The Da Vinci code scandal

Dan Brown's been taken to court by the authors of Holy Blood, Holy Grail recently, as they claimed he ripped off their more scholarly work. Dan Brown won the case, and apparently, "the presiding judge pointed out that in the Internet age, it was difficult for researchers to know the provenance of the material they were reading" (quote from Sci Fi Wire).

Now, I have actually read Holy Blood, Holy Grail, maybe 15 years ago. Dan Brown copied the story, absolutely no doubt about it. And that's with my hazy memory over the 15 years.

Maybe he didn't know, but what sort of author has not heard (and read) one of the key books (if not THE key book) on the topic they're writing about. Did Dan just make up the whole story without any background reading?

I doubt it. Bad man, Dan, bad man.

posted by Blakey UK @ 12:00 pm