ok Book Review time.
At the moment I am reading the biography of Leonardo da Vinci- entitled "The Flights of the Mind".
This [book] seems to have created a bit of a stir in literature circles on the web.
I even read some review on UK Amazon saying that the book is just a copy- and therefore not as good as "the da Vinci Code"!!!!!!
I have read the da Vinci Code- in a weekend-and it is a good book. I liked that the story (and yes story as in fictional) was gripping, twisting, easy digestible stuff.
Because that s what it is.
I was talking to a wannabe writer about this same subject during dinner last week sometime. And when trying to put across my point I came to this assimilate- that is 'the da Vinci Code' is akin to a McDonald's Lunch.Quick, to the point , and fun.
'The Flights of the Mind' is more of a gourmet dinner at say...? The Zafferano's restaurant in Knightsbridge.
Don't get me wrong; they both have there place, I mean there have been times where I have craved a McDonald's Cheeseburger or two.( or a Burger King Bean Burger for that matter....), but its not quite the same as a proper dinner is it?
'Flights of the mind' is -to me - a well researched and nicely chronological biography of one of the great minds of all time.
I think that intellectual circles should be thankful for the increase in interest in this and other complex histories, which -lets face it- has been very much made fashionable by the success of the da Vinci Code.,[ No I,m not talking about Harry Potter and wizard of whojamacallit whatever].
But ( yes there is a but)..I am of the mindset that we should appreciate that each of the books have only one thing in common- that is that the crux of the respective works claim to be about Leonardo Da Vinci.
I thing that the reviewer of the Flights of the mind on behalf of the Observer Newspaper put it best when she said "....If you read one book with da Vinci in its title this year, make it this one.....
