Table of Contents
Editor's Note xiii
Introduction Dan Burstein xv
Chapter 1 Intellectual Alchemy
Exploring the Complex Cosmos of The Lost Symbol Dan Burstein 3
Chapter 2 History, Mystery, and Masons
Dan Brown's Freemasonry Arturo De Hoyos 51
A Mason Reveals His "Journey to Light" Mark E. Koltko-Rivera 60
Defining Freemasonry Mark A. Tabbert 66
Albert Pike: The Ghost in The Lost Symbol Machine? Warren Getler 71
Mozart and Ellington, Tolstoy and Kipling: Inside the Brotherhood of Famous Masons David D. Burstein 75
Searching for Masons in the Corridors of Power Eamon Javers 81
Chapter 3 Secret Knowledge
The Ancient Mysteries and The Lost Symbol Glenn W. Erickson 89
A Quick Guide to the Philosophers in The Lost Symbol Glenn W. Erickson 100
Secret Knowledge: Hiding in Plain Sight in the Infinite Universe Ingrid Rowland 106
Isaac Newton: Physics, Alchemy, and the Search to Understand the "Mind of God" Thomas Levenson 113
Chapter 4 Science, Faith, and the Birth of a Nation
From the Ground Up: Kindred Spirits Invent the Modern World Steven Johnson 119
Franklin, Freemasonry, and American Destiny Jack Fruchtman Jr. 125
Masons, Skulls, and Secret Chambers: The Postrevolutionaty Fraternity Steven C. Bullock 130
Finding Himself in The Lost Symbol James Wasserman 138
Occult America Mitch Horowitz 145
Chapter 5 Man Meets God, and God Meets Man
What's Been Lost and What Needs to Be Found in Our Times Rabbi Irwin Kula 157
Dan Brown's Religion: Is it me or we? Deirdre Good 166
Science and Religion Face the Beyond Marcelo Gleiser 172
And Never the Twain Shall Meet? Karen Armstrong Richard Dawkins 179
Science Requires That You Step Outside theMental Cocoon George Johnson 185
Chapter 6 Ye are New Age Gods
The Energy That Connects the Universe Lynne McTaggart 193
Noetics: The Link Between Modern Science and Ancient Mysticism Lou Aronica 200
On Becoming a Fictional Character in a Dan Brown Novel Marilyn Mandala Schlitz 212
Bending Minds, Not Spoons William Arntz 216
"Ye Are Gods" The Editors 221
Chapter 7 Mystery City on The Hill
A Masonic Pilgrimage Around Washington, D.C. David A. Shugarts 227
The Lost Smithsonian Heather Ewing 245
Danger in the Wet Pod: Fact and Fiction About the Smithsonian: by the Editors 253
Hiding Out in Jefferson's Palace of the Book: Why Robert Langdon's Adventure Takes Him Inside the Library of Congress: by the Editors 259
What Does The Lost Symbol Get Wrong About the Nation's Capital? Everything David Plotz 267
Chapter 8 Into The Kryptic ... Art, Symbols, and Codes
The Clues Hidden in Circles and Squares: The Art and Symbology of the Lost Symbol Diane Apostolos-Cappadona 277
Venus, the Three Graces, and a Portal to a Divine World Michael Parkes 288
Art, Encryption, and the Preservation of Secrets Jim Sanborn 294
The Summer of the Clues David A. Shugarts 301
William Wirt's Skull, Albrecht Dürer's Magic Square: The Doubleday Clues and The Lost Symbol Mark E. Koltko-Rivera 311
Kryptos: The Unsolved Enigma Elonka Dunin 319
Chapter 9 Divining Dan Brown
The Pursuit of Dan Brown: From Secrets of the Widow's Son to The Lost Symbol David A. Shugarts 329
Caught Between Dan Brown and Umberto Eco: Mysteries of Science and Religion, Secret Societies, and the Battle for Priority over New Literary Genres Amir D. Aczel 347
Chapter 10 Brownian Logic
Not All Is Hope: Reading the Novel's Dark Side Michael Barkun 361
The Politics of The Lost Symbol Paul Berger 367
Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power Jeff Sharlet 370
Geography Holography, Anatomy: Plot Flaws in The Lost Symbol David A. Shugarts 377
Dan Brown's Great Work: An Exercise in Maybe Logic Ron Hogan 384
The Critics Speak-Loudly Hannah De Keijzer 393
Acknowledgments 399
Contributors 403
