The Lost Symbol for £0.99

It pays to be loyal. Though I see no reason why customers should be loyal - if the customer is the king, shouldn't the companies be loyal to the customer? I would rather call it patronage.

In any case, this "patronage" resulted in obtaining The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown for £0.99. Now isn't that cool?

How?

I have been buying books from Foyles for some time now. Every time I buy something worth £15 I get a stamp. The personnel at the cash counters are pretty decent. They stamp the Foyalty Card (that's what they call it) even when the cost of a book is £14.50 or thereabouts. Once you get 10 stamps, you are eligible to buy anything worth £15 (basically, 10%).

So, The Lost Symbol beckoned me and I am now following the exploits of Professor Robert Langdon (he always ends up with a super smart lady companion, have you noticed?).

Why didn't I purchase a book of more lasting value, you ask?

Oh come on! Don't be a snob!

Besides, I do not think it would have made for an attention-grabbing headline. Do you think you would have stopped to read a blog titled "Think Twice for £0.99".
That was the other book I picked up :)

An idea for Dan Brown

I see more and more non fiction writers referring to Internet in their books. More often than not these are consigned to the footnotes so that the flow of the text does not break. And you know what such references actually enhances the pleasure of reading such books.

Here's an example from Kluge by Gary Marcus ...

If you should mishear John Fogerty's "There's a bad moon on the rise" as "There's a bathroom on the right" so be it. Or Jimi Hendrix's "Excuse me while I kiss the sky" for "Excuse me while I kiss the guy." If you, like me, get a kick out of these examples, Google for the term Mondegreen and find oodles more.

And so I did and now I know what Mondegreen means. I also recollect an old Hindi joke of an extremely bad taste where Mondegreen was used. "There was a cold day" was heard as "Darwaza khol dey" (open the door) when the person singing is taking a shower in the bathroom whose door wouldn't latch.

Here's another from the same book ... [I]f you are into [memorizing digits of pi, such as 3.1415926535], refer to http://www.ludism.org/PiMemorisation

for some basic tips.

Ok! Here's a take away for Dan Brown or a would-be Dan Brown. :D

How about writing a fiction with clues hidden on Internet?
The interested readers would be invited to search the Internet to figure out the clue for themselves. Of course, the skill lies in writing so that even those who are too lazy to search the Internet for clues would enjoy the story. Now that would be something.

Angels & Demons

Had to read Angels & Demons before seeing the movie. So managed to that this weekend.
Naturally, even when you do not wish to, comparison with The Da Vinci Code is inevitable.

Here's my take on it.

As a book the Da Vinci Code is far superior to Angels & Demons. In The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown actually invites the readers to solve the clues along with the main protagonist, Robert Langdon. On the other hand, unless you live in Rome and have spent your considerable time staring at the architecture and sculptures of the temples, you are unlikely to solve - or even attempt to solve - any of the clues in Angels & Demons. So, as a book, I prefer The Da Vinci code.

It is exactly for this reason that I predict that the movie Angels & Demons will be a bigger box office success than The Da Vinci Code. It is always difficult to project mental processes on to the screen, though I must say, the director Ron Howard of Da Vinci Code made a valiant attempt to depict Langdon's thought process by superimposition of shots and using sepia tint (Is that what it is called?).

Oh! By the way Mr. Dan Brown, Hatha Yoga is not a Buddhist practice. You might want to update Angels & Demons.