TO-Tech Blog Todd Ogasawara’s Tech Blog

Finished Dan Brown’s “The Lost Symbol” (audiobook): Predictable But Entertaining Thriller

I finished "reading" (listening) to Dan Brown's latest thriller The Lost Symbol yesterday. Most of my "reading" was done while driving the car commuting to work. Would have never finished the book this quickly (less than 2 weeks) if I had to carve out time to actually sit down and read it.

NO SPOILERS
The audio book is nearly 18 hours long. And, every minute except for the last chapter is fast paced, entertaining, and even educational now and then (who knew that the word "sincere" had such an interesting etymology?).

If you pay attention and are familiar with Brown's writing style and the genre of hybrd techno-thriller conspiracy-theory historical-myth type stories, you can probably figure out the plot twists quite a bit ahead of their reveals. But, while some reviewers criticized the book's predictability, I think this is what makes it fun for those of us that aren't multi-cultural historical detectives (pretty much everybody). There's a kind of "yay, me!" feeling when you find that you correctly figured out a plot twist before it is actually revealed.

There are actually a couple of "endings" to the book. I enjoyed everything except for the final chapter.

MINOR POTENTIAL SPOILER ALERT
The last chapter is a pseudo-philosophical sermon of sorts. It could have been summed up in a couple of sentences. I suspect the movie version, if there is one, will do just that.

I think I got my money's worth for this book. Now, I need to find something else on Audible to read. I tried listening a bit more to Lucifer's Hammer. But, after many hours of listening (about 8 so far), it is still a trashy soap opera story so far with no character who has caught my interest.

The "Flashforward" book perhaps? The new TV show based on the book had an entertaining first episode.

New Topic eBook & Audio Book Commentary

For the past 10 to 15 years the only time I've spend reading novels has been on long flights. Some books needed a couple of flights to complete because despite the length of most of my flights (5+ hours), I didn't spend all of that time reading (movies, music, etc.).

However, a couple of things changed this year that has let me actually get through a few novels (or have them in-progress). First, Amazon introduced their free Kindle for iPhone app. I still can't bring myself to spend hundreds of dollars for an actual Kindle. But, I've found that reading ebooks on an iPhone or iPod touch is just fine for me. In fact, I've finished two novels that way and am working my way through a third right now.

The second thing that changed is that after years with a lapsed Audible account, I signed up for a full year (credits are cheaper that way). And, I'm listening to novels now during daily commutes or just doing stuff around the home.

So, I decided to add ebook/audio-book reviews to the mix on this blog. The first two will be what I call in-progress commentary because, well, because I can. Real book reviewers have to finish book before they can comment on them. But, this is a blog. And, since people talk about books with their friends while they're still reading them, I figure I can blog about books while in-progress too.