At 165 pounds, and allegedly made from the skins of 160 donkeys, the Codex Gigas is the world's largest and most mysterious medieval manuscript. Filled with satanic images and demonic spells, according to legend, the cursed text sprang from a doomed monk's pact with the Devil.Why does Dominic Monaghan talk with such a deep, menacing voice? Is this supposed to make us think the material is more serious or scary? Come on, guys, he is not a scary dude.Is this the greatest little documentary ever? No. But for a program from National Geographic, it is not bad. It explores a book few people know exists, and does it in a more or less fair way. Maybe some of it is hyperbole, and we should not take all claims seriously, but overall this is decent and may get some folks more interested in the subject matter.

In recent years, with a HUGE number of channels, a lot of bad historical documentaries are being aired. With subjects like WAS Jesus AN ALIEN? and SECRET LIVES OF PROSTITUTES IN THE OLD WEST and a plethora of other dubious documentaries, you can only assume people are becoming stupider and stupider as a result of watching them. In the case of "Devil's Bible", once again, documentary makers seem much more interested in getting the viewers' attention as opposed to teaching them something! The Codex Gigas, referred to by SOME as 'The Devil's Bible' is NOT a pro-Satan book (as the documentary seems to say) but contains most of the Bible we have today plus a few apocryphal books. Why it's called 'Devil's' seems only to be because the beautiful medieval book has some illustration of devils. That's it!!! This is no book of hidden knowledge, evidence that monks were devil worshipers or the like but just a Bible with some other interesting material. The documentary tries to make the viewer think it's astounding for MANY reasons for which it's NOT astounding. It's a HUGE and beautifully made book--talk about that and stop trying to grab the viewers' attention with ridiculous claims and dubious experts. The show SHOULD have consulted with noted real experts in the field--the fact that it doesn't should tell you something. A waste of time.