dan brown

[Bad Wolf]

hey, i read angels and deamons by dan brown at the weekend, its the book before the da vinci code- its awesome, i highly reccomended, i couldn't put it down!!!

i'm now half way through the da vinci code and its even better. totally worth all the hype, some of the things he suggests are really extreme and i can see why the catholic church is upset,

has anyone else read this?

[Trinity]

The other 2 books are Deception Point and Digital Fortress

[Bad Wolf]

found it!!!!

i hope its true, really want to go to the lourve and see the internal pyramid

[Trinity]

Both are good, but not as good as the Robert Langton books

[Trinity]

Been there. yep his research is rally good.

[Bad Wolf]

may go and buy them, i deed something to read before harry potter comes out

[Trinity]

When I was in Rome last October, I stayed in the hotel that Robert Langton stay in in Angels and Demons - totally by coincidence! thats spooky

[Trinity]

I am going back to Italy mext month, a couple of days in Rome followed by 2 weeks in Tuscany. I will be near Florence, Piza and sienna

[Trinity]

I heard that there is another Robert Langton book in the pipeline?

[Trinity]

There was a thread a couple of months ago about the Illuminatti...

[Bad Wolf]

ohh i hope so! i really like the original two

[Bad Wolf]

There was a thread a couple of months ago about the Illuminatti...

on here?

[Trinity]

Yes, cos I really thoughtthatthe poster must have been reading Angel & Demons, but no, it was some Sky programme on conspiry theories

[Bad Wolf]

ahh, i preferred angels and demons, i dont know whether it had more action in it or what, but it was excellent

[Trinity]

BTW, I liked Deception Point better than Digital Fortress, but they are both good. Not so interesting in the OMG can that be true sort of way tho'

[Trinity]

Me too, Angels & Demons was soo original and thought provocing, although so is the DaVinchi code. BTW, they sell Dan Brown novels in the Roslyn Chapel shop!

[Trinity]

Is your masters nearly finished then?

[Bad Wolf]

nearly just the dissertation bit to go!

[Trinity]

So what do you plan on doing then? (Whati s you masters in anyway?)

[Bad Wolf]

my MA is diplomatic studies, my dissertation is on the evolution of public diplomacy in britain (propaganda), in autumn i'm going to apply to the foreign office and civil service

[Trinity]

You should apply asap. My first job out of Uni was as a direct entrant EO in the civil service - it took 9 months for a posting to come through, and that was after 2 interviews over months!

[Bad Wolf]

you can only apply in autumn- for the fast stream etc thats when they start the recruitment process

[Trinity]

I guess I am talking about nearly 20 years ago! I remember having to go firstly to Edinburgh to the old Scottish Office for my first interview, and then down to the Treasury in Whitehall for the second. It was quite intimidating at the time. Then after I got the offer I had to wait and see which Department they would post me to, and then the location. Eventually I ended up in London in NHS Audit.

[Bad Wolf]

you have to do all these on line tests, then regional interviews and tests then if you get to the final bit they test your aptitude for difficult languages, so what bit do you work in now?

[Trinity]

Yep I had the tests too.

No I quit when I met my husband, we were both Scots working in London and after a few years he wanted to relocate to Edinburgh.

London is like a black hole in the Civil Service, if they get you down there it is almost impossible to transfer out, so I left and joined the NHS as an internal auditor for a while, then moved to local Government and then on to Higher Education. I am a reseach Administrator in a University now.

[Bad Wolf]

cool, hopefully i'll get through, but i've had to work nearly full time this year, so will only get a rubbish masters

[Trinity]

Really the first degree gets you in to the testing stage - and that is what gets you the interview. The masters is I suppose icing on the cake.

[Bad Wolf]

i got a 2:2 BA hons in contemporary history, and i'm heading for a bog satndard MA

[Trinity]

Sounds ideal for the civil service - don't be so hard on yourself!