Has Dan Brown found the lost symbol?

I posted a review of Dan Browns latest book - The Lost Symbol - a few weeks ago. That has nothing to do with this post other than the title.

One of the blogs I read on a regular basis is called the Pioneer Woman - about a housewife who moved from the city to the country when she married a rancher. Anyway her blog has been about life on the farm, her family and cooking. She got the bright idea to put together a cook book. After a year or so of hard work, and requesting recipes from her readers, Ree's cook book has finally been published - October 27th, 2009.

At the Walmart store in Little Rock, Arkansas, last week, the Walmart staff seemed to have lost the old symbol and found a new symbol. This is the cookbook in question. Ree thought this stand was hilarious.

The Pioneer Woman Cooks.

The Lost Symbol - Book Review

The Lost Symbol
Dan Brown
Doubleday September 2009

Well I purchased my copy this week - I got 40% off the original retail price which I thought is was very a good deal. I stayed up to 2 oclock this morning reading this latest Robert Langdon adventure. This novel takes place in Washington DC.



Peter Solomon is the director of the Smithsonian Museum in Washington DC. He is an old friend of Robert Langdons and on this day he calls his old friend Robert Langdon (who lives in Boston) and asks him to come to DC to deliver a lecture for a function, because the original speaker has fallen ill. Robert is also asked to bring the package with him that Solomon had asked him to look after many years earlier.

When Robert arrives in DC he is taken to the Capitol Building and manages to arrives at the National Statuary Hall right on 7 pm. Instead of finding a crowd gathered to hear his lecture, there is noone there. Robert then receives a mysterious phone call from the man who claims to have kidnapped Peter Solomon. Shortly after, a scream is heard from the Capitol Rotunda.

On the floor in the middle of the Rotunda is a ghastly item. A bloody hand and forearm, wearing a masonic ring, stuck on a wooden stake so that the hand is pointing upward. On the fingers are tattoed some small symbols.

Robert recognises the symbol and the meaning of the hand. The Hand of the Mysteries is an invitation to take a journey to discover the sacred wisdom and greatest secrets of the ages.

And so the journey begins. Robert has 12 hours to find Peter Solomon before the madman kills him. In return the madman wants to know the answers - what are the greatest secrets of the freemasons. Robert has help and hindrance from the CIA in the form of the Director of the Office of Security. He must travel around the city of washington DC to find the clues. Robert's visits take him down into the depths of the Capitol, to the George Washington Masonic Memorial, to the Botanic Gardens, to the Washington National Cathedral and to the House of the Temple.

The gist of the novel is that the mind is much more powerful than we think.
Everyone has heard the saying that we only use 10% of our brains.
So what is the other 90% used for?
Well this book will answer that question. I guarantee it!!!

I thoughly enjoyed this novel for the new knowledge I learned - both of freemason history and what the human brain is truely capable of doing - if we just believe.

The main and official book website
The Lost Symbol in Australia
The Lost Symbol in UK
The Lost Symbol map of Washington DC
Dan Brown Video Interviews
Noetic science
Freemasonry and The Lost Symbol

The Key of Solomon was supposed to be the original title of the next book according to Dan Brown himself. So why is the story now completely different?

Sighs of relief are likely still rising from Vatican City (this month). Masonic lodges in Europe and North America, on the other hand, could be excused for feeling a little twitchy. They’ve just been caught in the eye of a literary storm by bestselling storyteller Dan Brown. Book Review - Canada

Noetic sciences are explorations into the nature and potentials of consciousness using multiple ways of knowing—including intuition, feeling, reason, and the senses. Noetic sciences explore the "inner cosmos" of the mind (consciousness, soul, spirit) and how it relates to the "outer cosmos" of the physical world. (see noetic link above)

The Lost Symbol - Dan Brown

The Lost Symbol
By Dan Brown
Doubleday
September 15, 2009
Due out 2 weeks from today

Dan Brown's new novel, the eagerly awaited follow-up to his #1 international phenomenon, The Da Vinci Code, which was the bestselling hardcover adult novel of all time, will be published on September 15, 2009.

The Lost Symbol will once again feature Dan Brown's unforgettable protagonist, Robert Langdon.

'The Lost Symbol is a brilliant and compelling thriller. Dan Brown's prodigious talent for storytelling, infused with history, codes and intrigue, is on full display in this new book. This is one of the most anticipated publications in recent history, and it was well worth the wait,' said Sonny Mehta, Chairman and Editor in Chief of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.

Brown's longtime editor, Jason Kaufman, Vice President and Executive Editor at Doubleday said, 'Nothing ever is as it first appears in a Dan Brown novel. This book's narrative takes place in a twelve-hour period, and from the first page, Dan's readers will feel the thrill of discovery as they follow Robert Langdon through a masterful and unexpected new landscape. The Lost Symbol is full of surprises.'

"This novel has been a strange and wonderful journey," said Brown. "Weaving five years of research into the story's twelve-hour timeframe was an exhilarating challenge. Robert Langdon's life clearly moves a lot faster than mine."

Source

Angels and Demons - Book Review

Angels and Demons
By Dan Brown
Pocket Books 2000

An ancient secret brotherhood.

A devastating new weapon of destruction.

An unthinkable target...


Angels and Demons was the first story about symbologist Robert Langdon. I first read it about the same time as The Da Vinci Code came out. So when I finally got my own copy of DVC, I had some previous knowledge of Robert Langdon. I have read this again, and it was just as exciting as it was the last time.

Angel and Demons is the classic (and the second best after COSMOS) story on the science versus religion debate.

A Scientist at CERN has discovered how to make ANTI-MATTER, the stuff of Science Fiction and Star Trek. This scientist is murdered for his discovery and his one small sample of anti-matter (stored in a special magnetized container) is stolen. The batteries for this special container last only 6 hours before they MUST be recharged, or the magnetism will fail. The murdered scientist has an unusual tattoo branded on his chest.

The director of CERN calls Robert Langdon to fly to Geneva (in a special plane built by CERN that travels at Mach 5 and takes just one hour from NYC to Switzerland) to dicuss the meaning of the tattoo. The trail leads to the Vatican City where the cardinals are preparing to go into Conclave to choose a new Pope, the previous pope having died two weeks earlier. There is also the matter of four missing cardinals.

The murdered scientist had a daughter, Vittoria. Langdon and Vittoria fly to the Vatican City and have just four hours to find the cardinals and the antimatter before the magnetism fails and the inevitable explosion occurs.

Langdon, Vittoria and the Swiss Guard must follow a trail around Rome - to 4 different churches - all with sculptures by Bernini. And then to one last final place that leads to the hiding place of the antimatter.

One last note - Angels and Demons is currently being made into a movie - due out in 2009. I cant wait to see it.

The Angels and Demons Tour of Rome
A funny blog post of the tour with photos of the churches and sculptures.
A list of Bernini's works in Rome

Dan Brown - pinning his hopes on a new megaseller..

Remember Dan Brown, the guy who wrote that book about the mysterious murder of a Louvre curator?

Well he's back again, hopefully, and pinning his hopes on the next megaseller. Brown's long overdue follow-up, originally tipped for publication by Doubleday in 2005, will not slide in under anyone's radar.


With Harry Potter in retirement, the next book by Dan Brown is threatening to become the publishing world's own Holy Grail, both in anticipation of its potentially magical commercial powers and the fact that, for the moment at least, no one but the author himself seems certain when it might materialize.

Brown's U.S. publisher indicated in one press report that the book, which is said to probe the shadowy reaches of the protectively secretive Masonic brotherhood, is nearing completion, heightening anticipation it might hit stores sometime this year. There is even speculation Brown has a specific date in mind, possibly one linked to an anniversary of a Masonic milestone.

Brown is under a LOT of pressure because if the new novel is not as HUGE as the last one was - then there can often be a huge let down if the next book does not live up to the hype.