i read the book awhile back. the stories are true, what they mean is yet to be determined.
the church went so far as to actually release mary of being a prostitute, hundreds of years later. when the church makes public announcements of such, something is behind it.
the world was shaped by these events and what happened because of them afterward. we deserve to know the truth.
But Davinci is the boss, and we're all on a need-to-know basis.
So much to say about him. If he had the internal combustion engine [or any other energy source with a good power:weight ratio] we'd have a helicopter, tank, motorboat, lol. In the 18th century, imagine!
The paintings you mention are interesting. Most of them were destroyed, so we'll never know what he was really doing. The 5 or so that survived the failed-experiment/grave-robbing phase are freakin everywhere...