Dan Brown

In 2003, author Dan Brown published The Da Vinci Code to worldwide acclaim. It became one of the best selling thriller books of all time. The Da Vinci Code was not an overnight success for the struggling thriller writer. Born on July 22, 1964, in Exeter, New Hampshire, Brown graduated from Amherst College and tried songwriting before teaching at his high school alma mater, Phillips Exeter. While on vacation in 1993, Brown read Sidney Sheldon's suspense novel The Doomsday Conspiracy, which inspired him to become a thriller writer. He quit teaching three years later to focus on writing. The first two Dan Brown books, Deception Point and Digital Fortress, achieved limited success. His next suspense novel, Angels & Demons, was the first of Dan Brown's books to feature Harvard symbology expert Robert Langdon. His fourth novel, The Da Vinci Code, became a runaway New York Times bestseller, with over 81 million copies sold worldwide. Following Angels & Demons and The Da Vinci Code, author Dan Brown wrote another New York Times bestseller, The Lost Symbol. Brown has promised that he has ideas for about a dozen future thriller books featuring Robert Langdon. The secret to his success? Aside from starting work at 4:00 in the morning, Dan Brown is also a fan of gravity boots. According to him, hanging upside down helps him solve plot challenges by shifting his entire perspective.