporate fortress. Marge Piercy`s He, She and It is a brilliant story which covers ethical, philosophical, sexual and technical aspects of relations between cyborgs and humans.
I read it last month. I keep most of the books I read when I'm done. I threw this one out. It wasn't a bad read, but I agree with the reviewer that in the end it just wasn't satisfying.
One concept the book deals with that I thought was good was the belief by many intelligence pros that they need to "protect" the citizens from things that cannot be spoken. Hogwash. I'm sure the NSA does valuable work but when they start to trample the Constitution it's time to say ENOUGH. The fouders of the U.S. thought the people should always distrust the government and retain the means to change it if and when it became opressive or tyrannical. If the government accrues too much power to control information and the ability to track what every single person does and says and buys every moment of every waking day then it becomes impossible for the people to exercise that power. It is truly Big Brother-esque.
The book did a good job of exploring both sides of that debate. The guy who wrote the Digital Fortress algorithm was someone who didn't believe that governments should have the right to spy on its own citizens without at least telling them that it was doing so. Central to the plot was an extortion scheme in which the perpetrator, Tankada, wanted only one thing: For the gogernment to come out and publicly admit that it could, in fact, decrypt and read everything that was being sent via encrypted email.
The book still sucked.
Do you think the NSA would actually put the keys to unlocking encryption in the hands of indivduals? That's pretty stupid, but then, it's part of the government. It's pretty farfetched, but the implication is pretty scary actually...
The books I've read so far are all written like they were designed to be movie scripts, or they are bad adaptations of existing movies. Though some of the plot twists are interesting, the dialogue and character development are just clumsy. The guys deals in soap opera grade caricatures of personalities.
I was dissapointed by The Da Vinci Code which I read last year. Brown is pretty much a hack writer and seems to be more interested in a whiz-bang plot than developing anything deeper or more interesting. His characters are flat and don't really develop - the hero of Da Vinci Code is Indiana Jones without the bravery. The research behind the book seems very much like a bunch of vaguely-related conspiracy theories that the author read about and decided to write a pot-boiler around.
For a much more interesting book that uses similar material to go a lot further, try Umberto Eco's Foucault's Pendulum. Eco uses the background of holy grail consipracists to weave a tale rich in detailed historical research, amusing characters and that is layered with meaning. You get the what-is-going-to-happen plot and structural and metaphorical complexity. I suspect that Brown may have read Foucault's Pendulum before he wrote Da Vinci Code, because some of the similarities are noticeable.
Summary: Da Vinci Code is a fun enough airport novel. I enjoyed reading it but in the end didn't feel I'd gained anything for having read it.
Sailing over the event horizon
By Neal Stephenson...
Someone had to mention it - a fantastic book, crypto (with appendix) central to the plot, supercomputers (well, a 1944 model) and a great meshing of stories from two different timelines. Oh, it also has submarines, laptops, EMP weapons and well, it has everything a geek would want in it actually!
I thought the Da Vinci Code was shite - too far fetched. I'm all for great reads, but I got to the point in it where I could see the author's mind gradually spin out into la la land - either where he'd been working on it too long, or just wanted to get shot of it.
Anyways, the follow up sounds like it's my kind of thing, so I'll give it a shot.
Anyone can compare this book to Cryptonomicon (assuming s/he read both ;)? I mostly enjoyed Stephenson stuff (and can warmly recommend if you haven't read that yet) and look for something of that kind. However, as someone else spotted, being a geek it's quite hard to stand book or movie if its author exposes his technical ignorancy. Anyone can elaborate how this one could fit my tastes or maybe recommend some other author readings fitting?
Marcin
He realizes that Tankado's ring is the "key" to the mystery,
NSA Chief: Aha! The ring is mine! Now our supercomputer with the clever acronym can decode this vitally important document! (hands document to flunky) What does it say?
NSA Underling: (Turns ring and presses buttons on blinkenlights panel.) It says..."Be sure to drink your Ovaltine."
NSA Chief: Ovaltine? A crummy commercial? Son-of-a-bitch! Here, try it again! (hands new document to flunky.)
NSA Underling: (repeats procedure) It says..."All your base-"
NSA Chief: (pulls gun from holster and shoots his underling.)
NSA Underling: AIEEEEEE! (Underling expires.)
NSA Chief: (Shakes fist to heavens.) Curse you, fat German tourist and his red-haired "escort"!!! Cuuurrrse yoooouuu!!!!
I found the book entertaining, and somewhat interesting. However, I also thought it a tad predictable, and it read like a movie script that hadn't been picked up and converted; or the other way around. Although, I like his style and The Davinci Code was a much better book. It nice to see an author do his research, though. Nothing drives me nuts worse than cheesy populous computer effects (Hackers anyone?), and the silly way effects people have spaceships constantly firing their engines as they move into docking position or fly towards a planet. Some do it correctly though (2001 anyone?). For a quick weekend or long flight read, I'd give Digital Fortress 6.5 stars out of 10.
/me sips his coffee and ponders a new sig...
Really, given Brown's infatuation with silliness in DaVinci and the way he misses the boat in this one (unbreakable encryption? Just use a 4096-bit key; it'll take Moore's Law at least a couple years to catch up...), I have to wonder if the reason he doesn't do steamy sex scenes is because the technology is too advanced for him...
Craig
Did anyone else get the correct number long before the fictional protagonists did...and wonder why, if these people were so smart, they didn't know the difference between the two bombs? I mean, all the NSA people I know are uber-trivia nerds and would've nailed that number in ten seconds, tops. It made an otherwise interesting book hopelessly simplistic imnsho.
I was able to suspend my disbelief at an "unbreakable code" not bothering any of the cryptologists. And I was able to swallow, for the sake of the plot, some external person able to write a file of encrypted text that would (somehow) infect the code-breaking machine with a virus.
I was was even able to overlook the author's mistaken description of what "public key" asymmetric cryptography was. (He obviously missed the whole point of it when he failed to mention that it's useful because you don't have to have a secret channel to transmit your key to the other party!)
However, when they talked of using "Streaming Quicktime" to send video messages across the world, that's when I could no longer suspend my disbelief. Nobody in the world would use "Streaming Quicktime" for a remote video feed.
Best Buy can have you arrested
Try reading Neal Stephensons'Cryptonomicon.
What's next? A compassionate WWE wrestler?
No offense to beautiful blondes who are actually computer experts, it's just that I've never actually seen one. (Unlike hot cops which seem to be around every corner, but I can't talk to them since I'm afraid of them)
If you don't know what AltaVista is (was), get off my lawn.
The characters are painfully two-dimensional and Brown's descriptions are usually limited to cliched beautiful but intelligent women and intelligent but rugged men.
The plot's worse. There are holes you could drive a truck through, and that's only when you don't see what's coming 150 pages before it happens. By the time you reach the end, where a computer virus is slowly removing layers of "firewalls" like they're Star Trek shields, you're ready to hurl.
This is honestly one of the worst books ever. Go pick up Cryptonomicon instead.
I quite liked the book, having read it yesterday on my tablet from Peanut Press. I'd rather have read about the consequences of shutting down the NSA than a simple answer - 3.
- 11 6-130-28-116-32-44-133-U-130
One thing I'm puzzled about though - at the end of Brown's books there is a string of seemingly random numbers. Do they mean anything?
1-V-116-44-11-89-44-46-L-51-130-19-118-L-32-118
Generally this book is badly researched, but there are one or two things that really stand out.
First the main character Susan is supposed to be a top brain at the NSA. The only problem is that she's thick as concrete. I'm not saying she's slow on the uptake, merely my cat could have figured out the general plot before her.
Inventing new types of computers and math seems okay, but keep it on planet Earth. This stuff is too far fetched for most anyone to absorb and stay in a state of suspended disbelief.
Throughtout the book she was constantly coming in from the point of view that the NSA was correct in trying to snoop into everyones data?
This was shown with SEVERAL diatribes about how if only the people knew the real dangers they wouldn't be upset about email taps and wire taps..
I found the book to be readable, but overly ambitious in scope, and the periodic totalitarian outbursts were a bit much for me.
It was entertaining. Not at the same level
as the code though.
BTW, even if you are a professional assasin it
is hard to shoot in a moving car at
a moving subject. Try it some time.
Regards,
Brian
minor spoiler, no names or real details given...
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[Spoilage]
[Space]
[Preserved]
My disapointment is that the "catch" is the same in both books. Someone close and assumed to be trusted turns out to be the bad guy.
And that the plot in both (all three? I didn't bother reading _Digital Fortress_) is essentially our main character going on a "treasure hunt" following some fairly mindless clues.
I recommend the James Bond books. Sure, they are dated, but the provide an interesting glimpse into spycraft as it was 50 years ago.
;)
Some notes of interest:
-the books have almost nothing to do with the movies
-the books are short, about 150 pages
-not much action in the books
-Bond is not bulletproof like his movie counterpart
I get the feeling as reading these books that Ian Fleming writes about what he knows, and the material seems well reasearched, whether it be about rocket engines or toxic flora.
Anywho, just thought I'd toss in my $2E-2 while we're talking about what we're reading
A witty saying proves you are wittier than the next guy.
A few months back I read the DaVinci Code. I was impressed enough with the research the author did that my girlfriend went and got me Deception Point, and I got myself Digital Fortress. I read the both of them, and having now read 3 Dan Brown books I feel I can make a few generalizations:
:) )
(Spoiler warning!)
His plots and characters are paper thin. These books are the literary equivalent of your standard hollywood blockbuster movie (and by this I mean Independence Day, not LOTR).
The main villain is always the guy closest to the character, a boss, confidant, etc. Motivation can be sexual, power, take your pick.
The books are written so as to be ported directly to the big screen. You can almost see scene transitions between paragraphs. One of books chapters actually ended with "camera pan left, fade to black" (just kidding!
The research for Digital Fortress was not as good as for DaVinci - we had the usual confusion between data and executable code (gee, you'd think government cryptogurus would know not to execute code contained within a suspect file), as well as exploding supercomputers, the ability to bypass every single security control by a clueless manager that should NOT be touching said supercomputer, etc. There's an actual 7 layer firewall somewhere that graphically displays the 7 walls, hacker attacks, and even displays each layer falling and the attackers getting closer and closer to the core of the system! Sure it's all explained away in some way or another, but it really makes no sense once you step back from it.
The plot for Deception Point was overly contrived and is designed as an excuse for shooting and chasing people around over a two hour movie, and does not stand up to the inspection of the reading pace of a book.
Now, don't get me wrong. I loved the books, they were fun, and even if the suspension of disbelief was a bit thin in some spots I would not hesitate to recommend any of them to almost anyone - it's just that Burger King is also tasty every once in a while, and seeing stuff blow up on screen while people chase each other is cool too.
-Jack Ash
Yeah, the first time it was a nice twist. Now after reading his 3 other books I can spot the "surprise" bad guy from the first page he appears on. And that line in Angels and Demons, early on, about how you can slow yourself down in a fall with a big coat or something like that... I mean, foreshadowing is a good technique is used carefully but ...
and I didn't like it much. The plot wasn't so bad but the technical aspects were kinda laughable and annoyingly repititive
It sounds like much of the book's tension hinges on the unbelievable damage that will be unleashed on the world if there exists a cipher that the NSA cannot crack on a whim. I think I'd have a hard time appreciating the book because I'd be rooting for the cipher to be released to the world. I simply don't agree that it's important that the US government be able to read everyone's mail, in fact I think it's important that people be able to keep secrets. Yeah, there are bad people who will do bad things, but there are a whole lot more good people who don't deserve to have their every conversation scrutinized.
In reality, I'd be very, very surprised to learn that the NSA can break all or, frankly, any of the major ciphers that exist now. What evidence there is seems to indicate that they aren't that far beyond public cryptographers and that they're even learning from public research at times. And if they truly have computers that are trillions of times faster than anything available to the rest of the world, well, I think we need to storm the gates, because there is more valuable work to which that power can be put.
Then again, maybe they just want me to think that.
Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
This book was really good, and any true Geek should enjoy it, as it's based on our favourite enemy (okay, second favouite, not including microsoft..), the NSA.
Although I really enjoyed this book, I must say it was not up to par with the Da Vinci code, and there is a good reason, this was Dan Brown's FIRST book. For his first novel, it was excellent..
And remember folks:
NEVER SAY A WORD.
Mod +5 Drunk
Er, unless you don't listen to Snoop...
Sha-zizzle!
Side note, good book. Try Ice Station by Matt Rielly. I chewed through in hours, and loved it, in spite of the inaccuracy, I was willing to forgive it for the sake of a fast paced book.
Why is David Becker being hunted down?
Maybe someone's jealous of Posh Spice?
Refuse to make a statement in your sig!
Of course the premise wasn't actually his. The original source, The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, was much more fun because it does a better of job of blurring the distinctions between fiction and non-fiction and therefore sucks you in. Of course the authors present it as fact but that's just part of the fun.
Doesn't it make you feel good to know that our freedoms are protected by politicans, lawyers and journalists.
This book was to me very formulaic. It became apparent to me that Dan Brown, while he does produce some great stories, pretty much rehashes the same themes over and over. The extremely clever main character, the sinister secretive organization, the sexual undertones, conspiracy type theories, unexpected complex plot twists (the hes a good guy, oh no now hes a bad guy type, or is he? kind of thing). At times I almost feel he did a search and replace on the character's names and the "CIA" with all references to the church.
If you think of the DaVinci Code as a 4 cylinder car, think of Digital Fortress as the same car except two of the cylinders are not hitting. Its the same experience, just not as good. Cryptography replaced art history and religous symbols, and it just did not work as well. After reading the DaVinci Code, I thought Dan Brown was brilliant. After reading Digital Fortress, I thought he was just an average guy with a knack for research and bringing out the conspiracy theorist in all of us.
Digital Fortress suffered from, as others noted, "idiot plots" in which the main characters have to think and act like idiots in order to propel the book along in order to create suspense. I find idiot plots highly annoying, because anyone with the purported intelligence of the main characters does the *stupidest* things or misses the *blatantly obvious* solutions to the problem. And I don't exactly consider myself genius material; we're talking on the order of "not interviewing primary witnesses to an event" level of stupidity.
Also, Brown now has three books that use time constraints to provide the major tension in the plot. The characters have only nnnn amount of time to figure things out or something truly bad will happen. (nnnn is usually an arbitrarily small number, like 24 hours.) Since the characters are acting like idiots, the time constraints only allow Brown to pull quickie and highly improbable solutions out of a hat -- "My god! You mean the Pope was really a female impersonator?" This isn't innovative, it's trite.
As cheapie reads from a used bookstore, Brown's books could be worse, but they're not worth paying full price at a bookstore. They're not high art or truly innovative, and I really don't understand why "DaVinci Code" has been on the bestseller list for so long.
(Slightly off topic: I think the Templar sigils in "Angels and Demons" are truly creative -- and they were created by an artist friend of Brown's. Best thing about the book.)
Digital Fortress was Dan's first book, and was quite an amazing read for a first timer. He has made leaps and bounds in his writing style and ability. He has more and better editors now as well, having made it from new writer to multiple #1 best seller writer. Dan is a personal friend of mine and I've been amazed to watch him reach and expand his potential. I look forward to his next book.
Cryptonomicon was awesome... Df was, well, to put in terms that even Dan Brown would understand:
Digital Fortress == Less grid To Fail (er, uh, I mean "Less grid To Fail T")
Tot Fail Gridless?
Ok, you get the idea!
I started to read Angels and Demons and found it laughable in it's giving away of things early and the actions of the hero. After the third, "He didn't know he'd use this knowledge several hours later" I gave up and canceled my hold on The daVince Code.
-jls
Techno-pagan
I read four of his books (Angels and Demons, Point Deception, DaVinci Code, and Digital Fortress) over a vacation about a month ago. I was pretty entertained by all of them. They are fast reads with pretty quick plotlines. They do definitely repeat the same basic plot structure. His writing kind of reminded me of Dean Koontz (repetitive plot structures/characters) After a couple of Koontz's books, I couldn't remember the difference between them. When I'm at the bookstore and can't find a new author, I'll probably pick up Dan Brown's next book. I would like to see DaVinci as a movie.
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The guy who played Judas in "Jesus Christ Superstar"?!? Is that you?
What tidbits hey did have in there about encryption were absolute rubbish. He talks about "rotating plaintext" as the way to prevent a brute force attack. Folks, the "plaintext" is the content of an encrypted message! How can you "rotate" the content?
Plus, you *do* have to know the algorithm to do a brute force attack. Brute force means you "try" all of the possible keys, in order, until you find the right one. How can you do that without knowing the algorithm????
Hated it.
I am constantly disappointed by how many people choose to read this kind of crap. I read DVC with my book club, and it was just plain bad. I don't even really have a problem with a nice, mindless read from time to time, but 400 pages of it? Dear god. And people go out of their way to read more than one of his books?
If you've already read through all of the classics in Western literature, then by all means, read something by Dan Brown. I'm warning you now, you'll feel like you've wasted a few hours when you finish. But if the last ten books you read were featured prominently in airport book stores, and you've never read anything by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, or John Steinbeck, or John Updike, or Cormac McCarthy, or Jane Austen, or Flannery O'Connor, or Jorge Luis Borges, then do yourself a favor and skip Dan Brown's crap.
(Yeah, somebody here is going to tell me that all of the authors that I mentioned suck. Fine. But can you honestly say they suck more than Dan Brown? Or most of the other stuff on the best seller lists these days?)
andy
Life is life . . . everything else is just a stupid T-shirt slogan.
Yes, the book is based on a pivotal plot point that is ludicrous. The plot revolves around a new encryption scheme that will render the NSA's super-secret weapon (a brute force crack machine that will decrypt anything within minutes) useless. The source code to this new encryption algorithm has been posted to the Internet and downloaded by crypto types worldwide. The catch -- it's encrypted with itself. The book is about the race for the key that can decrypt the algorithm so the source is accessible and can be used to create truly unbreakable encryption.
Well, the cryptography head comes up with a plan (repeatedly called "brilliant" in the book) to get the key first, modify the source to include a back-door so the NSA can read everything while the public thinks the code is unbreakable, re-encrypt the modified source and replace the version that's been posted to the web. Then they leak the key and the whole world starts using "Digital Fortress".
Does Brown really think that you can replace a file on the web that's been downloaded by thousands and that all the downloaded copies will be updated as well? He seems to -- he only explores the possibility that Tankado might have reviewed the code and found the changes, and quickly dismisses it. He doesn't even consider that most of the people would decrypt the version they already have, let alone consider that someone might compare the source between the version currently available and the one downloaded before the key was released.
The modifications to the source would be posted to Slashdot within 5 minutes of the key being released. But Brown believes no one would ever catch on, and this master plan drives the entire novel. It's utter drivel.
Books by Dan Brown are by deffinition: Exactly like books by Michel Crichton only stupider.
If you have read any of his other work, don't waste the time on this one. It is the same plot as Angles & Demons and The DaVinci Code. Same character types (Liberal Arts Professor type and incredible hot 150+ IQ science chick). At least A&D and TDVC had interesting premises. I found the background information far more interesting than the plots though. (Did you know that you can be elected Pope if the college of cardinals all exclain your name as though inspired by God?)
Truth: If it's not one thing, it's another
That's the only way I could describe the novel. I read the whole thing, cover to cover, in about five hours time, finishing at about 2AM. I couldn't put it down.
I have a habit of reading books several times over, but I could not get through this book the second time. Once I was over the suspense and action I found that almost half the book was stupid, implausible, fictional, inaccurate, unbelieveable, and contrary to all logic. Example: A Google search for "Rotating Cleartext" (which was one of the major parts of the supposedly unbreakable encryption) turned up exactly two results; both of them were about the book itself.
The major failure, though, was the idea that a supercomputer--even a really really fast one--could crack an unknown algorithm by brute force. The idea of applying key guessing to a unknown encryption type is rediculous and impossible.
If you tried it for a long enough time you could probably decode it into an entirely different message, for the same reason monkeys could produce the full works of Shakespeare. And then if you know the algorithm, key guessing by definition will always work, although it may take centuries (not hours, as the book claims). There are more technical inaccuracies that I noticed and that others noticed (especially the final firewall scene). That said, the book was a fun read for a couple of hours, and I might have some fun later illustrating exactly where the book got it wrong (Answer: A lot of places).
The Cheese Stands Alone.
I second the view that Digital Fortress is a lame piece of crap. Dan Brown did not do even the most basic research before writing Digital Fortress. Bruce Schneier's book Applied Cryptography has been around a long time. Even if you don't understand the C code and the mathematics, you can get a pretty good picture of why some algorithms are unbreakable, in practice. But Brown does not seem to have read anything about cryptography. He simply waves his hands and writes "quantum computing". He might as well have written "magic happens".
Now what would have been interesting would be to speculate that the NSA actually did have quantum computing. Then the interesting plot theme would be how do you keep something like that secret. But such plot complexity is not for Dan Brown.
As other Slashdotters have noted, Brown's characters are cardboard and his writing is poor. So while one might forgive someone for technical mistakes if the plot and writing were good, the combination of mediocre writing and technical howlers is pretty obnoxious.
If you want a writer who is not a specialist in computer science but gets the details right and even provides interesting insight, try Peter Watts the author of Starfish and Maelstrom.
Watts is a Phd marine biologist, so he's definitely a bright guy. So perhaps he's in a different league than Dan Brown. Watts has definitely done his research and it shows in his interesting observations about neural nets.
Watts' characters are complex and his plots are interesting, if dark. (OK, so I should probably submit a book review - Watts' has a new book coming out this year and I'll do it when the book appears, since Watts' is under appreciated)
The icon for this story gives me the heebie-jeebies.
I work in computer security and found the techincal premises of the work absurd. The crypto was idiotic. It was premised on not decrypting to plaintext. But if you don't have plaintext, you haven't decrypted.
Second of all, the decryption algorithm could decrypt arbitrary key sizes and was completely independent of algorithm.
Third, virus is only interesting on code which is executed not raw data. Why should the encrypted text be executed? And of course, the architecture was different so where is the virus detector software coming from--and they wrote it themself doesn't cut it.
The problems just go on and on.
On a non-technical front, the author over does it on action. Where one action sequence would do, the author inserts 5, tiring the reader for no purpose.
It is quite amazing. Reading those books makes you dumber.
Dan Brown has that wonderful knack that some authors have of making one feel like an "insider" or privy to information that "outsiders" don't have. With "Da Vinci Code" we were part of the secrets of the Louvre, many ancient bits of occult religious lore, and that most intriguing of all Catholic institutions Opus Dei. In "Angels and Demons" (my preferred book of the three) we're in on the hidden treasures of the Vatican library and the Illuminati--source of centuries of speculation. With "Digital Fortress" he takes us inside the NSA.
He also entertains us by piling thrill upon thrill, twist upon turn, surprise upon surprise. I thought he did the best job of this with "Angels and Demons," which I felt I had to put down occasionally just to catch my breath. I wasn't as captivated by "Da Vinci" because I was already familiar with the central suprise of the book, and it didn't shock me. With "Digital Fortress," I guessed the meaning of the pivotal code pages before any of the supposed cryptography geniuses, scientists, and other NSA gurus did. Since I don't regard myself as all that brilliant, my guess is that any educated reader would do the same.
Still, I'll always follow an author who gives me that "inside track" feeling. Clancy was that way in several of his earlier novels, and I'll probably pick up anything new that Dan Brown has to offer.
Anne
DUCT TAPE: The Election Supervisors' Secret Weapon
As far as fiction writing goes Brown's books are getting better and better, A & D and TDVC are his later books and most people enjoy them (myself included) besides he's not writing specifically for the 1.2% of us who are geeks and willing to fight over his choice of words for describing public key encryption. He's growing as a writer his books are getting better. BTW anybody read Holdy Blook Holy Grail? It reads like a history book but is interesting.
Don't be a Hem, find some new cheese.
http://gregegan.customer.netspace.net.au/BIBLIOGRA PHY/Online.html
see:t ml
http://world.std.com/~franl/crypto/one-time-pad.h
The hardest part is making sure that both parties and only both parties have the key.
Jared
I hated it. A fluffy piece of nonsense suitable for techie posers only. I got about halfway and I couldn't stand it anymore.
"Eve of Destruction", it's not just for old hippies anymore...
...care to compare DigiFort to Neuromancer?
:)
i love WG and was curious how this compared to his writing.
i'm sure i'll just get a lot of "go read it"
maybe i go do that myself...
"You get all the fun of sitting still, being quiet, writing down numbers, paying attention...science has it all."
Huh. I completely missed Halle Berry's boobs. Must not have read carefully enough. Or past page twenty of this crap-fest.
But I left feeling a bit disappointed when looking back on the overall picture.
Then why bother us with your nonsense?
Rather pretentious, aren't we?
Ever think about GETTING A JOB?
It was interesting to read Code's immediate predecessor, called "Angels and Demons", because it was almost like a trial run of the plot for "Code". It had almost all of the same elements - the same symbology professor, the female tagalong who happens to be an expert at all the right things and at the same time ignorant of everything the main character knows so he can "educate" her (and the reader) about it, the rogue killer, a tour of the unseen reaches a historic venue, a trip into the secret laboratories of big science and a lot of preaching about how Christianity has been twisted by the Roman Catholic Church to ensure its own preservation. Not a bad book with some good stuff in it, but not as polished.
Then I picked up "Digital Fortress". Hmm. Let's see:
- Cryptic but incredibly important message from a dying keeper of a "Big Secret" transmitted in the prologue? Check.
- Nerdy main character thrown rudely into a mad life or death scramble to prevent something Really Bad (tm) from happening? Check.
- Female character who happens to be an expert at the right things at the right time but otherwise doesn't do much to help? Check.
- Knowledgeable, respected person who seems to be a friend but really is an Adversary? Check.
- Big mean killer? Check.
- Distorted picture of How Things Really Are Done? Check. [ In this case the NSA stands in for the church... must have relized the Vatican was a better target after writing this book. ]
Overall, very unsatisfying execution of a mildly interesting premise. Since all 3 of Dan Brown's books that I've read share the same basic plot, I'm done reading his stuff.Someone tell me if he has anything out that doesn't follow this formula. This is why I stopped reading Tom Clancy novels ages ago.
Warning: bit of a spoiler.
I just finished this book a few days ago. It was very transparent. Everything was easily guessed. Knew the ring was probably nothing as soon as the scene where Tankado holds up his hand to give the ring away. Guessed what the code was going to be. Obvious who the bad guy was and was not. Then took forever for some of the smartest people in the world to figure out "the primary elemental difference" between uranium-235 and uranium-238. Give me a break. Author just has alot to learn about presenting things so that the reader will interprete things one way but that an alternate interpretation he will reveal later isn't possible. It was just too obvious what the alternate interpretations were and that the author was leaving them there on purpose.
(Yes I can't type or spell if it's not a programming language - complain if you want.)
Angels and Demons was *MUCH* better than TDVC. Digital Fortress was lacking in actual technical knowledge.
From reading TDVC, it was obvious that Dan Brown had just read "Holy Blood, Holy Grail" (published 20 years ago) and written a book around some of the ideas in it.
The book sucked. It had potential to be a very good story, but Brown just couldn't pull it off. It was way too predictable. For example, a great ending, and one I was expecting, would have been for Mary Magadelene's ashes to have been mixed with the paint in the Mona Lisa. That would explain why the Mona Lisa is so protected and intriguing. The characters were predictable and, frankly, boring.
BTW, people I have met who have read the book believe it is all true. They don't understand that it is fiction. People are stupid.
Then it must have sroucked!!
(Meaning it rocks, yet it sucks)
This comment was clueless, and any true Geek should laugh at it, as it's based on our favourite enemy (okay, second favouite, not including microsoft..), the troll.
Although I really hated this comment, I must say it was not up to par with his other drivel, and there is a good reason, this was DR SoB's FIRST brain damage. For his latest comment, it was garbage..
And remember folks:
NEVER FART A BIRD.
Eco is an awesome writer. I read Foucault's Pendulum in college and was hooked on Eco. I read The Da Vinci Code and want to cut chunks out of my penis with finger nail clippers. There is now comparison; read Eco and pass on Brown.
Great book. It was during reading this book that I found out that a 64-bit code can be represented on a ring with 64 characters.
-- Robert
Bet this
After reading several comments, i have no intention of ever buying this book, but i would be quite interested in what the dumb solution in the end was...
HI O WISE PRINCE. WHT TOOK U SO DAM LONG?
Skip it. Gibson has talent and vision. Brown is a hack. In the bad sense.
I didn't read the actual review because I believe that one line sums it up best, "I left feeling a bit disappointed when looking back on the overall picture." That is exactly how I felt reading Angels and Deamons (another of his books). He writes his books like he has a movie in mind and he is thinking ahead to movie rights, which is highly likely. However, like too many big budget movies, there seems to be no real heart to the story, just one thrill to the next and once the ride stops you don't have much to reflect back on.
[news for me, stuff that doesn't matter]
Either the author doesn't really understand encryption, or is assuming the readers don't; probably both. There are already many encryption systems in place that can't be broken, called "one time pads." That is, the key changes constantly and randomly. Unless you have the key and know where in the key the message starts, you can't decrypt it. Once a part of the key is used, it's discarded and is never reused. Not only that, there are systems, such as RSA encryption that are theoretically breakable but require unreasonable lengths of time to do so, making them effectively unbreakable. For me, and for anybody with any basic knowledge of encryption, the premise of this book is simply foolish.
Good, inexpensive web hosting
About The Davinci' Code. It read well until the last 1/4. He just can't finish a book strong. The first was great, but given the ending, I won't spend any time reading his other novels...
Andrew
Spell check? Why bother. That is what grammer/spelling Nazi freaks who waiste band width posting "spell right" are for.
Basically, I'm too cheap to buy The DaVinci Code before it's in the remainder bin. So when I saw this paperback cheap in the airport book shop I thought I'd check out the author. There ought to be some medical term for the fear of being caught on an airplane without a book.
... wait for it ... at the last second. There's lots of expository dialog where characters tell each other things they already know so the author can bring the readers "up to speed". I won't even go into how unbelievable the characters were. If I want adolescent fantasies, I'll stick to my own, thank you.
... did you know that EFF was a bunch of misguided do-gooders bent on putting us at the mercy of terrorists? It's bad because many people reading this book will form their ideas about issues of privacy issues and cryptographic technology based on the "information" and misguided opinions expressed in this book. This leaves me a bit conflicted, because this book was so bad I enjoyed it -- in a Plan Nine kind of way. So I got my money's worth in a way, but I really can't in good conscience recommend others to read it.
In any case, wooohee! Was it ever a stinker. First of all, being a geek, I recognized when he got the cryptography wrong, which was practically on every page. He got this stuff so wrong that it was literally (I mean literally literally not figuratively literally) laugh out loud bad. OK maybe snicker out loud bad, but bad. Did I mention how not good the information in this book was? Neal Stephenson this guy ain't.
The novel itself is your basic thriller, which means the plot has more twists than a toddler's slinky. It reminded me of a stock episode of Mission Impossible. Come to think of it the author does seem to owe quite a bit to old TV shows. He apparently learned the technique for increasing dramatic tension by watching old Star Trek episodes where the crew manages to abort the self-desruct sequence
The writing faults are, I suppose, largely first-book kind of missteps. But really if you are going to write a techno thriller, you need to do better research. Robin Cook, Michael Crichton and Neal Stephenson seem to manage. From the dedication, I take it that Mr. Brown's education in crypto issues was from a couple of "ex-NSA cryptographers", whose identity he does not know and whom he never met, but corresponded with through anonymous remailers. Riiight. Maybe his next work will be about Nigerians smuggling money out of the country with the help of people they met through e-mail.
I suppose naivete is forgivable, but what's worse is that the author, after "informing" his readers on the technical aspects of cryptography, goes on to give an equally trenchant explanation of the politics of crypto
That said, there are few places where the author demonstrates, despite being a lazy ignoramous, that he may actually have some writing talent. His description of the NSA's super-secret code breaking machine (I mean the physical, not the technical description) is memorable in the way that good authors, by an act like telepathy, put an image in your head. He compares the appearance of the machine to a killer whale rising out of the floor, but the image is, of course, appropriately phallic. So perhaps this guy's later books are better.
There's certainly room for improvement.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
no one knows how secure RSA is. It could be insecure. there is just no public knowledge of how to do it, and we think P doesn't equal NP.
Looking up from the canopy bed, she knew he was the one. Forever. As she stared into his deep-green eyes, somewhere in the distance a deafening bell began to ring. It was pulling him away. She reached for him, but her arms clutched empty air.
I can think of other examples of his crappy writing in "The Da Vinci Code":
They're trying to get away from the police in the Louvre. She looks out the bathroom window and the flashing turn signal of a truck is "mocking her." Mocking her? How exactly is the flash of the turn signal mocking her? Maybe if she was doing some repetitive motion, but she was just looking for a means of escape.
Whenever a character has a flashback, he returns to the story present by some other character saying something like, "Hey what are you doing just standing there!" as if the character was standing there for a few minutes reliving every detail of the flashback. A flashback is a literary convention to describe a past occurence. But he uses it as if the character is standing there having the flashback go through his mind line-by-line, which is just something that real people don't do. I get the feeling he did that to make the flashback more "realistic" but only makes it less so.
The old guy says to his daughter (in flashbacks). "Speak English at home. French at school." Why? It's never explained but it's obvious that Brown is fearful of putting any French words in dialogue.
And in "Angels & Demons" what's with the timer on the anti-matter container? It's supposedly a timer that at zero the battery will die and the anti-matter will be released and cause an explosion. You can't have timer knowing in advance when a battery is going to die! You have a meter measuring how much power the battery has left. But Brown made it a timer because it was more convenient for his story.
I will say that his prose has improved in each book.
And why do I torture myself reading his crap? Who knows, probably to entertain myself on how bad a writer he is. Plus my mother-in-law gives the books to me after she reads them.
Somewhere in the first few pages a group of NSA
cryptographers discuss an interesting crypto
problem in the presence of the uncleared civilian
who has been brought in to translate Kanji because
the NSA doesn't have anyone who knows anything
about Asian languages.
A few pages later we are assured that no chip
manufacturer has ever bothered to build crypto
hardware because algorithms become obsolete so
fast.
It goes downhill from there.
I suspect that this book has been the object of
much hilarity within the Fort Meade fences,
complete with dramatic readings in the style of
those FedEx "if this doesn't get to Houston
by morning we're....DOOMED" ads.
If you know crypto at the ROT13 level or above,
the technical glitches in this book will keep
setting off your bullshit detector and throwing
you out of the story.
I got the book for Christmas, I read about half of it while traveling and didn't even bother finishing it. The tech was annoying and all the plot devices were as subtle as hitting someone over the head with a hammer.
It does sound like the guy is young and gotten better since this book, I've been wondering whether or not to give Code a read.
IMHO its literary quality is disgusting: look - main hero is linguistic genius, professor - and 6' tall athlete, main heroine is mathematical genius, and (!) hi-paid hi-level executive, and beautiful woman capturing male guard's dreaming gaze, etc. Of course they make passionate love - guess where? of course ! - in front of fireplace in a "manor" in smoky mountains. Looks like a high school attempt in fiction writing.
As for the plot twists and rationale behind - to me the book looks like cheap work - if any work at all. The author wants action with gunfire in the heart of NSA. He (and any reasonable person) knows it is impossible because of tight security. Did he worked hard to imagine really smart twists to overcome security ? No, he just pretended there is no security at all, not even video monitoring, in the Crypto! and so on, and so on....
And now about mathematics... can you imagine a (super)computer blasting because of overheating due to cooling malfunction? Oh, boy! Ok, let go straight to the crown jewel: we have got a foolproof encryption algorithm. Everyone wants to see it. But its description is encrypted! Great! Its encryption employs THAT algorithm, and you will never know the algorithm's sectrets unless you have the key.... wait a minute! When you enter the key - the encrypted file will open up, and THAT means that there is a program there that takes the key and makes the decryption - so we can look at the program code and get the algorithm from there ! One does not have to decrypt the file to get the algorithm ! and so on, and so on...
And on top of all that the author claims that the Nagasaki bomb was not plutonium one, as everyone believes...what fools we all were!... and he even explains that it was "artificially manufactured, neutron-saturated isotope of uranium 238". Do you know how they make plutonium? i tell you - they "neutron-saturate" uranium 238 - as a result they get plutonium. There is no nature source of plutonium, every atom of it is "artificially manufactured"
And the last straw - in author's view a 64-bit key is represented by 64 character string. AND it is implied that it is NOT a binary string. Now that is really gross. Probably the author did not do ANY research for his so-called-book. That's why I would call this book a [EXPLETIVE DELETED].
Regards
While I'm not a security expert, one thing puzzled me. Why wouldn't the brute force machine work since it would eventually come across the key that the "bad" guy was holding?
I've read all of Dan Brown's books except Digital Fortress; I'll be sure to check it out. :P
:P He did a really good job with his character development and personality creation in DP, which I personally think were the biggest shortcomings in the first two books. Deception Point is certainly less egotistical as the first two books, as the main character (as described) seems to closely resemble the author himself. :P
:P. He's my favorite author at the time being, I might even say.
His writing style has drastically improved from Angels and Demons (at least in Deception Point, which I finished last night, er, this morning at 4am.
Deception Point might be a wee bit lacking in the loads of information, at least compared to the first two books, but that might just be me getting used to his style of writing. I will say, his overall character setup ("Which guy is the badguy?") is fairly similar throughout his books, if not predictable.
I am continually amazed at Dan Brown's depth of knowledge - if not that, then the amount of information he had to research for each book. Mythology, theology, philosophy, conspiracy, obscure science - he covers all these things in his books, and claims at the beginning that the underlying facts (descriptions of technology, relics, procedures, organizations, etc.). I can't vouch for the truth of most of the facts, but I have done research after reading his books, having had my interest spurred to investigation, and the claims seem to be, at least, overall accurate.
Furthermore, he's always able to churn books out fairly quickly it seems, and his books are definately improving - they're very interesting and intertwined, the perfect stuff for those of us that read Hardy Boys books back in 1st and 2nd grade
~/ssh slashdot.org ssh: connect to host slashdot.org port 22: too many beers
Without a doubt, the worst book that I've read this year. I couldn't get past:
1. The author's glaring technology errors. ("It's a 64 bit key!" "That's ok, not many people can memorize 64 characters!" Huh?)
2. Paper thin characters.
3. Incredible "coincidences". Felt like a 13 yr old's D&D game (to solve the big quest, first solve mini quests #1 through 5, which are just so conveniently arranged).
It's just terrible. Worst attempt at techno in a book that I've read in a long time. Want a good techno mystery?
Look at the Amazon.com reviews for more similar comments.
Written as if by veteran author of Days of Our Lives Friday afternoon-episode scripts? Check.
I really enjoyed The DaVinci Code as well, though I thought the writing had some major weak points. Nevertheless, I decided to give Digital Fortress a try. Big mistake. It has all of Code's flaws, but massively amplified. I listened to this book in the car, which I do not recommend, as it is sure to induce road rage due to major pacing and accuracy issues.
The pacing is unforgiveable. At the end of every chapter, Dan reveals some new tiny fragment of whatever the solution to the mystery du jour is a la [insert name of Soap Opera]. The repetition is maddening, particularly so because generally you (and Shaggy and Scoob) were able to unlock the big enigma sometime around chapter 2 although the random expert characters will bumble around looking attractive but confused for at least 100 more chapters. You start to to really resent the way the hero and heroine seem to cheat death every other chapter. Or not... maybe a quick death would be too kind for people this stupid.
In terms of subject matter, I should have been awed by its genius from start to finish since I am a fairly non-logical, non-crypto-oriented person. Instead, I found myself yelling the obvious solutions to the riddles at the car stereo. After not many pages, you start to doubt the validity of the IQ test that put our heroine's quotient at 170--
Random Character: Susan, event X has taken place!
Susan: But that's not possible.
R.C.: Nevertheless, it has happened. Please listen to four pages of proof and review these substantiating artifacts
Susan: I'm looking at the proof, yet still I must remain stunned and doubtful and repeat my feelings of disbelief for chapters and chapters and chapters. I must do this everytime a new fact is presented. And don't forget, I have a near-genius IQ and great legs. Also, I am a strawberry blonde.
And as others have pointed out repeatedly, the book is full of errors. And not just technical details that anyone capable of reformatting a floppy disk might notice-- cultural details are wrong, excerpts of foreign languages are often incorrect (very annoying since the male hero is allegedly a "brilliant" linguist--how hard is it to find a native speaker to run an eye over your draft, Dan?). And to add insult to injury, you are usually treated to these mistakes in the form of lengthy lectures, mental cut-away shots that generally occur during moments of high tension:
"Bob heard the bullets whizzing by his head. In his desperation to cheat death, he flung his body into the nearest open doorway, that of a soap shop on the Rue de Blah Blah Blah. As he leaped over a counter piled high with rose-shaped guest soaps, he suddenly remembered that soap in ancient times was created from rendered fat with lye and salt added to create the slippery, bubbly texture billions of people now used to remove dirt from their nailbeds. Soap has many uses, including as a medium for carving and toy-boat making (insert 3-4 additional pages on the history of soap)... the hot lead that embedded itself in his ass jerked Bob forcibly from his meditation on soap..."
This book does not merely stink, it reeks. The research reeks, the writing reeks... But if you're a precocious 10-year-old who wants to think "Wow, I'm neck and neck with a beautiful, busty NSA cryptographer with a 170 IQ when it comes to solving mysteries and breaking codes!"... then baby, this book's for you.
My girlfriend has been reading his books, and as I am a giant geek and read everything, I read them. His other two were better-- the glaring holes were too big for me to suppress my "that's not the way it works" reflex.
Never mind the fact that you can't "replace the code on the web" without also somehow magically replacing any version that's already downloaded... I about lost it laughing when the big computer exploded. Sure, maybe the cooling system could rupture and leak or something, maybe-- but he had to go and make a bunch of overheating FPGAs into a giant fireball of doom.
Ah well.
It's always tough to read "backwards". I started with "The Da Vinci Code" as a gift and have backed into "Angels & Demons" and recently "The Digital Fortress". I spent about 10 hours straight on the long holiday weekend and was also somewhat disappointed. But as I looked back over the dates I surmised that the author was growing into his craft and had not yet locked into that particular "zone" that has made novels three and four such hits. I still look forward to "Deception Point" and in writing this realize that for a second published novel, Brown pulled off a pretty decent book. If you ever get a chance to meet a writer, ask them how far the proceeds from their first novel got them...
The Davinci code is a fictional book but is pretty much based off a non-fictional book called Holy Blood, Holy Grail by Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh, and Henry Lincoln. I finished reading it and its amazing that allot of the historical premises the Davinci Code was based on has some historical evidence to back them. The paperback has a pretty cool intro all about the reaction once the book was published. A must read for people who loved the Davinci Code and like history.
It's Bill... the frustrated mainframe guy!!!
j/k
Love, Rei
THIS THING CAN TURN ON A DIME, MACROSSZERO STYLE ALSO FUCK BETA, ~NYORON
>> that can't be broken, called "one time pads."
.. it's what tDVC and DF are trying to be, anyway ..
Not true. One time pads can and have been broken. Read Cryptonomicon
It's worth noting that there's an eBook version of this on Fictionwise. For those of you who complain about it not being available in an open format, I'll point out that Secure Microsoft Reader format is just as insecure as ever :)
If I want facts about crypto I would read something else. This book is written to entertain you, for crying out loud!!!!
I liked his books so far, again good entertainment and excellent research in DaVinci Code and Angels & Demons. Those two made me search the web and check photos from visits to Rome and Paris, everything he describes is there.
I'm in the process of reading Deception Point right now, so I can't comment on that one. I hope another Dan Brown book isn't that far away.
my 2 cents
Like a lot of folks, I came accross Da Vinci Code first ... I liked it. I quickly read the rest of his books and shared them with others.
... DP is complete inplausible screenplay fare; DF isn't really much better ... I confess I did still like A&D though while others thought it jumped around too much and Langdon's leaps of cognition too easy ...
Combined with the others I shared the books with we decided that if we had started with Deception Point, we never would have gotten to Digital Fortress much less Angels and Demons or Da Vinci Code
I've certainly read worse books, but if you start with Da Vinci and work backwards you're in for disappointment.
No one has proven that there is not mathematical shortcut to break RSA. We suspect there's no way other than factoring, but we haven't proved it. And we keep coming up with faster factoring algorithms.
And if you have a quantum computer with enough bits, you can break RSA and other public key crypto in seconds. We don't know for sure that the NSA doesn't have one. (For symmetric crypto, a QC effectively halves the keylength, according to Schneier.)
One-time pads are completely unbreakable, but also impractical. Nobody uses them these days.
Not to say the author isn't clueless, haven't read the book.
Have you ever TRIED to shoot while moving?
Even if you're only walking, it's horribly difficult. A good shooter uses both hands when firing a handgun, because firing one-handed adds tremendous difficulty.
Now imagine the target is moving (which has less effect on your aim than your own motion), you're holding the gun in one hand, and steering with the other. You're paying attention to the road so you don't die, and the gun isn't even lined up with your eyes so you're not aiming, you're guessing.
I used to shoot with ex-SEALs and active DEA agents. I doubt any one of them would even TAKE a shot in that situation, much less expect to hit anything.
I only knew this because I own and have read a lot of "occult" material - that is, I have plenty of books on Freemasonry, Rosicrucianism, Shroud of Turin, plus Roslin, Kabbalah, several books on Leonardo Da Vinci, etc. In short, this book could have been researched from my library, for the most part.
So, I knew about all of this beforehand, and it makes for an interesting book to me, no matter how you spin it. But Dan Brown didn't write a "Foucault's Pendulum" - he isn't Umberto Eco, but then again, I wasn't expecting that.
I also wasn't expecting how popular this book has been! I can't believe the amount of buzz it generated. I don't understand why it generated the buzz, when other people have written non-fiction, conspiracy-style books that are well written and researched (physically, something I only wish I had the resources to do) - about real places other people can go and check out for themselves (and, several authors of these type books *have* done this). Why didn't these books, these real facts (!), cause the same buzz? Why did it take a work of fiction?
Why has there been a buzz at all? Have any of you noticed how there seems to be more people losing their reasoning capabilities and latching onto spirituality "stuff"? Have you noticed the number of TV shows that are invoking demons and angels left and right (and not in a humerous over-the-top manner like Buffy)? Also, have you noticed how the metaphysical side of things is using "tech"-like words to describe things, and the pervasiveness of using computers and such for everything from meditation to assisting in crystal light therapy and such?
None of it makes any sense! It is feeling like Carl Sagan's "Demon Haunted World" is becoming the default, and if you aren't a believer, something is wrong with *you*!
These are supposed adults - who openly laugh at the idea of a real Santa Claus or Easter Bunny, but have no problem with the idea of a "supreme being in the sky with angels" or a "place of fire and brimstone and demons"...
Was Jesus a real person? Based on my research, yeah - I think Jesus was a real person (or more likely, *persons*). For his time, he had radical ideas, ideas which upset many and made many fearful of him and his followers. I think he taught many good lessons. I am sure he said and did things that have been ommitted/purged in the standard texts - he was only a person, after all. But I am not going to believe he was anything more than this. We should be amazed and happy that such a person(s) existed. We should recognize in a broad manner these same traits when we see them in our own times. But worship them? No - that is a waste of time and effort. We should instead take their words and deeds, and know them in whole, and apply that to our lives. It is entirely possible to be agnostic/atheist/whatever - and be a good and just person.
Reason is the Path to God - Anon
I just finished "Foucault's Pendulum" and, while it was indeed chock full of arcane tidbits and esoterica, as a novel it plain sucked. I was 30 pages from the end saying to myself, "Okay, something big has got to be coming ... patience ... I'm sure that I'm just pages away from something huge", and _nothing_ever_happened_! Oh sure, the secret rite in the museum *yawn*, hoo boy that sure wrapped things up didn't it? Throughout the book, while well written, I kept getting the impression that Eco was trying very hard to impress someone - his readers, his publisher, whoever. If you want a ponderous treatise on wacky Templar theories go ahead and read it, if you want an actual story then Da Vinci Code is better in my opinion.
Pay attention to me!!!!!!!!
::jumping::
I said I would reply to your last post, remember?
THIS THING CAN TURN ON A DIME, MACROSSZERO STYLE ALSO FUCK BETA, ~NYORON