Just finished up The Lost Symbol... Dan Brown's latest fictional adventure masked in near-science and American History. I have read every one of Dan Brown's books. They are all a fun, fast read... he has a formula... a way of weaving multiple story lines together that naturally make his books page turners. It is fun to turn pages as fast as he makes you.
In the Lost Symbol, the book focuses on myths surrounding the Masons, historic theologies, fringe science, and the founding of America. He attempts to prove nothing (it is fiction after all), and like always, weaves together just enough lingo and circumstantial analysis to tweak the optimistic conspiracy theorist within all of us to keep it exciting.
The best part of this book for me was the ending. Not because of what really happens, but just some of the simple an elegant quotes and observations that are provided. It meshes well with my secular humanist sensibilities. I will share two favorites with you:
"What we have done for ourselves alone, dies with us; What we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal." - Albert Pike
"The truth was that the brotherhood's focus on death was in fact a bold celebration of life. Masonic ritual was designed to awaken the slumbering man inside, lifting him from his dark coffin of ignorance, raising him into the light, and giving him eyes to see. Only through the death experience could man fully understand his life experience. Only through the realization that his days on earth were finite could he grasp the importance of living those days with honor, integrity, and service to his fellow man." - Dan Brown
This was also my first book I read on the Kindle. When Maureen asked where I was, it wasn't a page number I would claim, but a "percentage"... as that is how the Kindle tracks your progress. I really enjoyed the Kindle experience, except one moment when it ran out of batteries... books normally don't do that. Nothing a power cord didn't solve though. I might have to looking into this Kindle thing though for myself. I felt like Star Trek.
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