Dan Brown's Testimony

Wow. What a bunch of stuff. Here goes:

• The Times Online (UK) is running a complete transcript of Dan Brown's witness statement (written document submitted to the court). They are also running an excellent summary of Brown's witness statement, if you want just the best details—like the fact that Brown hasn't even fully read Holy Blood, Holy Grail.

• ABC News has decent coverage of Brown's in-court testimony, including: "Holy Blood, Holy Grail was not around when I wrote the synopsis," said Brown, adding it would have been in his interest to add the work to his [synopsis] bibliography in order to impress his publisher.

• Meanwhile, Slate is running an excellent analysis of the legal issues in the case. It's written by a Columbia Law School professor, Tim Wu, who observes (among a great many other things): The irony of the lawsuit is hard to overstate. The central premise of Holy Blood is that powerful forces have been keeping "the truth" buried for centuries. Along comes The Da Vinci Code to shout that truth to millions, and Holy Blood's authors' first instinct is to threaten the messenger.

Various Sources, 13.03.06-14.02.06