The Lost Symbol

Amazing. As I write this message, my mind swirls with the theories to which it has just been introduced. In some ways, I have met these theories before. In other ways, it is brand new and perplexing, unbelievable, the tip of a very large iceberg.

I just finished "The Lost Symbol", within the last two minutes running my eyes over the last words. I think I should process the book, but, instead, I will write about it. First, a quote:

"He thought about how every culture, in every country, in every time, had always shared one thing. We all had the Creator. We used different names, different faces, and different prayers, but God was the universal constant for man. God was the symbol we all shared... the symbol of all the mysteries of life that we could not understand. The ancients had praised God as a symbol of our limitless human potential, but that ancient symbol had been lost over time." (509)

Dan Brown is notoriously controversial. His books delve into worlds of religion, culture, history, and science. He appears to question and to "undermine" religion (Christianity, in particular) even as he illuminates the truth contained within. "The Lost Symbol" is classic Dan Brown in this way. The story is littered with the detritus of millenia of human existence and thought, riddled with symbols and obscure text, scaffolded with deft explanations and elaborate demonstrations. Though fiction, the book may be classified a hundred different ways. In part it is philosophy, considering the ancients in depth and making contemporary connections that can be ignored, but only if that ignorance is tempered with curiosity. In another part, it is historical fiction, painting detailed portraits of historic figures captured at their various appropriate points in history but coming together anachronistically in Brown's novel. In another part it is advanced science, drawing on humankind's most recent scientific and technological work and its seemingly odd marriage to religion and philosophy.

Truly, this, like all of his other work, is a masterpiece in and of itself, with the power to inspire readers to learn more, to seek information and to demand a clearer picture of humankind's history and present. The final word of the novel is "Hope", and in some (intended, I'm sure) way, Brown is leaving his audience with that single concept. At the end of a novel where the characters (angels and demons) are searching for The Last Word, this is his: Hope.

I am always astounded by how much I learn from Dan Brown's books. They are utterly entertaining, but they are the only books I read with my laptop as a constant accompaniment. His elaborate descriptions of locations and artwork and objects of public consumption inspire me to learn more, to seek a faithful visual representation. With Dan Brown, Wikipedia can be a reader's best friend, enhancing the experience of reading even as it removes the reader from the text itself. I re-read full chapters after conducting my Wiki-research, and my reading is brought to life by this necessary (for me) investigation. The reality of his work is not lost on me; at the beginning of his books, he includes a page titled "Fact:" as if anticipating disbelief. Because, in truth, the fiction he expertly weaves has nothing on the nonfiction into which it is woven. Without his disclaimer (and my previous experiences with his work, all of which left me with hours of additional research to conduct), I would not believe many of the things that are described on these pages.

But sometimes the truth, lightly veiled but astonishingly accessible, is more powerful than any imagining.

Happy reading.