"The Lost Symbol" by Dan Brown

Although I'm a voracious reader, I don't always have a huge amount of interest for extremely popular books (think Michael Crichton, etc.).  Sometimes I read them, though, just to see what all the hype is about and to be able to discuss them with others.  I did this with "The Da Vinci Code" when it was the huge book of the year, and I read Dan Brown's most recent book, "The Lost Symbol", as well.

In true Dan Brown fashion, "The Lost Symbol" features adventures around a well=known world city involving a secret group and lots of symbols/clues hiding in plain site.  It had some entertainment value, but--to me--it was an unremarkable book.  The most interesting part for me was the role of freemasonry in American history (some of what is told is true; some is fictional).  It was a topic that I would be interested in reading a non-fiction book about.

To find out if "The Lost Symbol" by Dan Brown is an accurate depiction of freemasonry, click here.  Also "The Lost Symbol" brought freemasonry into the spotlight.  Do you think it revealed too much about this traditionally secretive group?  Click here to read some of the debate.  (Feel free to leave a comment and let us know what you think as well.)

"The Lost Symbol" by Dan Brown

I know that Dan Brown is a best-selling author and that millions of people around the world read his books.  He shot to fame with "The DaVinci Code" and has since written other books like "The Lost Symbol".  He is probably one of the most commercially successful novel authors currently writing.

But...and I can't help adding a but...his books aren't always that great.  They are fast-paced and full of a mix of conspiracies, action, and romantic possibilities.  What most people seem to love about these books, though, is that Dan Brown has a gift for making the average person feel smarter and more educated than they actually are.  He throws in historical and other information so that people can feel like they're puzzling things out and learning new things.  Some of his information is right, some is interesting, and some is just plain wrong (for example, a retinal scanner only works on a living eye--if you cut the eye out of some one's head, like in one of his novels, it won't work for security scans).

In "The Lost Symbol", there's a lot of information about masons.  Masonry plays a major part of the plot line, and there's a lot of discussion of masonic practices, history, and goals.  However, Dan Brown is a novelist.  He's not a mason, and he's not an educator.  He writes entertaining books of fiction.

To find out how accurate Dan Brown's depiction of masonry is in "The Lost Symbol", click here.

I personally felt at times that there was too much information given about masonry.  I felt like I was, as an outsider, intruding on beliefs that are important to a lot of people, and yet were taken out of context and manipulated to fit into entertainment.  For more of my discussion of whether Dan Brown reveals too much about masonry in "The Lost Symbol", click here.

To find out more about "The Lost Symbol" and Dan Brown's other books, visit his official website.