Speaking of the DaVinci Code I'll toss in a plug for "Foucault's Pendulum" by Umberto Eco.
If you really want to know a lot about the Templars and all of the famous esoteric groups of history, what is claimed about them, from a unique and skeptical perspective (don't want to give away too much of the plot) it's a great novel.
Problem is the first 50 pages or so are mind-numbingly boring. Then it gets good. It's the DaVinci Code for non-morons.
That's a wild read. He does cover the sensationalist speculation that the Templars merged with the Assassins (in the Middle East during the Crusades) and later reappeared as the Jesuits, doesn't he? An ironic joke of sorts. Like the early Rosicrucian manifestoes. The part about the Nazi search for the kabala tattoos pointing to the directions to the subterranean entrance to Agartha (Tibet) was a howler!
Now, that's a novel that would make a bizarre film!
I started Focault's Pendulem and never made it past those first 50 pages. Perhaps I should give it another try.
I highly reccomend it. But it does take intense concentration to keep it all straight.
“Speaking of the DaVinci Code I’ll toss in a plug for “Foucault’s Pendulum” by Umberto Eco.
If you really want to know a lot about the Templars and all of the famous esoteric groups of history, what is claimed about them, from a unique and skeptical perspective (don’t want to give away too much of the plot) it’s a great novel.
Problem is the first 50 pages or so are mind-numbingly boring. Then it gets good. It’s the DaVinci Code for non-morons.”
I heartily agree, this is a must-read if you’re curious at all about the Templars. It’s not a quick-read-at-the-beach kind of book, but well worth the journey. I fid myself not particularly liking the main character of the book, but the story keeps me in, every time.
It’s all the more amazing when you realize Ecco’s native tongue is Italian.
Also worth the read is The Name Of The Rose. The movie was okay, the book was much, much better.
Holy Blood, Holy Grail is utter nonsense, it’s poorly written, makes leaps in logic to make it’s points that boggle the mind, and often makes you reread page after page of the same material repeateded slightly differently. It has a cult status, much like Chariots of the Gods, but it should be looked at as pure fiction, much like that hack Brown’s DaVinci Code.
Ecco did his homework, the material he presents is based on historical documents that you can go read yourself. I don’t believe in the idea that there’s this woo woo mystical cult still operating, but he sets this fantasy in the middle of solidly researched and beautifully described historical facts.
Finding good, solid books on the Templars is hard, most of it is kooky conspiracy theory dreck, or dry as a bone research documents or the original (most often Latin) manuscripts and history books. Ecco’s book is a breath of fresh air in the genre.
The Templars existed, that much is known, and their works still remain. Do they exist still? Probably not. But their story is a fascinating one!