for july's book i read angels & demons by dan brown (the same author as the da vinci code). i had pretty high expectations about this book because everyone who reads it seems to rave about it, and it did not disappoint. it was everything i wanted it to be. i only wish i had read it when i was still in school, taking art history classes. because from what i've heard, everything the author mentions as far as history and art is all accurate. in which case, it's like the most riveting textbook you will ever read.

i could not put this book down and my mind was blown page after page. it's a smart, thought-provoking, well-written book full of plot twists and turns. it does an excellent job of reminding you that not everything is black and white. people are not absolutely good or absolutely bad. it discusses a lot of gray areas in character, life, religion etc. in a relatively fair, unbiased way. i'll stop rambling now before i ruin anything, but if you want an exciting, page-turning, neglect-everything-else-in-your-life, adventure story, you need to read this. also, be prepared to turn into a conspiracy theorist...#theilluminatiareeverywhere...

as far as a few favorite quotes from it, here's what i have (plus the one in the graphic above):

"science and religion are not at odds. science is simply too young to understand."

"nothing captures human interest more than human tragedy."

"whether or not you believe in God, you must believe in this: when we as a species abandon our trust in a power greater than us, we abandon our sense of accountability. faiths...all faiths...are admonitions that there is something we cannot understand, something to which we are accountable. with faith we are accountable to each other, to ourselves, and to a higher truth. religion is flawed, but only because man is flawed. the church consists of a brotherhood of imperfect, simple souls wanting only to be a voice of compassion in a world spinning out of control."

"skepticism has become a virtue. cynicism and demand for proof has become enlightened thought. is is any wonder that humans now feel more depressed and defeated than they have at any point in human history?"

"each of us is now electronically connected to the globe, and yet we feel utterly alone."