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The Sistine Secrets: Michelangelo's Hidden Messages and How He Defied the Pope
by Benjamin Blech

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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2199318.The_Sistine_Secrets_Michelangelo_s_Hidden_Messages_and_How_He_Defied_the_Pope?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=blog_review" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="The Sistine Secrets: Michelangelo's Hidden Messages and How He Defied the Pope" border="0" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/518H--4NG5L._SL160_.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2199318.The_Sistine_Secrets_Michelangelo_s_Hidden_Messages_and_How_He_Defied_the_Pope?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">The Sistine Secrets: Michelangelo's Hidden Messages and How He Defied the Pope</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/142739.Benjamin_Blech">Benjamin Blech</a> 
 <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/23363210?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review"><h3>My review</h3></a>
 rating: 2 of 5 stars I'm tempted to say that there is a lot to learn from this book. However, it is marred by a procession of errors and mistakes so bad that the editor should be fired and the authors should be embarrassed. 
 
 And, I'm not talking about any of the controversial stuff. Before I even get to the Jewish history and so-called secrets, I am distracted by a level of factual inaccuracy that had previously been reserved to just Dan Brown - but he writes novels. That an academic book would be so riddled with problems is insulting to the reader and the wider public that don't have the ability or interest to fact-check their casual reading.
 
 Here are some examples:
 
 On page 156 the authors state that Pope John XXIII has become a saint. This is false. It is simply mistaken. It is not controversial or secretive, it is simply incorrect. The language is very clear: "Four decades after his death, Pope John XXIII underwent a name change. He is now officially Saint John XXIII..." This is the equivalent of saying that Al Gore is President of the United States: It's just not true. THEN the mistake is REPEATED on page 289!!
 
 On pages 118, 219, and 286 the authors refer to Saint Peter's Basillica in Rome as a Cathedral. It is NOT a Cathedral. A Cathedral is a church that is the seat of a bishop. The pope is bishop of Rome, and his seat is Saint John in Lateran Church (a simple wikipedia search, or any guide book, on the two churches will testify to this fact.)
 
 On page 93 the authors, writing of how Michelangelo somewhat scandalously signed his name to his Pieta sculpture in Rome in 1499 (other sources claim 1501), claim, "He escaped before the Swiss Guardsmen, who most likely would have decapitated any intruder on the spot, could catch him." Well, there are indeed Swiss Guards in Saint Peter's Basilica today, but any high level knowledge of Vatican history would tell you that they arrived first in 1506. When Michelangelo was signing his name to the Pieta, THE SWISS GUARDS WEREN'T THERE YET. To not rely on just Wikipedia for confirmation of this (as the authors of this supposedly academic book sometimes do in one of their shockingly rare citations), i checked two respectable sources: Ross King's acclaimed book Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling, which on 206, tells of Pope Julius II initiating the Swiss Guard in 1506; and the actual Guardia Svizzera Pontificia Rapporto Annuale 2003 (Pontifical Swiss Guard Annual Report 2003), which in a table titled I Commandanti della Guardia Svizzera Ponteficia (The Commanders of the Pontifical Swiss Guard), traces the lineage of their leadership back to one Kaspar von Silenen, who began in 1506!!
 
 Sistine Secrets explores previously ignored or avoided aspects of the history of the Sistine Chapel and of Michelangelo, and it is perhaps likely that the authors bring to us treasure troves of background and knowledge about the Talmud, Kabbalah and Midrash of Jewish culture. But, how can I trust them about those subjects about which I previously knew nothing when on the things that I AM familiar with they are so unattractively mistaken?
 
 Dan Brown we can forgive for his many falsehoods, because he is a novelist. But, that a rabbi and a Judaica expert write an academic book with so much uncontroversial sloppiness - if it is true that Michelangelo was hiding secret messages of Jewish background into his work, certainly tihs book does a great disservice to it. For these reasons, despite great excitement and eagerness to learn at the outset, I found the book to be a great disappointment.
 
 
 <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/543829?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">View all my reviews.</a>

Ryan's review
rating:

status: Read in June, 2008

I'm tempted to say that there is a lot to learn from this book. However, it is marred by a procession of errors and mistakes so bad that the editor should be fired and the authors should be embarrassed.

And, I'm not talking about any of the controversial stuff. Before I even get to the Jewish history and so-called secrets, I am distracted by a level of factual inaccuracy that had previously been reserved to just Dan Brown - but he writes novels. That an academic book would be so riddled with problems is insulting to the reader and the wider public that don't have the ability or interest to fact-check their casual reading.

Here are some examples:

On page 156 the authors state that Pope John XXIII has become a saint. This is false. It is simply mistaken. It is not controversial or secretive, it is simply incorrect. The language is very clear: "Four decades after his death, Pope John XXIII underwent a name change. He is now officially Saint John XXIII..." This is the e...more I'm tempted to say that there is a lot to learn from this book. However, it is marred by a procession of errors and mistakes so bad that the editor should be fired and the authors should be embarrassed.

And, I'm not talking about any of the controversial stuff. Before I even get to the Jewish history and so-called secrets, I am distracted by a level of factual inaccuracy that had previously been reserved to just Dan Brown - but he writes novels. That an academic book would be so riddled with problems is insulting to the reader and the wider public that don't have the ability or interest to fact-check their casual reading.

Here are some examples:

On page 156 the authors state that Pope John XXIII has become a saint. This is false. It is simply mistaken. It is not controversial or secretive, it is simply incorrect. The language is very clear: "Four decades after his death, Pope John XXIII underwent a name change. He is now officially Saint John XXIII..." This is the equivalent of saying that Al Gore is President of the United States: It's just not true. THEN the mistake is REPEATED on page 289!!

On pages 118, 219, and 286 the authors refer to Saint Peter's Basillica in Rome as a Cathedral. It is NOT a Cathedral. A Cathedral is a church that is the seat of a bishop. The pope is bishop of Rome, and his seat is Saint John in Lateran Church (a simple wikipedia search, or any guide book, on the two churches will testify to this fact.)

On page 93 the authors, writing of how Michelangelo somewhat scandalously signed his name to his Pieta sculpture in Rome in 1499 (other sources claim 1501), claim, "He escaped before the Swiss Guardsmen, who most likely would have decapitated any intruder on the spot, could catch him." Well, there are indeed Swiss Guards in Saint Peter's Basilica today, but any high level knowledge of Vatican history would tell you that they arrived first in 1506. When Michelangelo was signing his name to the Pieta, THE SWISS GUARDS WEREN'T THERE YET. To not rely on just Wikipedia for confirmation of this (as the authors of this supposedly academic book sometimes do in one of their shockingly rare citations), i checked two respectable sources: Ross King's acclaimed book Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling, which on 206, tells of Pope Julius II initiating the Swiss Guard in 1506; and the actual Guardia Svizzera Pontificia Rapporto Annuale 2003 (Pontifical Swiss Guard Annual Report 2003), which in a table titled I Commandanti della Guardia Svizzera Ponteficia (The Commanders of the Pontifical Swiss Guard), traces the lineage of their leadership back to one Kaspar von Silenen, who began in 1506!!

Sistine Secrets explores previously ignored or avoided aspects of the history of the Sistine Chapel and of Michelangelo, and it is perhaps likely that the authors bring to us treasure troves of background and knowledge about the Talmud, Kabbalah and Midrash of Jewish culture. But, how can I trust them about those subjects about which I previously knew nothing when on the things that I AM familiar with they are so unattractively mistaken?

Dan Brown we can forgive for his many falsehoods, because he is a novelist. But, that a rabbi and a Judaica expert write an academic book with so much uncontroversial sloppiness - if it is true that Michelangelo was hiding secret messages of Jewish background into his work, certainly tihs book does a great disservice to it. For these reasons, despite great excitement and eagerness to learn at the outset, I found the book to be a great disappointment.

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message 1: by Jennyanydots

08/21/2008 02:50PM

lol. and i was having such a wonderful time reading it, too. way to ruin my bliss. ;-)