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The Lost Symbol

post #1 of 71
9/8/09 at 11:36pm
Thread Starter 
I don't know why I'm starting a thread about a book I have a sneaking suspicion I won't like, but I was wondering who else planned on checking this out so I could have people to help dissect this mess, and have a laugh or two. Maybe this time Langdon will escape a nuclear blast via lead refrigerator.
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post #2 of 71
9/8/09 at 11:45pm
As it supposedly focuses upon Masonry, I'll be reading it...and laughing.
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post #3 of 71
9/8/09 at 11:56pm
Thread Starter 
I tend to be someone who has a better time breaking down Brown's style and story elements rather than subject matter, but as he has a fun time psuedo-corroborating the fantastic with the historical I can't wait to hear some of the reactions from you guys with actual Masonic ties and insight.
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post #4 of 71
9/9/09 at 2:55pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Judas Booth View Post
As it supposedly focuses upon Masonry, I'll be reading it...and laughing.
The joke'll be on you when Mr. Brown exposes all of your dirty little secrets!

Ahem, yeah, I'll definitely be reading it. I'll admit to getting a kick out of "Angels and Demons" and "The DaVinci Code".
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post #5 of 71
9/14/09 at 11:19am
I'll be picking a copy up tomorrow. My wife will probably read it first, but I'll check oit out as well. I enjoyed the other Robert Langdon books well enough but never took them too seriously. It was interesting to me how The Da Vinci Code blew up and seemed to take over the world for a little while, and everything that followed, and while I don't think the same will happen here, at least to the same extent, I think it's pretty safe to assume that this book is going to be all over the place for a while, for better or worse.
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post #6 of 71
9/14/09 at 11:55am
If I'm stuck on an airplane, and there isn't a good movie playing, and my laptop is out of power, and my iPod is out of power, and I finish reading another book on the flight, and I finish reading the in-flight magazine, and I can't get to sleep...I may check it out.
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post #7 of 71
9/15/09 at 2:37am
I can't even believe I'm admitting this at Chud, of all places. But yes, I will be getting the book. I'm having it delivered, because I have a reputation to uphold at my local bookstore.

Those books are dreadful in a Van Helsing type of way. In fact, I think I like them because it feels like I'm reading a movie script.

I read somewhere that the National Treasure franchise ran off with his ideas, and he had to scramble to "research" new material.
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post #8 of 71
9/15/09 at 10:52am
This thread is the worst. Why not just go ahead and make a day out of it by donating money to NAMBLA?
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post #9 of 71
9/15/09 at 11:33am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mattioli View Post
Ahem, yeah, I'll definitely be reading it. I'll admit to getting a kick out of "Angels and Demons" and "The DaVinci Code".
Oh come on! It's like willingly catching herpes!
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post #10 of 71
9/15/09 at 12:47pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jake View Post
This thread is the worst. Why not just go ahead and make a day out of it by donating money to NAMBLA?
As long as a Twilight discussion exists on this forum, this thread will never be the worst.
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post #11 of 71
9/15/09 at 12:54pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jake View Post
This thread is the worst. Why not just go ahead and make a day out of it by donating money to NAMBLA?
You're honestly comparing a 3 hour read of nonsensical, disposable fiction to NAMBLA?
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post #12 of 71
9/15/09 at 12:57pm
Jake's way out of line. No way is NAMBLA anywhere near as bad.
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post #13 of 71
9/15/09 at 12:59pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jake View Post
This thread is the worst. Why not just go ahead and make a day out of it by donating money to NAMBLA?
Okay, there, Mr. Hyperbole.
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post #14 of 71
9/15/09 at 1:53pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by OCallaghan View Post
Jake's way out of line. No way is NAMBLA anywhere near as bad.
Someone greenbox that man.
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post #15 of 71
9/15/09 at 4:20pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by CocoaSugarbaker View Post
As long as a Twilight discussion exists on this forum, this thread will never be the worst.
Point.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Judas Booth View Post
You're honestly comparing a 3 hour read of nonsensical, disposable fiction to NAMBLA?
Also, nope. Just wanted to ruffle some feathers.
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post #16 of 71
9/15/09 at 4:29pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Judas Booth View Post
You're honestly comparing a 3 hour read of nonsensical, disposable fiction to NAMBLA?




You know I'm just giving you a hard time.
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post #17 of 71
9/15/09 at 4:42pm
hugz4u
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post #18 of 71
9/15/09 at 5:07pm
Thread Starter 
"FACT:

In 1991, a document was locked in the safe of the director of the CIA. The document is still there today. Its cryptic text includes references to an ancient portal and an unknown location underground. The document also contains the phrase "It's buried out there somewhere."

Dan Brown, you had me at "ancient portal".
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post #19 of 71
9/15/09 at 5:13pm
bro he's gonna put it in your ancient portal
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post #20 of 71
9/15/09 at 5:14pm
Good God, that sounds like a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure novel.

Choose from 42 different endings!
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post #21 of 71
9/15/09 at 5:14pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jake View Post
bro he's gonna put it in your ancient portal
He has no idea how deep that rabbit hole goes.


eta; ghey
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post #22 of 71
9/15/09 at 5:20pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Judas Booth View Post
Good God, that sounds like a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure novel.

Choose from 42 different endings!
Turn to page 147 if you choose "Fisting".

Turn to page 253 if you decide that a Louisville Slugger might be the best way to enter.
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post #23 of 71
9/15/09 at 5:25pm
The Lost Symbol and The Da Vinci Code author Dan Browns 20 worst sentences
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post #24 of 71
9/15/09 at 5:37pm
Quote:
My French stinks, Langdon thought, but my zodiac iconography is pretty good.
That's pretty damn sig-worthy.
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post #25 of 71
9/15/09 at 6:37pm
Quote:
Although not overly handsome in a classical sense, the forty-year-old Langdon had what his female colleagues referred to as an ‘erudite’ appeal — wisp of gray in his thick brown hair, probing blue eyes, an arrestingly deep voice, and the strong, carefree smile of a collegiate athlete.
Dan Brown is so in love with himself. I love the gratuitous mentions of tweed jackets and turtlenecks too.
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post #26 of 71
9/15/09 at 8:08pm
Thread Starter 
His zodiac iconography is pretty good, too.
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post #27 of 71
9/15/09 at 9:55pm
I thought Langdon was banging that Descendent of Christ chick? But there's no mention of her in the book (I skimmed through the book).
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post #28 of 71
9/16/09 at 3:54am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Eric Cordo View Post
"FACT:

In 1991, a document was locked in the safe of the director of the CIA. The document is still there today. Its cryptic text includes references to an ancient portal and an unknown location underground. The document also contains the phrase "It's buried out there somewhere."

Dan Brown, you had me at "ancient portal".
Wait, this book is crossover fanfiction with Stargate? Awesome.
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post #29 of 71
9/16/09 at 10:34am
Quote:
Originally Posted by felix natalya View Post
I thought Langdon was banging that Descendent of Christ chick? But there's no mention of her in the book (I skimmed through the book).
Hey! Spoiler that guff, pal! Some of us want to go in without any preconceived notions.


...kidding, of course.
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post #30 of 71
9/16/09 at 10:45am
What surprises me is there's absolutely no mention of anything that happened in the first two books. This is pretty much a stand-alone adventure.

It's all complete bullshit of course. Noetics. Secret Words. The CIA. Though there's another book (by a different author) called the Seven Secret Stones (I think) that even more outlandish.
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post #31 of 71
9/17/09 at 12:18pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by felix natalya View Post
It's all complete bullshit of course. Noetics. Secret Words. The CIA. Though there's another book (by a different author) called the Seven Secret Stones (I think) that even more outlandish.
It's Six Sacred Stones, by Matthew Reilly. It's the sequel to Seven Deadly Wonders... and, uh, he has another one coming out in January called The Five Greatest Warriors, which I can only assume is another sequel (shouldn't the numbers go up? It's just confusing). Now then, before I go and kill myself I'll just add that I've only read the Seven Deadly Wonders book and it was too much Indiana Jones-ey for my tastes and much less enjoyable than some of his earlier stuff which reads like military porn/action movie on crack stuff.

I bought the Dan Brown book on Tuesday and read the "FACT" page and that's it. I gave it to my wife and she has since then read a grand total of 6 pages... I'm starting to think that this latest book is going to fall flat on its face (landing in a huige pile of cash though). I'll read it whenever she eventually finishes it, but I'm in no hurry, and that first page seemed a lot more pretentious than I would have preferred... but then again, didn't he start the Da Vinci Code that way too?

SEPPUKU!!!
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post #32 of 71
9/17/09 at 12:22pm
So...are the Freemasons the good guys or the bad guys in this book?
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post #33 of 71
9/17/09 at 12:38pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Judas Booth View Post
So...are the Freemasons the good guys or the bad guys in this book?
Why so curious? Unless....

...

...




HE'S A TEMPLAR!!
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post #34 of 71
9/17/09 at 12:43pm
Simon Templar, to be exact.

Nah, I'm just a regular old Mason (32nd degree, Past Master of my Lodge) who is curious as to the questions that I'm going to be asked. I'll try and whip out the book one of these days, though.
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post #35 of 71
9/17/09 at 12:47pm
HA! I was just joshing, didn't actually think you were a Mason, right on.
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post #36 of 71
9/17/09 at 1:14pm
I read Angels & Demons after everyone started raving about the DaVinci Code. It didn't do much for me, but I could see why others enjoyed his work. When I hit the section about the Pope fathering a bastard son though, I gave up and literally threw the book across the room.

It was the hokiest damned thing I'd ever read.

That said, I've enjoyed plenty of books others might find just as hokey and I'm happy for Brown's success with the DaVinci Code, a book that, regardless of its subjective quality, successfully introduced millions of people to some seriously controversial ideas. Looking forward to reading your reactions as you plow through this one.
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post #37 of 71
9/17/09 at 1:20pm
Thread Starter 
So far this book is the literary equivalent of Bad Boys 2. And I'm only a few chapters in, out of 130-something.
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post #38 of 71
9/17/09 at 1:32pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Eric Cordo View Post
So far this book is the literary equivalent of Bad Boys 2. And I'm only a few chapters in, out of 130-something.
So they invaded Cuba?
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post #39 of 71
9/17/09 at 2:12pm
130 Chapters? Pssh, that's nothing. James Patterson can go 175 easily.
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post #40 of 71
9/17/09 at 2:18pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Martin Savage View Post
So they invaded Cuba?
If Cuba is a metaphor for sanity, yes.

I was flipping through a book in the library when I was a little kid, it was about 300 pages, and there were 290 chapters. I don't remember what it was, but whoever the author was I think he's an asshole.
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post #41 of 71
9/17/09 at 2:30pm
Please tell me this book doesn't open with an albino/arab/asian/vampire/pirate/robot assassin killing an old man who knows a great a terrible secret and who's daughter/niece/aunt/stepdaughter/gender-confused son is the only one who can help Langdon solve it.


Fuck you Dan Brown.


....then again, I'm one to talk. I read all three Dean Koontz "Frankenstein" books.
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post #42 of 71
9/17/09 at 2:34pm
Thread Starter 
It opens with a mysterious man infiltrating a secret organization comprised of world leaders and the most powerful men on Earth. Fairly uneventful.
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post #43 of 71
9/17/09 at 2:35pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rich Straceski View Post
It's Six Sacred Stones, by Matthew Reilly. It's the sequel to Seven Deadly Wonders... and, uh, he has another one coming out in January called The Five Greatest Warriors, which I can only assume is another sequel (shouldn't the numbers go up? It's just confusing). Now then, before I go and kill myself I'll just add that I've only read the Seven Deadly Wonders book and it was too much Indiana Jones-ey for my tastes and much less enjoyable than some of his earlier stuff which reads like military porn/action movie on crack stuff.
Well, at least you know when the series will end. Unless he goes into negative numbers.

The Negative Five Pyramids of the World.
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post #44 of 71
9/17/09 at 3:36pm
Please help me. I can't seem to make it past page 15, and I started reading it yesterday! I don't remember his other books starting off so godawful slow, waxing poetic about turtlenecks and Sumatra coffee.

I keep going back to my audio copy of the Accidental Time Machine.
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post #45 of 71
9/17/09 at 3:55pm
Is he writing about his morning paper routine now?
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post #46 of 71
9/17/09 at 5:25pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jake View Post
Is he writing about his morning paper routine now?
Dan Brown's The Lost Car Keys.
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post #47 of 71
9/17/09 at 5:33pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ratty View Post
Dan Brown's The Lost Car Keys.
Not since Stephen King's Lamp Monster have I been so riveted.
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post #48 of 71
9/17/09 at 9:24pm
Okay. The female lead for the Tom Hanks adaption of this. Any suggestions?
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post #49 of 71
9/18/09 at 12:40am
Sorry Felix, I'm not yet that far into the story. I'm still trying to wrap my mind around the "Freemasonry is like Coca Cola!" scene.

Langdon has the most obnoxious and lame students ever.
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post #50 of 71
9/18/09 at 12:00pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by CocoaSugarbaker View Post
"Freemasonry is like Coca Cola!"
Well, THAT'S a new one. Fill me in the comparison, please.
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