The Clever Badger One lab accident away from being a super villain

In Which The Badger Tries Valiantly To Read The Lost Symbol

I read Dan Brown's first four novels in relatively quick succession.  They were all at least moderately  engaging despite their flaws, and The Da Vinci Code is one of three novels that I have read at one sitting with breaks only to do necessary things like feed the kids.  (The others were Tolkien's The Hobbit and Tom Clancy's The Hunt For Red October, if anyone cares.)

Brown's novels attempt to incorporate real technologies and history into their fictional settings, although Brown often takes some fairly liberal license with things.  That's usually forgiveable if the surrounding narrative is engaging.  Brown also tends to rely on his characters doing fairly unlikely things in key situations.  That's something that sticks out like a tusk on a narwhal when I see it.

For example, in Digital Fortress,  the climax to the book depends on a room full of very intelligent people suddenly becoming complete idiots at the same time.  All of them.  In response to a riddle that I answered before I'd read the entire thing.  That kind of awkward plot contrivance sucks the life out of a story faster than a swarm of mosquitoes can drain a moose.

Angels and Demons was better, but in the end relied on what amounted to superhuman abilities on the part of the Langdon character to resolve a key plot element.  It wasn't quite as jarring as Digital Fortress, but it was pretty close.

The Da Vinci Code was probably Brown's best work, despite being based on what I can most charitably call complete bullshit.  There was a lot of controversy around the book when it came out because of the way it portrayed Christianity in general, and a lot of people got really spun up about the liberties that Brown took with "facts", when in reality he was taking liberties with bullshit that had already parted ways with most of what anyone actually regards as historical fact.  So, if you were offended by The Da Vinci Code, it's probably high time you got over it and move on.

Anyhow, Brown's new book, The Lost Symbol takes the hero of the last two books, Robert Langdon, and plonks him down in Washington, D.C. in the middle of a mystery that involves the Freemasons. 

D.C. is a fascinating city, and certainly makes a good setting for a mystery/thriller.  The Masons make a good secretive society to weave a story around - no problems so far. 

But the plot device that hit me like a spiked bowling ball dropped in my lap from the top of a tall building is the concept of Noetic Science that is starting to get woven into the plot.  Noetic Science, near as I can tell, is pretty much an umbrella under which congregates a lot of things that I would, again with great charity, call bullshit.  The Wikipedia page talks about things like "studies on the efficacy of compassionate intention on healing AIDS patients."  Ooooooo-kay. 

The introduction of Noetic Science into The Lost Symbol effectively means that I'll be reading the rest of the book with a tiny voice in the back of my head whispering bullshit! the whole time. 

Not good. 

It's probably a reflection on myself that I can suspend my disbelief thoroughly enough to be immersed in, say, Tolkien's Middle Earth, but I can't let myself buy into the notion of Noetic Science for the duration of one book, so for the sake of argument I'll make a conscious effort to ignore my tiny whispering voice for the remainder of the book.

(NOTE:  I'll mention here that Brown gets a lot of heat from far better critics than me for what can best be described as clumsy writing.  I don't disagree in the sense that he does know how to mix up a world-class bowl of word salad, particularly when he over-describes characters.  At the same time, I suspect that Brown is well aware that he's writing what he hopes will be popular, best-selling books that appeal to a wide variety of readers.  To that extent, his style of writing probably serves him well.  (I did, after all, read The Da Vinci Code in a day, so his style clearly wasn't so onerous that it made me put the book down...)  An engaging story can often overcome an awkward writing style.)

I'm going to make a push to complete The Lost Symbol, mainly because I hate to leave a book unfinished, but I'm not sure I can get past Noetic Science...

-Jay