SECRETS OF INFERNO is a reader's guide to the journey Dan Brown took us all on in INFERNO. The book gives readers the back story on particular plot points, Dante references, symbols, historical events, philosophy, art, music, and architectural works that Brown wrapped into his story. It is also an intellectually enriching, intriguing, fresh and fun look at Dante, THE DIVINE COMEDY, the world of ideas circulating in Florence on the cusp of the Renaissance, and the relevance of those ideas to our lives and our world today. Dan Burstein and Arne de Keijzer are the world's leading experts on Dan Brown's fiction. Beginning with their path-breaking SECRETS OF THE CODE, which spent six months on the New York Times bestseller list in 2004, and continuing through four other guidebooks to Dan Brown's fiction (as well as three film documentaries and two special editions of US News), Burstein and de Keijzer have sold more than three million copies of Dan Brown-related commentaries in more than thirty languages. In the wake of each Dan Brown title over the last decade, the media (from the History Channel to CNN to MSNBC to USA Today to the Washington Post) have turned to Burstein and de Keijzer for interpretations of Dan Brown's books, decoding of the hidden symbols and ciphers, explanations of the controversies, and thoughtful separation of fact from fiction in these supremely popular stories that somehow always manage to fascinate our culture well beyond the bounds of their pop fiction genre. The ultimate guide for any Dan Brown fan, SECRETS OF INFERNO is entertaining, thought-provoking, and will make the experience of reading INFERNO richer than you ever imagined. Contributors include: Teodolinda Barolini, Da Ponte Professor of Italian, Columbia University Steven Botterill, Associate Professor of Italian Studies, University of California, Berkeley Jamais Cascio, Distinguished Fellow, Institute for the Future and Senior Fellow, Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies Joel E. Cohen, Abby Rockefeller Mauze Professor of Populations at The Rockefeller University and Professor of Populations at the Earth Institute of Columbia University William Cook, Distinguished Teaching Professor of History (Emeritus), State University of New York, Geneseo Alison Cornish, Professor of Italian, Romance Languages, and Literatures department, University of Michigan Paul Ehrlich, Bing Professor of Population Studies, Stanford University, president of Stanford's Center for Conservation Biology, and author of The Population Bomb Glenn W. Erickson, Professor of Philosophy, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte (Brazil) Laurie Garrett, Senior Fellow for Global Health, Council on Foreign Relations and author of The Coming Plague Cheryl Helm, Dan Brown codes and puzzles expert Giuseppe Mazzotta, Sterling Professor of Humanities for Italian, Yale University Julie O'Connor, Fine art photographer and photojournalist David Orban, Futurist, CEO of Dotsub, and former chairman of Humanity+ David A. Shugarts, Investigative reporter, author of Secrets of the Widow's Son, and contributing editor to the Secrets series Gregory Stock, Biophysicist, biotech entrepreneur, and founding director of the Program on Medicine, Technology and Society at UCLA's School of Medicine Natasha Vita-More, Chairman, Board of Directors of Humanity+ and author of the TranshumanistManifesto

The fascinating stories behind what have been rightly called the "hottest books on the planet": "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire, "and "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest"

Through insightful commentary and revealing interviews, you will enter the unique world of Lisbeth Salander, Mikael Blomkvist---and of Stieg Larsson himself---discovering the fascinating real-life experiences and incidents involving Swedish politics, violence against women, and neo-Nazis that are at the heart of Larsson's work.

John-Henri Holmberg, a Swedish author and close friend of Larsson for more than three decades, provides a unique insider's look into the secrets of the author's imaginative universe, his life, and his ideas for future books---including the mysterious "fourth book" in the series, which Larsson had started but not finished at the time of his death.

Included within are answers to compelling questions on every Larsson fan's mind:

- What makes the Lisbeth Salander character so unique and memorable? Why have so many people from all backgrounds and with all kinds of tastes found "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" so riveting?

- What are the speculations---and what is the truth---about Stieg Larsson's tragic death at age fifty, just before the publication of his novels, and the bitter battle over his legacy?

- What changes were made in the plots and translations of the novels after Larsson's death---and why?

- How did Larsson's early interest in science fiction and American and British crime writers feed into his creation of the Millennium trilogy?

- What were Larsson's ideas for the fourth book, and are there any clues to the plots he imagined for his ten-book series? Will we meet Lisbeth's twin sister, Camilla, or any of her other seven siblings that Zalachenko tells her she has?

- Does Lisbeth Salander give feminism a new definition?

- What will happen in the contentious battle between Stieg Larsson's life partner, Eva Gabrielsson, and his father and brother over the future of the books, as well as the billion dollars at stake in his legacy?

- Who are the emerging Swedish crime writers we should pay attention to now?

- And much, much more