Holy Grail – DaneCobain.com

Jeff Russell – The Beatles Album File & Complete Discography | Review

Title: The Beatles Album File & Complete Discography

Author: Jeff Russell

Type: Non-Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 464

Rating: 7/10

Jeff Russell – The Beatles Album File & Complete Discography

This book is like the holy grail for Beatles fans – it’s effectively a printed database of every Beatles album that was ever released, including all of the variations that were released across the world, with comprehensive notes about the tracks which appear upon them.

Each song includes all of the information that you’re ever likely to need, including the length of the track, the personnel who feature on the recording, the dates and locations of the recording sessions, and a summary by the author, which highlights interesting trivia that even the most hardened Beatles fan might not happen to know.

It’s clearly a very well-written and very well-researched collection of information, but I do feel like it was difficult to just ‘read’ – it’s the sort of book that someone might keep in the bathroom or something, because you can only really dip in and out of it. It gets kind of overwhelming if you try to read it from start to finish, like I did.

The Beatles

The actual physical dimensions of the book are unusual, too – it’s square–shaped, which makes it stand out on my bookcase, and which is presumably an aesthetic choice to try to make the book more of a collector’s item or a novelty item. I think more could have been done with the design and the layout, perhaps by pulling this together into an A4 sized hardback, but the information is there either way – it’s just that there’s probably a better way to present it.

I’m a huge Beatles fan, which made it a lot of fun for me to read, but I did have to dip in and out of it to try to keep my morale up, so I could make it to the end. This book isn’t necessarily for everyone, but if you do decide to go for it then it isn’t impossible to make it to the end – trust me, I’ve tried.

I also like the fact that Jeff Russell, the book’s author, is a Liverpudlian, and that he’s dedicated a large part of his life to The Beatles. You can really tell, because his enthusiasm comes across – it’s just that it’s a bit like the enthusiasm of a rabid train spotter who wants to tell you all about his hobby. It’s almost overenthusiastic, which you can’t necessarily complain about, but it can be almost overwhelming.

Still, if you’re a Beatles fan and you’re thinking about getting this, or if you know a Beatles fan and you’re thinking about getting it for them, there’s a lot worse that you could do. I’d recommend checking this out – why the hell not?

The Beatles

Click here to buy The Beatles Album File & Complete Discography.

Dan Brown – The Da Vinci Code | Review

Title: The Da Vinci Code

Author: Dan Brown

Type: Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 605

Rating: 7/10

Dan Brown – The Da Vinci Code

It’s time. It’s the best-selling novel of one of the world’s best-selling authors. It’s The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown, the book that made a star of the writer and which went on to become a Hollywood film starring Tom Hanks and Audrey Tautou. Odds are that if you’re a reader, you’ve read it. And if you’re on this site in the first place, you’re probably a reader.

Dan Brown’s tale of the Illuminati follows Harvard professor Robert Langdon and symbologist Sophie Neveu as they struggle to decipher an ancient mystery – it’s a typical Dan Brown novel, really. Langdon’s background as a symbologist is a necessity – the path is strewn with puzzles hidden in artwork, and it’s through this that Langdon has the symbologic savvy to understand how each of the pieces of the jigsaw fits together.

And, like all of Brown’s novels, there’s a twist – see, it turns out that Jesus had a ‘thing’ with Mary Magdalene, and after his death his bloodline continued throughout the ages. Problem is, certain people don’t want that to become common knowledge, and Langdon and Neveu need to stay alive for long enough to figure out what it is that they’re sitting on and to make it public.

Dan Brown

Another central plot line is the eventual discovery of the Holy Grail, the wooden cup that Jesus drank from at the last supper. Except, that’s not actually what the Grail is – but I’ll be quiet, I don’t want to spoil it for you all. It’s one of those books that you ought to read anyway, just because of its popularity.

It’s not a bad book though, and it’s one of only two Dan Brown novels that I could actually recommend. As much as we all love to hate him, Brown is still a master wordsmith and a man who literally taught on the subject. He started writing much later than most as well, after dabbling as a musician.

Predictably, the book managed to draw attention to the Opus Dei and to come under fire from Christian associations across the world – many called for the book to be banned. Ever heard of the Streisand Effect? It’s a phenomenon that’s named after Barbara Streisand, who tried to suppress aerial photographs of her house. This attempt at censorship alerted people to the problem in the first place, driving the whole thing to much greater heights than it could previously have reached. In part, the book’s success is surely down to the right-wingers who tried to censor it, thus increasing the desire to read it in the first place.

The Mona Lisa

As for the conspiracy element of the story, well – we all love a good theory, don’t we? I find conspiracy theories as interesting as the next man, but I’m slightly hesitant to believe them. I’ve seen too many low-budget documentaries to believe everything that I see and hear.

Of course, it doesn’t matter whether you believe it in the long run – you just need to suspend your disbelief for long enough to sit out the story. That’s pretty easy, because Brown’s writing is lucid and communicative – he’s not a bad writer, despite the occasional scientific and historical inaccuracies.

Overall, it’s a recommendation from me, ’cause it’s the kind of book that anyone can enjoy. It makes you feel clever, too – I have a feeling that that has something to do with the book’s popularity. It’s the kind of book that people read to complete their quota of a book a year.