Dan Brown created a phenomenon with The DaVinci Code which was, bracketing potential heresy (as it is a work of fiction), a very ripping yarn. In that novel, he gave readers an enduring character in Professor Robert Langdon, essayed in a number of films by Tom Hanks and on television by Ashley Zukerman.
Langdon is a complex creation, certainly the most fully developed character in the Brown novels. What I have always loved about him is his effortless smarts.
I dig smart people doing smart things and Langdon is among the smartest.
Though I never pictured Tom Hanks when reading the books, it is difficult not to now and, in a way, Hanks has what I like about the character: an easy, everyday smartness that is engaging and unassuming.
Give me more and more smart people doing smart things, please.
We never know the influence we have… While culture tends to promulgate the “those who can, do, those who cannot, teach” idiocy, there are hundreds of examples of brilliance and impactful teachers in reality and in pop culture. Every-other-week this year, I will share my brief reflections on Smart People Doing Smart Things be they in literature, in film, in music or in real life. Many will be teachers, but not all. Many will be fictional, but some will be real. All will be inspiring. Welcome to IntelliPop!
