Cerca Trova/Seek and You Shall Find

Protagonist: Symbologist Robert Langdon. Setting: Florence, Italy. Themes: Hell, overpopulation, bio-terrorism threat. Mystery Message: Seek and you shall find or Cerca Trova in Italian. Put all those elements together, add some chases, and some mysterious characters with secrets and we have Dan Brown's latest novel, Inferno. 

The book gets its title from Dante's epic poem Inferno about his journey through the nine circles of hell with roman poet Virgil.  The storyline is that Langdon is in possession of a tube-like projector.  On the projector is a picture of Boticelli's painting titled, Map of Hell. It depicts the nine circles of Dante's hell. The mysterious element about this particular projection is that the circles are depicted incorrectly. From what I have read so far, there is a female hired killer, Vayentha, chasing Langdon and a mysterious British female Doctor named Sienna Brooks, around Florence. Also chasing and tracking them with the help of a drone, is an organized group of men, seemingly working with the American Embassy in Italy.  Langdon does not remember why he is in possession of the tube and why all these people are trying to kill him.

Among the mystery characters are a silver haired female WHO official named, Dr. Elizabeth Sinskey, an otherworldly type character who calls himself the Shade, yet another man on a yacht called, The Mendacium, and who is referred to as the provost or the devil's enabler. What service does his Consortium really provide to clients? I am anxious to see how all these characters will connect.

I am only on  page 154 (of 461 pages).  There is so much more to come.  This book brought back memories of my visit to Florence a few years ago.  There is so much detail about the buildings and artwork,I am sure there will be a Dan Brown Tour of Florence any day now.  In the meantime, enjoy some of my personal pics of Florence, the first one is Ponte Vecchio:

Fans of Inferno should check this interesting link out: Nine Circles of Dan Brown. 

Book Club Selections

We are flexible. We could make changes but right now these are our selections for 2010.

January 15

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope by William Kamkwamba

February 19

The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown

March 19

If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino

Brief review of The Lost Symbol

I hope the Dan Brown fans, particularly the readers of The Lost Symbol, saw him on televsion last night on NBC. I finally finished this action filled novel and decided that the themes are transformation, death, and secrecy. It's not a simple story. There are subplots and unexpected twists. Every character is looking for something inthis story. It could be a pyramid, a place, a person, a clue, a lost word with magical powers.

The transformation theme is the primary focus: transformation of a cube into a cross, transformation of body and soul, transformation of the world through human thought, and the transformation of man into God. We learn, in this novel, about symbols of death and transformation and the alchemicals that facilitate transformation.

The theme of secrecy was equally fascinating: secret underground locations in Washington D. C., secret pyramids that reveal secret locations, secret symbols that reveal lost secret words with magical powers, the Masons - a society with secrets rather than a secret society. In this novel some secrets are hidden and some are in the open waiting to be noticed and interpreted.

I loved the combination of science and mysticism in this novel. I loved the revelation of secrets of the buildings and the artwork within the buildings of Washington, D.C.

The way the novel focused on Noetic Science at the beginning of the book, I was led to believe that at least one character would use his or her mind to transform events but that did not happen.

Key words in this novel are: Apotheosis, Ancient Mysteries, Apocalypse or enlightenment, and Circumpunct. I think that in the end, the writer wants us to think about those words.

Lost Symbol and Marilyn Schlitz

Very interesting article about the Institute of Noetic Science and its female President, Marilyn Schlitz. Dan Brown has made her really popular.

The Lost Symbol

I am only one page 165 and I see that transformation is a key theme of Dan Brown's fascinating new book. One tatooed man transforms himself with make up and seems to want to transform himself to be more God like. A mysterious room in the subbasement of the US Capitol has symbols of death and transformation. The sulfur and salt in saucers in the room are alchemicals that facilitate transformation.

The basic storyline so far is simple in that Professor Robert Langdon has been tricked into going to meet his friend Peter Solomon at the Rotunda in the US Capitol. The mystery person who tricked him is referred to as a lunatic by the professor but he is obviously highly educated in symbolism. But this is Dan Brown so there are more complexities to this story: Ancient Mysteries - a body of knowledge that is dangerous in the wrong hands, the Masons - a society with secrets but not a secret society, an amputated hand with tatooed finger tips, symbols, pyramids, Noetic Science. I am loving it.

This has to be read slowly. There is much to learn. I think I will recommend it for our book club.

I found this link about the US Capitol and it is clear that Dan Brown has also read William Henry's book or similar works.

Social Networking and Authors

Well, well, well, Dan Brown is on Twitter and Facebook. See an excerpt of The Lost Symbol, Brown's latest book. That's the way to go!