NDN Book Club; Dan Brown - The Lost Symbol

Figured I would take a turn in writing something myself for once.

I got this book about a week ago, mainly as I was working and hadnt been paid to go and buy it at that point.

A bit of background - this is his 5th "commercial" book. Obviously "Da Vinci Code" and "Angels & Demons" are the two biggest sellers. Aside fromt hat there is the two lesser famous books "Deception Point" and "Digital Fortress".

Now, in my opinion, the book for A&D is the best book I have ever read, its just utterly genius and enthralling, even during the science intro at the start, I read that bit twice as it was so interesting.

DvCode was good, but I didnt get into it as much as Id already seen (And enjoyed) the film.

The other 2 are a bit odd. Brown seems to give up on developing characters in the other books, and just goes on at a fast paced tempo full of action. While the books are good, there isnt as much background or character development to keep you as enthralled.

This is surmised by how I read. If i love a book ill finish it in one day. Examples of this are A&D, Harry Potter 4/5/6/7 and so on.


So, to this book.

Basically speaking, its another interesting read. About the only hidden/secretive group Brown hasnt written on is the Masons, so obviously this is where he is going with this one!

Robert Langdon is back, which is odd, as surely a symbologist at this point would just live in the mountains, bored of saving the world and heretage and whatever else he is into at this point.

I cant go into too much detail, without spoiling the book, but it is a well written thriller. Its fast paced, the entire book is over in 12 hours.

In my opinions Brown was watching Series 1 of "24" and stole the way to write his books from that. It just fits so well.

The main constitute of this book is the Masons and Noetic Science.

The masons are something many know a bit about, with their rituals and heirachy, and the wealth and ideology. Learning more about it whilst reading a thriller is a great way to learn i think.

Noetic sciences is difficult to understand. Its the link between the human mind and matter. They are proving that if people concentrate their mind, they can change matter. Ive actually spent some time on google after reading this, and, as always with Dan Brown, its all true. Which is amazing.

Even if you dont read this book, please google this stuff. For example, in the book, they found a way to weigh the human soul.

Lock a dying man in a box. Airtight. Sealed. Everything. He dies. Its on a huge set of scales, accurate to 0.000000000000001 grammes i think.

When he took his last breath when the air ran out and he passed away (he was dying anyway) the scales went lighter. So when you die you get lighter when NOTHING can escapre fromt he box? And the box air is weighed too, so its not that. WOW!


Basically its a novel of gripping suspense and twists, but for me, i really do enjoy learning as i read.

Thats why i kinda now view Dan Brown as a B+ Writer, but an A* Teacher.

He makes it so I want to know more about things i dont give a crap about. Which is good, as it makes the less interesting parts of the novel more interesting.



Oh yeah - If any of you get the huge twist near the end of the book ill be shocked, as I didnt.


Anyone else read it?

I dont wanna post anything about the actual plot unless someone has and wants to talk lol.