Dan Brown is known for his best-selling thriller novels but what does he read in his own time? The author has written eight bestselling novels, including The Da Vinci Code, which has become one of the best selling books of all time. His thrillers, including The Lost Symbol, Angels and Demons, Inferno, and Origin – have captivated readers worldwide.
Brown’s novels are published in 56 languages around the world with over 250 million copies in print. According to The Week, the author has shared six of his favourite books with one of them being a classic.
William Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing is one of Brown’s favourites and the most well-known on his list.
The play is a comedy set in Messina, a port city in Sicily, and explores themes of love, deception, and mistaken identity.
It follows the courtship and scandal involving young Hero and her suitor, Claudio, but the witty war of words between Claudio’s friend Benedick and Hero’s cousin Beatrice often takes center stage. Claudio is deceived by a malicious plot and denounces Hero as unchaste before they marry.
Another well-known book on Brown’s list is Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck.
This novella is one that many will be familiar with as it has commonly been taught in schools.
It follows the experiences of George Milton and Lennie Small, two displaced ranch workers during the Great Depression.
They dream of owning their own land, symbolising hope and the pursuit of the American Dream.
The story explores themes of friendship, loneliness, and the harsh realities of life, ultimately leading to a tragic conclusion that highlights the fragility of dreams and human connections.
Another of Brown’s favourites is Gödel, Escher, Bach by Douglas Hofstadter, in this book, Hofstadter explores ideas at the heart of cognitive science including meaning, reduction, recursion.
Brown has also named Codes, Ciphers, & Other Cryptic & Clandestine Communication by Fred Wrixon as a book he enjoyed. The book is an encyclopedia covering the art, science, history, and philosophy of cryptology. It follows history from the first Sumerian tablet ciphers to modern-day computer encryption.
Wordplay: Ambigrams and Reflections on the Art of Ambigrams by John Langdon is another book which Brown enjoyed and has taken inspiration from for his own works.
A reviewer on Amazon said: “A totally absorbing and engrossing book on ambigrams which became well-known due to their prominence in the Dan Brown book “Angels & Demons”.
“Ambigrams are where language, science, philosophy and illusion come together in the design of a word which is manipulated to create a surprising illusion.”
Finally, The Puzzle Palace by James Bamford makes the author’s top reads.
The book is a form of investigative reporting in which James Bamford exposes the inner workings of America’s largest, most secretive, and arguably most intrusive intelligence agency.