Author Biography | Interview | Books by this Author | Readalikes
Ian Caldwell attended Princeton University, where he studied history. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1998. He began writing The Rule of Four with his best friend, Dustin Thomason, after graduation. His second book, The Fifth Gospel, was published in 2015.
He lives in Newport News, Virginia.
Ian Caldwell's website
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The novel centers on a real Renaissance text, The Hypnerotomachia Poliphili;
a book that is fairly obscure. Explain how you discovered this book and why
you choose to develop your story around it.
We owe it to a Princeton seminar entitled "Renaissance Art, Science, and
Magic." Ian’s final paper for the seminar dealt with a 1499 text entitled Hypnerotomachia
Poliphili, one of the most beautiful and valuable books of early Western
printing, and one that has divided scholars for years over its meaning and the
identity of its author. By the time the research paper was finished, we were
already planning to spend the summer writing an intellectual suspense novel
together. The mystery of the Hypnerotomachia supplied a perfect
starting point, and before long we had hatched a "solution" to the
book’s mystery that became the centerpiece of the plot.
You seamlessly blend fact and fiction throughout the novel. For example,
Savonarola is a real historical figure, about whom much is known, but what of
Francesco Colonna, the author of the Hypnerotomachia? How much is
really known about him and how fact-based is your portrait of him?
Oddly enough, scholars don’t even...
Dan Brown is the author of many bestselling novels, including the #1 New York Times bestseller, The Da Vinci Code. He is a graduate of Amherst College and Phillips Exeter Academy, where he spent time as an English teacher ... (more)
If you enjoyed:
The Rule of Four
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David Czuchlewski studied English at Princeton University under Joyce Carol Oates, and later studied medicine at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. He has published two books - The Muse Asylum and Empire of Light. (more)
If you enjoyed:
The Rule of Four
Try:
The Muse Asylum
by David Czuchlewski
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