It sold 6000 copies on its first day of release, 24000 in the first week; it has sold nearly 8 million copies in nearly a year this is in U.S. alone!! - that works out to be 80,000 copies a week!! Quite simply its the best selling adult novel of all times!!

Celebrating 58 weeks on New York Best Seller's list as well as holding the number one spot for Amazon.com is no small feat!

According to Ron Charles a Book Editor "If Jesus were traded on the Big Board, his stock would be rising this year. While Mel Gibson's movie "The Passion of the Christ" has earned more than $250 million, Dan Brown's novel "The Da Vinci Code" celebrates a phenomenal first anniversary this week. The publisher claims it's "the bestselling adult novel of all time within a one-year period."

It is also slated to be a big movie to be produced by Sony Pictures to be directed by Ron Howard.
  
If we were to ask for a perfect equation having all the ingredients to make a best selling novel, Da Vinci Code is it. New York Times calls it WOW! In fact, I have never seen such rave reviews from hardened critics in U.S.  The only one with sharp reactions have been the Catholic Christians, who the book attacks in a not so subtle way.

A pot pourri of thriller, mystery, and religious speculation, "The Da Vinci Code" involves a panicked search for clues that will unlock long suppressed secrets of Jesus' life and the true nature of Christianity. The plot wraps in the paintings of Leonardo Da Vinci, masonic history, and the Holy Grail. The central character is Robert Langdon, a Harvard professor of symbology who first appeared in Brown's "Angels and Demons," a 2000 novel with mediocre sales. Since "The Da Vinci Code," however, "Angels and Demons" has shot to the top of the paperback bestseller list.

According to Dr Prothero "It taps into a lot of longstanding stories about Jesus in America," he said from his home in East Sandwich, Mass. "Americans have been ruminating since the Colonial period about finding documents that would settle all the mysteries about Jesus."

"One thing that makes people so interested in Jesus is that we don't have the answers. We've got these Gospels, but there's a lot of unanswered questions."

In fact the book has started a revolution in America! Dan Brown wanted the people to discuss the origins of christianity, he has started a revolution instead.  In fact there are a lot of other books which have been published as an after effect to this novel.  They titles like "Breaking the Da Vinci Code" and "Secrets of the Code" hope to debunk the novel or help readers separate fact from fiction about Jesus' life.

Lynn Garrett, religion editor for Publisher's Weekly, says, "People may not be reading the Bible, but they want to read about the Bible."

Speaking from her office in Evanston, Ill., Ms. Garrett points out that the novel's success has produced what's called "the Da Vinci Code effect." "Books on the Knights Templars, books on the Holy Grail, books on gnosticism have really taken off over the last year because of 'The Da Vinci Code,' " she says. "It's revived a lot of backlist titles, either because Brown mentioned the books themselves or because he mentioned the topics."

Ms. Garrett agrees. "Americans are a religious people, but they're suspicious of institutional religion, which, given our history, is not surprising."

According to ABC"The Da Vinci Code is a new book out that is fiction. Some people have made it into a historical fact." referring to their program "Was Jesus Married?"

ABC says the program is based on the best-selling novel, "The Da Vinci Code," which claims to be partly grounded on historical fact. Vargas of ABC said she found no proof that Jesus had a wife, but couldn't completely discount it, either. (Posted Monday, November 3, 2003 NEW YORK (AP) -- ABC) News correspondent Elizabeth Vargas concedes her network is stepping into a theological minefield with its one-hour exploration of whether Jesus Christ had a wife.

In fact, Da Vinci, it has turned adults scrambling into stores for their copy reminiscent of the frenzy when Harry Potter was released for the first time. It also finds mention in Da Vinci co-incidentally.

For those of us who haven't read it we shall have to wait for the movie till next year.  After all Sony has paid a hefty six million dollars for rights of the movie!