Books

Secrets of the Da Vinci Code Publisher: U.S. News & World Report Release date: Feb 22, 2005 PDF | 7 MB | Download THE 7 KEYS TO THE CODE The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown's bestselling novel, has captivated the imagination of millions of readers - and aroused heated controversies. Readers everywhere want to know what's fact and what's fiction. Inside this Special Collector's Edition, you'll find the answers to all these key questions: BEHIND THE CODE. What explains the phenomenal success of The Da Vinci Code? How does it connect to the Holy Grail legend? And who is Dan Brown, the enigmatic man behind the mystery? ALL ABOUT MARY. Was Jesus actually married to Mary Magdalene? Was she his favorite disciple — and possibly his heir apparent? Did they have a child together? HISTORY'S GREATEST COVERUP? Are the lost Gospels real? How different was early Christianity from the Christianity practiced today? Did the early church fathers brutally suppress some of Jesus's true teachings? LEONARDO AND HIS SECRETS. Did Leonardo da Vinci belong to a bizarre secret society? Are there hidden messages in some of his most famous paintings? And is that really a woman in The Last Supper? THE NETHERWORLD OF CONSPIRACIES. Who were the sinister Knights Templar? What goes on in the hidden world of Opus Dei? What's inside the famous Dossiers Secrets? THE ORIGINS OF THE HOAX. Who was Abbé Saunière? Did he really discover a great treasure in his church in southwestern France? And what is his connection to the Priory of Sion? RESOURCES. Where is the real path of the Paris Meridian? What's buried in the church crypt beneath Saint-Sulpice? Are there 666 panes in the famous pyramid at the Louvre? PLUS: An Advance Look at Dan Brown's Next Thriller

The Da Vinci Code Author: Dan Brown Publisher: Doubleday Publishing Release date: 2003 ISBN: 0385504209 PDF | 775 KB | Download Description: With The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown masterfully concocts an intelligent and lucid thriller that marries the gusto of an international murder mystery with a collection of fascinating esoteria culled from 2,000 years of Western history. A murder in the silent after-hour halls of the Louvre museum reveals a sinister plot to uncover a secret that has been protected by a clandestine society since the days of Christ. The victim is a high-ranking agent of this ancient society who, in the moments before his death, manages to leave gruesome clues at the scene that only his granddaughter, noted cryptographer Sophie Neveu, and Robert Langdon, a famed symbologist, can untangle. The duo become both suspects and detectives searching for not only Neveu's grandfather's murderer but also the stunning secret of the ages he was charged to protect. Mere steps ahead of the authorities and the deadly competition, the mystery leads Neveu and Langdon on a breathless flight through France, England, and history itself. Brown (has created a page-turning thriller that also provides an amazing interpretation of Western history. Brown's hero and heroine embark on a lofty and intriguing exploration of some of Western culture's greatest mysteries--from the nature of the Mona Lisa's smile to the secret of the Holy Grail. Though some will quibble with the veracity of Brown's conjectures, therein lies the fun. The Da Vinci Code is an enthralling read that provides rich food for thought. Reviews: Amazon, Barnes & Noble

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Book 6) Author: J. K. Rowling Publisher: Scholastic Release date: 2005 ISBN: 0439784549 PDF | 1.13 MB | Download: Link 1 | Link 2 Description: The war against Voldemort has started, and everyone in the wizarding world has chosen sides. (They have to, or else a side will choose them.) Even in the midst of a war, your daily life goes on—captaining the Quidditch team, studying Transfiguration and Potions, dreaming of that beautiful redhead in the fifth year. And yet everything is about to change... After five years of thrills and adventure, Harry Potter's life is taking a new path -- straight to a fight against Lord Voldemort. But first he and Professor Dumbledore must try to find out as much as they can about a boy once named Tom Riddle -- the boy who became Lord Voldemort. After months of frenzied anticipation and wild speculation about the identity of the Half-Blood Prince, the numerous bombshells and incredible plot twists in the sixth, ever-darkening installment of J. K. Rowling's bestselling Harry Potter saga will leave readers as shocked and stunned as they are utterly satisfied. As the novel begins, a "grim mood" has fallen over the country. The minions of Lord Voldemort (a.k.a. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named) continue to grow as his evil spreads. The Ministry of Magic has stepped up security everywhere, and as Harry enters his sixth year at Hogwarts, he begins to see himself -- and everyone around him -- in a different, more discerning, light. With rumors swirling about Harry being the prophesied "Chosen One," he begins taking private lessons from Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore. As Dumbledore prepares Harry for his destined clash with Voldemort by revealing jaw-dropping insights into the Dark Lord's past -- who his parents were, what happened after he left Hogwarts, and more -- Harry also struggles to uncover the identity of the Half-Blood Prince, the past owner of a potions textbook he now possesses that is filled with ingenious, potentially deadly, spells. But Harry's life is suddenly changed forever when someone close to him is heinously murdered right before his eyes... Reviews: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Powells, Wikipedia

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Book 5) Author: J. K. Rowling Publisher: Scholastic Release date: 2003 ISBN: 043935806X PDF | 2.14 MB | Download: Link 1 | Link 2 Description: Your lifelong enemy is back and your world has been turned upside down. All you want to do is fight, but everyone else is trying to keep you safe and quiet. You try to concentrate on your classes (particularly the big tests coming up the end of the year), but it's hard with that pretty older girl who seems to like you, and a horrible new professor who seems to hate you. And then there are the dreams -- entrancing, disturbing -- of a mysterious door... Welcome to Harry Potter's fifth year at Hogwarts, where danger lurks at every turn. But Harry wants nothing more than to face it -- and soon it's time to take matters into his own hands. The fifth book follows the darkest year yet for our young wizard, who finds himself knocked down a peg or three after the events of last year. Somehow, over the summer, gossip (usually traced back to the magic world's newspaper, the Daily Prophet) has turned Harry's tragic and heroic encounter with Voldemort at the Triwizard Tournament into an excuse to ridicule and discount the teen. Even Professor Dumbledore, headmaster of the school, has come under scrutiny by the Ministry of Magic, which refuses to officially acknowledge the terrifying truth that Voldemort is back. Enter a particularly loathsome new character: the toadlike and simpering ("hem, hem") Dolores Umbridge, senior undersecretary to the Minister of Magic, who takes over the vacant position of Defense Against Dark Arts teacher -- and in no time manages to become the High Inquisitor of Hogwarts, as well. Life isn't getting any easier for Harry Potter. With an overwhelming course load as the fifth years prepare for their Ordinary Wizarding Levels examinations (O.W.Ls), devastating changes in the Gryffindor Quidditch team lineup, vivid dreams about long hallways and closed doors, and increasing pain in his lightning-shaped scar, Harry's resilience is sorely tested. This book, more than any of the four previous novels in the series, is a coming-of-age story. Harry faces the thorny transition into adulthood, when adult heroes are revealed to be fallible, and matters that seemed black-and- white suddenly come out in shades of gray. Gone is the wide-eyed innocent, the whiz kid of Sorcerer's Stone. Here we have an adolescent who's sometimes sullen, often confused (especially about girls), and always self-questioning. Confronting death again, as well as a startling prophecy, Harry ends his year at Hogwarts exhausted and pensive. Reviews: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Wikipedia

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Book 4) Author: J. K. Rowling Publisher: Scholastic Release date: 2000 ISBN: 0439139597 PDF | 2.36 MB | Download: Link 1 | Link 2 Description: Just when you were getting the hang of your school, they shake things up. First you and your fellow students are sharing the castle with kids from two other schools of magic. Then someone frames you to compete in a dangerous interschool wizarding competition -- which really means someone wants you dead. And just when you thought being fourteen couldn't get any worse –you have to attend a dance, and invite a date! Such are the challenges Harry Potter faces in his fourth year at Hogwarts -- not to mention the Quidditch World Cup, a terrible fight with Ron, a nasty reporter named Rita Skeeter, and the possible return of Lord Voldemort. J.K. Rowling offers up equal parts danger and delight--and any number of dragons, house-elves, and death-defying challenges. Now 14, her orphan hero has only two more weeks with his Muggle relatives before returning to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Yet one night a vision harrowing enough to make his lightning-bolt-shaped scar burn has Harry on edge and contacting his godfather-in-hiding, Sirius Black. Happily, the prospect of attending the season's premier sporting event, the Quidditch World Cup, is enough to make Harry momentarily forget that Lord Voldemort and his sinister familiars--the Death Eaters--are out for murder. Long before her fourth installment appeared, Rowling warned that it would be darker, and it's true that every exhilaration is equaled by a moment that has us fearing for Harry's life, the book's emotions running as deep as its dangers. Along the way, though, she conjures up such new characters as Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody, a Dark Wizard catcher who may or may not be getting paranoid in his old age, and Rita Skeeter, who beetles around Hogwarts in search of stories. (This Daily Prophet scoop artist has a Quick-Quotes Quill that turns even the most innocent assertion into tabloid innuendo.) And at her bedazzling close, Rowling leaves several plot strands open, awaiting book 5. This fan is ready to wager that the author herself is part veela--her pen her wand, her commitment to her world complete. Reviews: Amazon, Barnes & Noble

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Book 3) Author: J. K. Rowling Publisher: Scholastic Release date: 1999 ISBN: 0439136350 PDF | 787 KB | Download: Link 1 | Link 2 Description: Have you ever inflated your nasty aunt? Run away from home on a magical bus? Been chased by an escaped convict? And then suddenly met the most important political figure in your whole world, who treats you like his long-lost son? That's just one very weird night in Harry Potter's very tumultuous life... and things are about to get even more topsy-turvy. For the ominous dementors have come to Hogwarts to protect Harry from the escaped prisoner Sirius Black – a convicted murderer who also happens to be Harry's godfather. Who is a friend and who is a foe? For most children, summer vacation is something to look forward to. But not for our 13-year-old hero, who's forced to spend his summers with an aunt, uncle, and cousin who detest him. The third book in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series catapults into action when the young wizard "accidentally" causes the Dursleys' dreadful visitor Aunt Marge to inflate like a monstrous balloon and drift up to the ceiling. Fearing punishment from Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon (and from officials at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry who strictly forbid students to cast spells in the nonmagic world of Muggles), Harry lunges out into the darkness with his heavy trunk and his owl Hedwig. As it turns out, Harry isn't punished at all for his errant wizardry. Instead he is mysteriously rescued from his Muggle neighborhood and whisked off in a triple-decker, violently purple bus to spend the remaining weeks of summer in a friendly inn called the Leaky Cauldron. What Harry has to face as he begins his third year at Hogwarts explains why the officials let him off easily. It seems that Sirius Black--an escaped convict from the prison of Azkaban--is on the loose. Not only that, but he's after Harry Potter. But why? And why do the Dementors, the guards hired to protect him, chill Harry's very heart when others are unaffected? Once again, Rowling has created a mystery that will have children and adults cheering, not to mention standing in line for her next book. Fortunately, there are four more in the works. Reviews: Amazon, Barnes & Noble

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Book 2) Author: J. K. Rowling Publisher: Scholastic Release date: 1999 ISBN: 0439064864 PDF | 1.1 MB | Download: Link 1 | Link 2 Description: It's hard to fall in love with an earnest, appealing young hero like Harry Potter and then to watch helplessly as he steps into terrible danger! And in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, he is in terrible danger indeed. As if it's not bad enough that after a long summer with the horrid Dursleys he is thwarted in his attempts to hop the train to the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry to begin his second year. But when his only transportation option is a magical flying car, it is just his luck to crash into a valuable (but clearly vexed) Whomping Willow. Still, all this seems like a day in the park compared to what happens that fall within the haunted halls of Hogwarts. Chilling, malevolent voices whisper from the walls only to Harry, and it seems certain that his classmate Draco Malfoy is out to get him. Soon it's not just Harry who is worried about survival, as dreadful things begin to happen at Hogwarts. The mysteriously gleaming, foot-high words on the wall proclaim, "The Chamber of Secrets Has Been Opened. Enemies of the Heir, Beware." But what exactly does it mean? Harry, Hermione, and Ron do everything that is wizardly possible--including risking their own lives--to solve this 50-year-old, seemingly deadly mystery. This deliciously suspenseful novel is every bit as gripping, imaginative, and creepy as the first; familiar student concerns--fierce rivalry, blush-inducing crushes, pedantic professors--seamlessly intertwine with the bizarre, horrific, fantastical, or just plain funny. Once again, Rowling writes with a combination of wit, whimsy, and a touch of the macabre that will leave readers young and old desperate for the next installment. Reviews: Amazon, Barnes & Noble

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Book 1) Author: J. K. Rowling Publisher: Scholastic Release date: 1997 ISBN: 0590353403 PDF | 582 KB | Download: Link 1 | Link 2 Description: Say you've spent the first 10 years of your life sleeping under the stairs of a family who loathes you. Then, in an absurd, magical twist of fate you find yourself surrounded by wizards, a caged snowy owl, a phoenix-feather wand, and jellybeans that come in every flavor, including strawberry, curry, grass, and sardine. Not only that, but you discover that you are a wizard yourself! This is exactly what happens to young Harry Potter in J.K. Rowling's enchanting, funny debut novel, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. In the nonmagic human world-- the world of "Muggles"--Harry is a nobody, treated like dirt by the aunt and uncle who begrudgingly inherited him when his parents were killed by the evil Voldemort. But in the world of wizards, small, skinny Harry is famous as a survivor of the wizard who tried to kill him. He is left only with a lightning- bolt scar on his forehead, curiously refined sensibilities, and a host of mysterious powers to remind him that he's quite, yes, altogether different from his aunt, uncle, and spoiled, piglike cousin Dudley. A mysterious letter, delivered by the friendly giant Hagrid, wrenches Harry from his dreary, Muggle-ridden existence: "We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry." Of course, Uncle Vernon yells most unpleasantly, "I AM NOT PAYING FOR SOME CRACKPOT OLD FOOL TO TEACH HIM MAGIC TRICKS!" Soon enough, however, Harry finds himself at Hogwarts with his owl Hedwig... and that's where the real adventure--humorous, haunting, and suspenseful--begins. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, first published in England as Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, continues to win major awards in England. So far it has won the National Book Award, the Smarties Prize, the Children's Book Award, and is short-listed for the Carnegie Medal, the U.K. version of the Newbery Medal. Reviews: Amazon, Barnes & Noble