Quote.Does anyone hear prayers, life after death, do humans have souls? Katherine had answered all these questions, and more. Scientifically. Conclusively. The methods she used were irrefutable.
EndQuote.
I think it was when I read with a mixture of 10% amusement and 90% horror the above words in Dan Brown's novel The Lost Symbol that I knew I was going to have a tough time finishing this book.
Whether by sadistic pleasure, trolling or agent provocateur I had been l lent this copy from a friend and the initial chapters of the book proved exciting action packed copy.
Our hero Robert Langdon is duped into visiting Washington (DC, USA) and finds that instead of giving a lecture that he falls into a chain of events whereby he attempts to find and rescue his friend (and leading Freemason) Peter Solomon.
And so we become subsumed into an adventure where in a Mormon like transposition we find out how Washington DC could be the centre for recapturing the wisdom of the ancients. I did enjoy the book even though it attempts to reinforce some classic anti-science stereotypes with lines like:
Science was not so much making discoveries as it was making rediscoveries
Perhaps we simply need science to catch up with the wisdom of the ancients
But leaving these grossly insulting lines aside, the ending chapters are soft and anti-climactic, does not explain matters sufficiently and just plain annoying
Perhaps Dan is leaving room open for The Lost Symbol II
