Dan Brown - The Lost Symbol ?

Dan Brown is a master plotter. And each of his creations is just better than before. Many people may find his novels a bit boring, considering his long explicable facts of history, somewhat veiled from the everyday life. No matter people still feel The Da Vinci code is far better than his Angels and Demons. One thing I am assured of. Dan Brown wont spare you until you reach the last page of the book.
After reading his three books, two bestsellers and one fast reaching the feat, few things are crystal clear of Dan Brown. First, he researches a lot. Every book of his has some secret societies, institutes and buildings. Second, he has a well riveted storyline which moves at a commendable pace with twists and turns amid all his facts. Sometimes, I myself don’t comprehend whether he wants to tell a story or fascination of a secret society.
Now, let me come to the main point of my lecture above. I completed the fifth book of Dan Brown, THE LOST SYMBOL today. The book is yet about yet another mystery, The Mason, a society not many people are aware of including me. I shouldn’t call myself worthy of knowing world secrets because I opened the gates of my knowledge pretty late in my life, but I am always awestruck reading his books. Also, the new concept here was Noetic Science. I don’t know whether any of you would believe me but I have unconsciously felt the miracle of our minds in our daily life.
I never believed in God, but yes, I believed in a force very much in me which is secretly working. I always felt that God is within us. Noetic Science is a new technology which is trying to intersect two parallels, Science and Religion and just trying to pull the human being of its predicament. I always believe that our mind can do wonders if we use it properly. If working of 0.2-0.5% can create the earth as we see it today, what will happen if all the 100% comes to force. Clearly, human being is yet to unveil his own true powers.
I don’t know whether I would be able to know the enigma of human mind or understand its powers, but as of now, I am very excited of reading more and increasing my knowledge. The LOST SYMBOL has definitely inoculated a seed in me to read the Bible and other books of religions, and see if what written in the last pages of the Dan Brown’s novel has some real grounds or not.

P.S: Any of you readers of this blog, if you know books which relate to noetic science, or The power of mind, please do suggest.

Ayn Rand - The Fountainhead

It’s a big novel. Atleast for me. The maximum pages I am accustomed of range from 300-400 with a font size of 11. The Fountainhead is a book of 700 pages and with a font size of 8, and yes, it is in its centennial edition. I heard about this book in a radio show and learnt that it is a classic written in 1943. I was getting used to reading novels and immediately searched for the book. Bought it in August in a book fair, but didn’t read it. My brother saw the book and laughed impudently. Once my semester exams were over, I started to read the book all over again and made it my forte to complete the book. It took me 44 hours divided in 12 days to complete the book.
I started to read the book and found it complex enough. I understand philosophies much easily and finely than any other counterpart of my age. But Ayn Rand’s philosophy took time to apprehend. It deals with the sheer complexities of human being, the urge of power, the urge to be the greatest, rule the world. And if you think, I mean literally, think again.
Ayn Rand dealt with the dark emotions of the human being. She has given the perfect description of every character. She has introduced so petite twists in the tale that they are unimaginative although evident. I found it difficult sometimes to keep up with the book, because even if different, Ayn Rand is bit too verbose. But I think that’s because she wanted to present her thoughts in detail. I think I am a little young to understand all the emotions, because I have never surfaced any of them myself, but I am sure I will read the book some years later, and I am sure it will be more than just abstruse at that time.

2 states, The Red book

I am sorry. I mistrusted Chetan Bhagat. I thought he would write another story which will end in style and glamour, asking for a Bollywood transformation. Even my cousin, who read it the day it was published, said the plot is perfect for a Bollywood movie. So, I almost decided that I will not read the book.
But my father, who read all the three books of chetan bhagat, couldn’t stop himself buying the book. When he told me about it, I was reading The Godfather. Two days before, I completed The Godfather. And was getting dubious which book to start first, White Tiger of Arvind Adiga or The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown. Incidentally, I took the red book and thought to give it a try. So, I started reading it. And then I read it, I read it, I read it. Till I reached the epilogue. And I accepted my defeat as Chetan again proved that he is a genius and a very marvelous writer.
The book is a story of Chetan’s marriage, with the detailed description of every character and every incident. All the incidents are closer to reality, which is the reason I liked it. They are purely from the heart and shows the actual scenario of the marriages. Dowry, Ego, Love, Parental affection, Fear, Spirituality and many etc. I must make a note here specially. Chetan’s wife is a real daredevil, and the guts she carries amused me the most. Even if Chetan says that the book is a work of fiction, but the previous sentence is a reality. That’s because I had the same feeling when I read his “One night at the Call Centre”. It also has some daredevil incidents of her wife(maybe).
We have a sentence in hindi which was my reaction after I read the book. “Mazaa aa gaya”.

Angels And Demons - Dan Brown

Digital Fortress, a book which relates the science growing into a massive power. Filled with unknown and rare science miracles.
The Da Vinci Code, a book purely religious. It was the best seller book and still the book is famous. I read the book and I thought no book can be any better than this.
Then, a friend of mine recommended me to read Angels and Demons, and as he promised, my thinking was about to be devastated.

And now I tell you and maybe also to Dan Brown, that he made a huge mistake releasing this book much before The Da Vinci Code. This book is a fusion of both Digital Fortress and Da Vinci Code. This is the fusion of Science and Religion. Again Robert Langdon gets involved into a certain series of events, which get worse time after time. But he gets more suffering in this novel, more beatings, more blood. And it is violent too. But the events are as twisting as possible. Till the last moment, you keep guessing who the sinister is. Dan Brown is a champion when it comes to unfolding parts with suspense and thrill you to the core.
But sometimes it felt that Dan Brown was explaining a bit too much of the history than he should. I like history, specially after reading Da Vinci Code, but maybe I am not used to so much of complex facts thrown back to back. So, sometimes it keeps messy.

And yes, on my decision whether Angels and Demons won the fight with The Da Vinci Code, I am still undecided.

The Alchemist - Paulo Coelho

Finally, the book I heard a lot of. And it thrilled me more than the first book of his I read, the Zahir. I started this book with not much amusement. With very simple elements, a boy and some sheeps, the story started but ended with a style that comes naturally to Paulo Coelho and a reading delight for me.
And it offers some of the greatest words of spirituality and philosophy that you are bound to think about the happenings again and again. I am used to such philosophical talks but these books really help me giving words to my own personal findings. I was so amused by the sentences that I finally decided to update my status in social networking with them. I sometimes think that Paulo Coelho should have been a spiritual leader. But he has decided to send his messages in novels rather than in journals or boring speeches. A medium most will understand and enjoy. No doubt I will read the remaining novels by him also.

Digital Fortress - Dan Brown

Although I am new in reading novels and still fighting to make it a habit, ther are some writers of whom I have read novels one after another, so it is evident I have learnt the styles of these writers. For example, Mario Puzo is a underworld writer. He gives life to the least respectable people of the world. Chetan Bhagat is a fiction writer who tries to make them as real as possible, relating them to true incidents of his life. Dan Brown is writer who does a lot of research before writing a novel and hence, his novel may or may not has some useful information about the secret societies existing in our land.

Digital Fortress, is a software. A software ready to make the Translator of the National Security Agency, NSA, a agency many have unheard of. Translator is everyday decoding many crypto, foiling the plans of many threats. Some people within it are upset by the very method of decrypting anyone’s private messages. So, one of them come out with a solution with the Digital Fortress, and hence threatening the existence of the Scientist’s Marvel.

When you read a Dan Brown, get ready to know some out of the world possible facts. I never found out how many of them are exactly true, but the commitment with which he describes the story that you can’t ignore and hence, start believing the facts. Still, I would say that The Da Vinci Code is the best.

The Family - Mario Puzo

The Godfather. A huge hit of all times. Marlon Brando and Al Pacino, not to forget Robert Di Niro, it is one of the classics of Hollywood. My brother bought me a DVD of the movie and asked me to watch it. But I couldn’t. Because it was a little tough English spoken in an unusual accent of Marlon Brando. But I watched it after I got some subtitles and enjoyed every part of it.
Many may not be aware that the creator of the Godfather was also a novelist and has depicted the life on many dons. I have read his novel, The Last Don and liked it a lot. But the recent novel I read of Mario Puzo, left me speechless. It was the Last novel written by him before he expired. And as his friend Carol Gina, who was responsible to complete the final parts of the novel told that it was his novel he wanted to write for almost thirty years. He started writing its parts before The Godfather but nothing materialized.

The Family, a book based on Rome during the Renaissance Period. Pope Alexander VI, or Rodrigo Borgia was a Spanish who was made the Pope of the country. He had three sons, Caesar, Juan, Jofre and a daughter Lucrezia. Rodrigo wanted to unite the Rome as well as the other states and provinces. He gave his sons important positions in the church, and dealt with the non-surrendering states with different tactics. But during all these years making a united kingdom, he made many enemies, some of whom were distressed by him made the Pope, while some were dissatisfied with his ways of governing.

But what really amazed me is that he made a tyrant ruler look a good human being. I searched the internet when I got to know that these characters are not fictions and got to know that they are depicted as the worst rulers of those times. For all those who know about these and have a perception as the same as the web, I would tell them to read this novel. Although, Rodrigo Borgia made some strict and inhuman decisions, you won’t find his life cruel or insensitive.

The Zahir - Paulo Coelho

I have heard of The Alchemist almost a million of times. But have never read it. Actually I was not much in reading until one day, I felt that I have got bored of almost all the things occupying my life, so I thought to switch my interests. I went to the oldest and hopefully the only library each member of my family has been to, and took a membership paying for the highest option available. Soon, I started searching for my first book. Its not that I am so detached with books. I have read all the three novels of Chetan Bhagat and The Da Vinci Code, The Last Don. But they are the one of the few books I ever read in my 19 years of lifeterm. So, I would like to term this my first book as in terms of seriousness.
After a lot of searching, I found a book written by a writer I have heard of. Although I didn’t read any of his books, as heard from my guardians, The Alchemist is a must read book. I didn’t get the Alchemist. Since it is a bestseller, you expect it to be always issued. So, I took The Zahir, another novel written by Paulo Coelho. I took the novel because I knew the word, Zahir but in terms of cricket. Nothing beyond that. And this meager relation between the book and me compelled me to take the book. So, as you must have guessed, as the librarian was busy making my cards, I thought to sneek peek through the book. For me, the book’s first impression is definitely the last impression. I find it to hard to read a book if the first 10 pages aren’t sounding interesting.
But the book caught my involvement on the very first place. I studied the first 10 pages, and when I looked the clock and the page number, I got to know that I have already reached the 20th page of the book. And I didn’t stop reading it until my metro reached my destination and I had to change for a bus in which I was standing.
The Zahir, is a story of a novel writer, who doesn’t write novels. I mean that he dreamt of being a novelist, but is satisfied with the small articles and comic-strips he is asked to fill. Until one day, he marries a girl who asks him to follow his dream. With much quarrels and blackmailing, the writer starts his novel which becomes to be a huge hit. But his life changes magnificiently by a series of events. He finds his wife missing one day, probably gone. Then the story describes the search by the person for his wife and for his oneself.

The Zahir doesn’t has any proper definition but as understood by the various lines in which this word is used, it can be termed as a passion, a madness, and a strong feeling for something you like to have. As the story advances, the Zahir increases in the novelist and he tries hard to get back to it.
There are many parts of the story which are based on true spiritualism and philosophy, something which needs a out of the world understanding. As my first book, I enjoyed every part of it because I am myself some kind of philosophist, eager to give speeches and help whenever needed. And those of my friends who know this quality of me, take the full advantage