Mark Twain 1, Dan Brown 0

In its current issue, Vanity Fair reports the results of a poll commissioned to gauge the cultural and political temper of our times.

The questions ranged from how people feel about changing the Constitution (45% said make no change) to who should be the next athletic role model (45% said sports stars should not be considered heroes).

We were particularly intrigued by this one: “Which of the following American writers has made the most important contribution to literature?” The 1,216 random respondents were given six choices, and here is what they had to say:

• Mark Twain, 40%
• Ernest Hemingway, 16%
• Emily Dickinson, 12%
• Stephen King, 11%
• Tony Morrison, 4%
• Dan Brown, 0%

Sorry, Dan.

Dan Burstein’s World Talk Radio Interview

Secrets of the Lost Symbol co-editor Dan Burstein appeared recently on World Talk Radio’s Be The Star You Are.

In a wide-ranging interview, Dan discusses how our Secrets team correctly predicted some of the major themes of The Lost Symbol, years before it was published, and some of the many interesting facts we discovered about the history of Freemasonry, its links to American history, and its influence on Washington DC architecture.

He also talks about our discoveries from exploring a central element of Dan Brown’s novel, noetic science, and the spiritual and material issues noetics raises in people’s search for meaning in life.

You can hear the interview, in full, below.

Secrets of The Lost Symbol Videos

If you look in the righthand sidebar of the blog you will notice that we now have four videos of Secrets of The Lost Symbol co-editor Dan Burstein discussing Dan Brown’s novel and our book.

In An Introduction to Secrets of The Lost Symbol, Dan talks generally about Secrets of The Lost Symbol and about the coded messages and hidden comment buried on the Lost Symbol cover.

In Washington DC and the Freemasons, he talks about Washington sites covered in Secrets of the Lost Symbol, such as the House of the Temple, the Capitol Rotunda, the Library of Congress, the Washington Monument, the George Washington National Masonic Memorial and the National Cathedral.

In Codes on the Lost Symbol Cover, he reveals and explains more of the codes hidden on The Lost Symbol jacket and inside the book, as well as exploring the meaning of a few of Dan Brown’s characters’ names.

Finally, in Contributors, Dan talks through the more than three-dozen expert contributors to Secrets of The Lost Symbol, highlighting some of our interviews and essays that shed new light on Freemaonsry, noetics and the ways in which The Lost Symbol connects with religion and spirituality today.

Buy Secrets of The Lost Symbol or download it as an e-book.

Dan Brown and Isaac Newton

Isaac Newton

I heard recently from a fascinating expert on Isaac Newton, Stephen D. Snobelen, who is a professor of the history of science and technology at the University of King’s College in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Professor Snobelen is involved with The Newton Project, a UK-based academic group that is pouring through Newton’s voluminous writings on all subjects, including alchemy, theology, etc., and analyzing, indexing, and making these available online.

Recently, Snobelen has taken on Dan Brown and what he believes is Brown’s mishandling of key ideas and comments attributed to Newton, in a very intriguing paper, which I highly recommend. You can download it from the Newton Project Canada’s website.

By the way, here’s the Newton Project’s self-description:

The goal of the Newton Project is to provide online access to Newton’s scientific, theological, alchemical and administrative papers, with an initial focus on Newton’s previously-unpublished theological writings. By providing instant access to these non-canonical writings of this early modern natural philosopher, the Newton Project is leading a scholarly revolution that is changing the way we view the figure many see as the father of modern science. A steadily increasing array of manuscript transcriptions and images can be found at the Newton Project website. Visit the Newton Project’s innovative and resource-rich website at: http://www.newtonproject.sussex.ac.uk

Anyone interested in Newton will find Snobelen’s paper, as well as all of the resources of the Newton Project, a wonderful virtual world to explore.

–Dan Burstein

Photo Tour :: Library of Congress

Library of Congress (© Julie O'Connor, 2009)

Our first stop in 2010 on Julie O’Connor’s Magical, Mystical, Masonic Photo Tour of Washington, DC brings us to the Library of Congress.

Robert Langdon reaches the Library (in Chapter 46) through an underground tunnel from Congress, led by Warren Bellamy. They enter the library, rush up a staircase, pass through a wide hall lined by eight pairs of statues of Minerva, and then “through a vaulted archway, into a far grander space:”

Even in the dim, after-hours lighting, the library’s great hall shone with the classical grandeur of an opulent European palace. Seventy-five feet overhead, stained-glass skylights glistened between paneled beams adorned with rare “aluminum leaf” — a metal that was considered to be more precious than gold at one time. Beneath that, a stately course of paired pillars lined the second-floor balcony, accessible by two magnificent curling staircases whose newel posts supported giant bronze female figures raising torches of enlightenment.

The Lost Symbol may be an adventure story and a brainteaser. But, as we point out in Secrets of The Lost Symbol, it can also be viewed as a love song to literature: A book lies at the heart of its mystery, the “Lost Word” is its deepest secret, and dozens of books and authors are mentioned by name. In fact, one could read the entire work as an argument for the extraordinary power of words.

Seen in this light, the Library of Congress is more than just a backdrop for the action. It’s an integral part of the plot. Little wonder then, that Dan Brown takes such pleasure in not only having his characters move through the space but also in writing them into the library’s distribution system itself, as Langdon and Katherine escape on a conveyor belt to the library’s Adams Building.

For more of our thoughts on Dan Brown’s celebration of the written word, and to find out more about the Library of Congress — its history, its architecture, its links with Freemasonry, and its enormous collection– buy Secrets of The Lost Symbol or download it as an e-book.