Books: The Lost Symbol

The Lost Symbol
By Dan Brown
Copyright 2009
639 pages

When a book over 600 pages seems like a very short read, you know something about the story must be working right.

Brown has hit upon a good formula for his books. This read much like The DaVinci Code and had many similar incidents, including a maniacal villain, a woman with home hero Robert Langdon could do some of the running and sleuthing, and of course a mystery that has puzzled and fascinated folks for centuries.

The book focuses on the Masons and mysteries surrounding Washington DC that involve this organization and the forefathers of the country. You can find information from National Geographic about Masonic symbols by following the link. As far as conspiracy theories go, this one is a whopper and you can find innumerable websites devoted to probing the cult link between Masons and power brokers.

Since this was a work of fiction, I have no idea what legends harbor any truth at all, so I will not speculate as to whether truth has been revealed as fiction. I have no idea.

Langdon is an interesting character in that he is very smart but seems a little deficit of commonsense. His initial distrust of the CIA Director seemed misbegotten and either I missed something or the author did not convey to me the reasons as to why Langdon feared the director was on the wrong side. It's a big part of the plot and a huge hole to worry over while reading.

Aside from that, the concepts of the book are very intriguing, but I suspect not welcome among staunch Christians (it's very New Age) and folks hoping for the End Times in 2012. The book advocates that change will be positive, not negative, and this is a mindset that I wish more folks would subscribe to. I enjoyed seeing the negatives turned around into positives.

The book also indicates that the stupidity of the masses is ongoing and continual, and that humanity really isn't ready for truth, understanding, and compassion.

If you want to read more before you obtain the book, Wikipedia has a good synopsis.