false 6411961 0385504225 9780385504225 12662 4421 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255568700m/6411961.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6411961-the-lost-symbol 630 Dan Brown 501034 38511 4 3 false Wed Sep 16 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Sep 17 11:37:44 -0700 2009 Thu Sep 17 13:03:01 -0700 2009 Angels & Demons or The Da Vinci Code fairly closely.

So, we have Robert Langdon trying to stop a lone, deranged beast of a man (the albino, the assassin) from wreaking unfathomable havoc (destruction of the Catholic Church, an anti-matter explosion leveling Vatican City). Aiding Professor Langdon is a brilliant, dark-haired beauty (the French chick, the Italian chick), whose male relative/close associate has been killed/abducted/whatever (The physicist priest, the dude at the Louvre). The two race around a city (London, Rome) filled with sybolism and hidden secrets involving an occult society (The Priory of Sion, The Illuminati). Only this time it's in Washington, D.C. and we get to learn about the Masons.

Yes, it's formulaic, yes you may want to skip it, but I tell you, you'll enjoy it if only for the history of our nation's capital, the explanation of the symbols in various buildings and paintings, and the theoretical scientific morsels about Noetics (yeah, look it up).

I've heard Dan Brown's works described as mind candy. Sugary and delicious, with questionable nutritional value. That sounds about right. Still, Brown references all kinds of archaic texts in his novel, and I'm intrigued. Brown may not be our Cervantes, but he knows how to get a guy thinking.

I finished this book in a day. Nerd alert!]]>