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!

"The Da Vinci Code" was the first ever book to which I was glued to until I finished it. Its one hell of a read! Soon after I completed Da Vinci Code, impressed by the author's abilities, I bought "Angels and Demons", "Digital Fortress" and "Deception Point" and read it without any interruptions. "Angels and Demons" and "Deception Point" were good read and I enjoyed reading them. Regarding "Digital Fortress", I could not relate the computing stuff mentioned in the book to practical computing!

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: