This is yet another page turner from the historian Dan Brown.
The Lost Symbol is a clone of Da Vinci Code in the author's story telling paradigm and plots, but the soul of the clone being different historically and geographically.
Plot:
Dan Brown's hero Robert Langdon, a Harvard university professor gets an invite from one of his mentor Peter Solomon to lecture in National Statutory Hall in United States Capitol, Washington. While proceeding to the lecture hall, he happens to see the severed right hand of Peter Solomon. The severed hand is tattooed with mystic symbols and is pointing to the fresco in the United States Capitol dome. Solomon has been kidnapped by the villain of the novel Malakh. The villain demands Langdon to unlock the ancient mysteries inscribed in a hidden pyramid. The villain perceives that the hidden mystery would give him enormous power.Langdon works with Inoue Sato, a CIA officer & Katherine Solomon(Peter's Sister) for finding the hidden pyramid & unlocking the mysteries to rescue Peter Solomon. The story finishes with all good note - mysteries unlocked, malakh killed - the lost symbol revealed & Peter Solomon rescued.
Lost Symbol:
Most complex things in the world are actually simple. The 509 paged novel did not finally tell a whole new thing what the lost symbol is. Its not actually a symbol which is lost. Its actually a word/meaning that has been lost over the time.
Buddha said "You are god yourself"; Jesus taught "The works I do you can do.."; Even the antipope Hippolytus of Rome taught "Abadon the search for God..Instead take yourself as the starting place..."
But, over the time, man started to separate himself from God. When he started doing that, the true meaning of God is lost and that is the lost symbol/word/meaning.
Mankind started reading Bible, Bhagavat Gita, Quran etc considering man as a powerless sinner and God as a powerful entity ruling the mankind. But all the religions and their preachings say "God is within you.."
Review:
Facts discussed by the author makes this book worthy to read. The author's subject of discussion includes all the religions in the world and their holy books.
I was amazed when the author says the cornerstones of the three structures that make up federal triangle - the U.S capitol, the White House, the Washington Monument - were all laid in different years but were carefully when Caput Draconis was in Virgo.
The author refers that the concept of laying corner stones actually comes from the Old Testament. The corner stones are always laid in the north east corner of the building as its the first to get the sunlight. This same concept is endorsed by "Vaasthu Sasthram" of eastern world as well.
The author says that the great scientist and philosophers of mankind Newton, pascal strongly believed that stars and fate are intertwined.
The story is actually knitted around Neotic Science. Neotic Science is a science of thoughts.
Katherine's experiments proves that thoughts have a mass like physical substance. Based on this, she claims that powerful thoughts that exert considerable mass can do a physical activity.Thus she scientifically acknowledges the importance and success of group prayers where thoughts of all the participants are focused in the name of prayer.
A nail biting part of the novel is where she experiments to measure the mass of a soul. She experimentally proves that there is a apparent reduce in the mass of the body before and after the death.
The Tom and Jerry chase in the story runs for unlocking the meaning of an inscription in a pyramid and image of this review is the inscription in the pyramid.
Dan Brown slogs in the lost pages of this book explaining the hidden meaning of this image.
Of the whole image, I would like to just review the pyramid structure in the image and the circle-dot(circumpunct) symbol on top of it.
Pyramid actually symbolizes the desire of man to move up above the earthly plane and ascend towards heaven..towards Sun - The supreme source of illumination.
Now, If you see the body of the pyramid in the image, it is filled with the symbols of buddhist, hindu, christian, Islamic etc and narrowing up to the circumpunct. The circumpunct is the universal symbol of god and thus depicting the diversified vision of all religions in the body of the pyramid unifies to circumpunct which is the universal representation of god.
On a overall, though the plot of the story is predictable [if you are a dan brown reader], the facts urges the fingers to turn the pages.
The Lost Symbol - 7/10
