|
First of let me tell you that I am a big Dan Brown fan as his books introduces a
common man to powerful,interesting and unknown facts. His concentration to details of sophisticated science and technology coupling with ancient knowledge and religious teachings is impeccable! The most important factor in his books is that the organizations, brotherhoods, rituals, theories(even conspiracy theories) do exists even though they seem to be a work of fiction to the common man!
|
|
|
Then few months back I was excited to learn about the new Dan Brown book "The
Lost Symbol". I booked a copy even before the release of the book
for about 420Rs at IndiaPlaza.in . They delivered it on time and I started to read
the book with a heavy appetite. But as I moved on, it was becoming less interesting
just because of the story line.. The only thing kept the book alive was the fact
that CIA was involved in the story investigating on the same lines that of Langdon
for "National Security" reasons! And in the end when you really come to
know the reason.. pheww..... I was like a "Balloon with no air inside"!!
|
However, In the book Dan Brown has written well about Noetic Sciences(ref: http://www.noetic.org/, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institute_of_Noetic_Sciences)
and Masonic Mysteries, symbols and secret traditions (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freemasonry). As per me the
best part of the book is the substantiation of the fact that "We ourselves
are God", which I also firmly believe in. He uses several instances
in Bible and other books as proofs that ancient men of knowledge knew this. He was
lot of references to Hinduism in the book, but missed the most important teachings
of the Vedas wiz. "Aham Brahmasmi", meaning "I
am the Universe", which implies "I am the supreme being"
which in turn implies "I am the God.". Hinduism also
propagates the teaching "Tatwamasi" (Tat
means that, Twam means you, and Asi means is.)
meaning Thou art you .
Those who have been to Sabarimala(The
grand temple of Lord Ayyappa
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabarimala), can see this great message inscribed
on the entrance of the temple! Even the god himself is saying "I am you"
or "You are me"! I was fascinated by this inscription
when I went to Sabarimala at a very young age! Another interesting fact about this
temple is that the Sabarimala pilgrims are also called "Swami" or "Ayyappan",
the name of the God himself! Dan Brown's book points these 2 most powerful teachings
of Hinduism: Aham Brahmasmi and Tatwamasi, both together meaning "God is
in every thing and everywhere"! its sad that he missed out these
hindu teachings in his book.
Coming back to the book, the storyline is not that impressive. Facts about Smithsonian
institution and museums, the Capitol Building,
paintings inside it etc. are good general knowledge embedded in between chapters
which helps readers not to get bored while Robert Langdon is running away from the
Law as usual!!.
To make the review more concise, I will take you to a small FAQ, which is my perspective
only.
FAQ of Lost Symbol:
1. Is it as good as Da Vinci Code? Ans: Not at all!
2.On a scale of 1 to 10, how will you rate this book?
Ans:
|
9 |
For "Moral of the story"(as I strongly believe in the teaching that "God is within ourselves")
|
| 5 |
For story line
|
| 8 |
For unknown secret facts
and general knowledge(if you are a person who respects knowledge, you will end up
doing lot of googling about the Noetic sciences, Capitol Building of Washington D.C., Free Masons, Hidden teachings of The Bible etc.)
|
| 8 |
For keeping
the reader glued to the book. |
So the average comes to
7.0 which means
Readable book!
Subscribe