The Da Vinci Code Compromise

I have a degree in English and have spent the better part of my life reading. 

My Top 5 books of all time are, in no specific order:

1. The Divine Comedy by Dante Aligheiri
2. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
3. The Stranger by Albert Camus
4. The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli
5. Catch 22 by Joseph Heller

Notice that the Da Vinci Code is not on this list.  If I continued the list to the Top 100, I am not sure that the Da Vinci Code would make that list either.  Quite simply, the Da Vinci Code is not great literature.  The book may be fast-paced, exhilarating, and suspensful, but Dan Brown's prose is lacking.  Yet, the Da Vinci Code has sold more copies than any book besides the Bible.  The Ron Howard-directed-movie comes out this week and has become such a worldwide force that it has caused scores of protests and has even won dismissals from the Vatican. 

I also have a degree in Religious Studies, and while Dan Brown's theology is on par with his literature, I still recommend this book to people who ask me if they should read it.  Why?  Because quite simply, this nation has become overwhelmed with television-watching, video-game-playing, iPod-using zombies who only pick up books when they have to and when they can't find the Cliff's Notes or a movie version.   A 2003 study by the U.S. Department of Education found that one in seven people (more than 40 million people) are functionally illiterate.  The U.S. has consistantly been losing ground to countries like Germany and Japan in terms of literacy and scientific achievement.  These facts should be alarming, not only because a person in the U.S. is not likely to appreciate the metaphors of Edgar Allan Poe, but because American jobs will begin going abroad - indeed, they already are - to those who are better prepared to do them.  American car makers can attest to the fact that Asian car manufacturers have been pushing them into bankruptcy; this may only be the beginning.