I have confirmation that the weekend soaring of my Amazon rank and bn.com rank is due to the new People (dated March 29) -- subscribers got it on Friday. It's a brief mention, but apparently it was enough to push it toward the top...

I'm almost done with the DaVinci Code. I looked at the Amazon reviews on it, of which readers have logged more than 2,000, and some of them made me hurt myself laughing so hard. When something gets that popular, there's always going to be backlash, and so it is with some of these nutty reviews. Some of the reviewers are fighting with each other. Check it out when bored at work.

Reader Brad pointed out that the thing I figured out with the book jacket relates to the freemasons, and reader Jake noted that there's a Random House website for the book that mentions that there are codes hidden on the dust jacket and cover.