Product Description

Dan Brown's new novel once again features Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon, this time in the United States, racing to uncover clues and crack codes involving secrets that are perpetuated to this day. But how much of the novel is true and what is pure fiction? Simon Cox, bestselling author of Cracking the Da Vinci Code and Illuminating Angels & Demons, offers the first definitive guide to all the mysteries featured in The Lost Symbol.

Based on extensive research, this A-to-Z guide lists the real people, organizations, and themes featured in Dan Brown's latest novel, explains their histories and their meanings, reproduces and analyzes the symbols themselves, and provides insider knowledge gleaned from years of exhaustive study. From the monuments of Washington, D.C., to the secrets of Salt Lake City and the hidden enclaves in Langley, Virginia, Cox knows where the facts are hidden about the Freemasons, Albert Pike, the Rosicrucians, the Founding Fathers, and more.

This is the only resource you'll need to understand and enjoy the complex new world of The Lost Symbol.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6859 in Books
• Published on: 2009-11-03
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780743287272
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

About the Author
Simon Cox was the founding editor-in-chief of Phenomena magazine, a U.S. based newstand publication launched in 2003. Having studied Egyptology at University College London, he went on to work as a research assistant for some of the biggest names in the alternative history game, including Graham Hancock, Robert Bauval, and David Rohl. He lives in England.

Customer Reviews

A great book at a bargain price
A great book!

I say that not as a Dan Brown fan. Dan Brown totally turned me off with his book DaVinci Code, because in the introduction he promised the "facts" were true, but that wasn't the case. Brown also said he did extensive research, but it was obvious he relied mostly on one source that wasn't very good. As a reader, I felt betrayed. For this reason, I don't read Dan Brown books.

So why did I read a book that is about a Dan Brown book? Simon Cox has a reputation as an expert researcher, and I thought this work might be an interesting read. It was. And it's a worthy, engaging read even if you can't stand Dan Brown (I can't).

Two things struck me about this book right away:

1. It was fast-tracked for publication.
2. It's excellent.

Usually, these two characteristics are mutually exclusive. Somehow, Simon Cox managed to do both in one book. Perhaps he's related to Kimberly Cox, another person of outstanding merit and ability. I looked in the Acknowledgements, and didn't see the name....

This book stands on its own as a valuable collection of historical facts. Something struck me about this book upon completion: I didn't find errors of fact (there were a few typos). That is highly unusual. I normally find something wrong and often find a substantial list of factual errors in the various books I read and review.

Of course, it helps that this work goes well beyond my knowledge level on these topics, so I'm not in a position to spot some errors that it might contain. But still, I usually catch something. And in this case, nada. As I read dozens of books each year and have found only a few that have ever pulled that off, Cox joins an elite club.

If you like arcane history, this book is a treasure chest. As stated in its introduction, the book is structured in an A to Z format. That doesn't mean there are 26 chapters. It just means that topics starting with a given letter are covered, and those topics are in alphabetical order. Six topics start with the letter A, and none start with X or Y. Cox, it turns out, has written four other A to Z works. He seems to have a flair for this format.

The introduction is 15 pages long. The body of the work is 221 pages long. Normally when I read a book that I like, my reading speed goes up and I later refer to it as a fast read. This book isn't a fast read, though the writing style is crisp and conversational. It's the kind of book that I like to linger over. I like to flip back and forth in to correlate one set of facts with another. Though it's an easy read, it's more the kind of book you'd want to study.

It makes an excellent addition to anyone's library. If you have regular lunch or dinner companions, consider asking them to buy a copy so you have some lesser-known history to bat about (assuming you like substantial conversations).

For example, why is the Washington Monument 555 feet tall instead of the originally planned 600 feet and why is it located in its present location rather than the originally intended one? What was its role in the War Between The States (often misnamed the "the Civil War" though it does not meet the definition of same), and why? And what the heck is a circumpunct? Who was Crowley and why does he matter?

I'm not sure which of the chapters I liked best. But on the short list would be the five-page chapter about Sir Isaac Newton. I've read a fair amount on Newton over the years, yet found most of Cox's information new. So it was with many topics he covered.

This same book could be reprinted into a hardbound, glossy edition selling for four times as much. As a paperback, it's a real bargain.

Symbols Are What You Make Them


As a boy, I remember how much fun it was having secret clubs, secret meetings, secret symbols which no one shared except best friends. In my neighborhood, we spoke a form of Pig Latin as a coded way of communicating. "Where are you going?" became "ehre-whay are-ay ou-yay oing-gay?" Let's face it, secrets are fascinating just because they arouse our curiosity.

It would appear that the symbolism in ~The Lost Symbol~ is equally exciting. It comes from a variety of sources, practically all of which are mysteriously oblique. Simon Cox in his book, Decoding The Lost Symbol: The Unauthorized Expert Guide to the Facts Behind the Fiction, makes an attempt to explain what a lot of these symbols stand for, many of which Robert Langdon and Katherine Solomon encounter on their quest for the ultimate Ancient Mysteries.

So what are these Ancient Mysteries? It appears they are a summation of secret wisdom collected down through the ages, passed on from generation to generation through mystery schools. "Some of the earliest mystery schools we find were in ancient Greece." These schools had their origin when people attempted to study and understand the "philosophy and mysticism" of their own time (circa 1600 BC). Often this early doctrine was puzzling and oblique, subject to many interpretations which gave rise to various mystery schools.

As an example, one can imagine how Plato's philosophical concept of souls pre-existing in an ideal world could lead to much questioning, then either acceptance, rejection, or some middle ground. His doctrine of the Demiurge's existence seemed equally mysterious and open to interpretation.

The mental paradigms from different Greek schools and other poignant schools of thought often became associated with symbols representing difficult core concepts and ideas. Thus, adherents to a particular philosophy linked together to reinforce various beliefs. Sometimes sacred dramas and rituals were performed to pass these Ancient Mysteries from one generation to the next.

In Decoding The Lost Symbol, author Cox mentions that today's Freemasonry has access to these Ancient Mysteries and continues, like it has from ancient times, to act as their guardian. Masons delight in espousing how important their members have been in shaping human society, including the thinking of our forefathers, many of whom were Masons: George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Paul Revere, among others.

The All Seeing Eye of the providential God found on the United States one-dollar bill is recognizably a potent sign of an omnipotent deity. Masons claim that it sits above an unfinished stone pyramid which not only can be associated with the original colonies, but also with the huge pyramids of Gaza as well. It has often been rumored that Masons were involved in the building of these pyramids and the monumental temple of Solomon.

James K. Polk (11th president) laid the cornerstone for the Washington Monument. He was a Mason. In Decoding The Lost Symbol, author Cox reveals that the monument has specific symbolic meaning and was constructed according to Masonic dimensions. In addition, presiding at the ceremony was Benjamin B. French who wore the actual Mason apron of George Washington. This same apron had been worn at the cornerstone-laying of the Capitol Building.

The cap of the monument was to have been a five pointed star with specific Masonic meaning. Instead, it was topped with a piece of pure aluminum dedicated on December 6, 1884 in a Masonic ceremony. The aluminum pyramid has thirteen levels just like the layers on the Great Seal of the United States.

The few notes I've given here about the symbolism in Dan Brown's latest book, which Robert Langdon attempts to interpret to locate The Lost Symbol, is to give you, the reader, a flavor for the type of material found in Decoding The Lost Symbol. This book is a fun read but must be taken only for what it claims to be.

On the cover it states the book is "the unauthorized expert guide to the facts." As such, the reader must keep in mind the authenticity of its "expert" facts. Very often in the book, author Cox will remind the reader that some of his claims are legendary--rumored--highly questionable. For instance, one of the ten commandment stones was alleged to be the emerald tablet, the key text used in alchemy, "brought down from Sinai by Moses."

Decoding The Lost Symbol, if nothing more, gives a varied interpretation for much of the symbolism found in ~The Lost Symbol.~ One can only begin to imagine how icons and signs created in long centuries past have gathered more and more esoteric moss rolling down the ages. For this reviewer it is fair to say that in so many instances, just about any interpretation can be drawn from a symbol depending on one's needs, particularly an author writing an exciting novel.

I think Decoding The Lost Symbol gives a rather fair interpretation of Freemasonry, a world-wide order claiming millions of members. Its effort to improve the welfare and understanding among people is surely nothing to be feared; neither are its many complicated rituals and degrees of membership. As genuine research has shown, those who attempt to paint a secret sinister side to Masonry are ignorant of its doctrines which, when examined closely, proclaim goodness for all mankind under a brotherhood of the Great Architect of the Universe.

If one is to read this book, I would recommend reading it before ~The Lost Symbol.~ It will provide a clearer understanding of the interpretive dilemmas faced by Katherine Solomon and Robert Langdon in their desperate search for the Ancient Mysteries.

Other interesting reads:
The Masonic Myth: Unlocking the Truth About the Symbols, the Secret Rites, and the History of Freemasonry
Masonic Enlightenment - The Philosophy, History and Wisdom of Freemasonry
The Secret Symbols of the Dollar Bill