“The Lost Symbol,” Dan Brown’s latest bestseller, is an engrossing but ultimately formulaic story. In modern day Washington D.C., our hero, Robert Langdon, is helplessly drawn into an elaborate tangle of codes, symbols and intrigue. The Freemasons are at the center of the book’s plot, as Langdon struggles to both discover and protect their most closely guarded secret. Brown explores the field of noetic science, which blends metaphysical philosophy with scientific research. Thought-provoking passages discuss the concept of the physical power of human thought, the potential for weighing the human soul, and the possibility of reconciling science and religion.
