The Lost Symbol

The Lost Symbol

Dan Brown’s recent page turner, “The Lost Symbol,” is this year’s thriller. The author of, “The DaVinci Code,” delivers more mind-bending theories. This time around, you'll be wondering “what if” about the forefathers of our country, present day secret Masonic societies, and history’s leading scientists and philosophers along with their connection to a lost ancient wisdom. Robert Langdon, Brown’s famous protagonist, is prompted to uncover the wisdom. In order to do so, he takes us through a maze of symbols and riddles with mystifying solutions.

The book opens with Robert Langdon landing in Washington D.C. to deliver a last minute speech as a favor to his beloved mentor, Peter Solomon. The day’s events take an unexpected turn when it turns out Peter’s been kidnapped. His captor, who becomes increasingly twisted and creepy as we find out more and more about him, believes Langdon to be the one who can deliver what he seeks. He ransoms Peter in exchange for the lost knowledge he thinks Langdon can deliver. The CIA and some important individuals in the Capitol become involved, throwing curve balls of their own. Langdon finds himself working out the mystery along with Peter Solomon’s sister, Dr. Katherine Solomon, who performs unusual top secret research in a scientific field called Noetics. The novel culminates with a major twist that will delight your sense for adventure even more.

Dan Brown was already writing the “Lost Symbol” when “The DaVinci Code’s” success was blossoming. He admits to suffering a crippling moment during writing. Luckily, he was able to pull himself out of it, and deliver explorations into science, religion, and history that serve as interesting explanations of their respective mysteries. In an interview Brown sums up what the book is getting at: “The more science I studied, the more I saw that physics becomes metaphysics and numbers become imaginary numbers. The farther you go into science, the mushier the ground gets. You start to say, ‘Oh, there is an order and a spiritual aspect to science.’” It’s all very interesting, and definitely worth the read. I promise, you won’t want to put it down.