Dan Brown's THE LOST SYMBOL

[Ginny]

I'm surprised nobody posted this. I'm a HUGE Dan Brown fan, and I think this is such awesome news!

http://www.danbrown.com/the-lost-symbol.html

New York, NY (April 20, 2009) Dan Brown's new novel, the eagerly awaited follow-up to his #1 international phenomenon, The Da Vinci Code, which was the bestselling hardcover adult novel of all time with 81 million copies in print worldwide, will be published in the U.S. and Canada by Doubleday on September 15, 2009.

The Lost Symbol will have a first printing of 5 million copies, and it will once again feature Dan Brown's unforgettable protagonist, Robert Langdon. The announcement was made today by Sonny Mehta, Chairman and Editor in Chief of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.

"This is a great day for readers and booksellers," said Mehta."The Lost Symbol is a brilliant and compelling thriller. Dan Brown's prodigious talent for storytelling, infused with history, codes and intrigue, is on full display in this new book. This is one of the most anticipated publications in recent history, and it was well worth the wait."

Brown's longtime editor, Jason Kaufman, Vice President and Executive Editor at Doubleday said, "Nothing ever is as it first appears in a Dan Brown novel. This book's narrative takes place in a twelve-hour period, and from the first page, Dan's readers will feel the thrill of discovery as they follow Robert Langdon through a masterful and unexpected new landscape. The Lost Symbol is full of surprises."

"This novel has been a strange and wonderful journey," said Brown. "Weaving five years of research into the story's twelve-hour timeframe was an exhilarating challenge. Robert Langdon's life clearly moves a lot faster than mine."

The audio version of The Lost Symbol will be published in North America in September by Random House Audio.

The Da Vinci Code, published by Doubleday on March 18, 2003, spent 144 weeks on The New York Times Hardcover Fiction bestseller list, 54 of them at #1—the position at which it debuted. The novel has been translated into 51 languages.

The film of The Da Vinci Code was a #1 box office smash when it was released by Columbia Pictures in May 2006 with Ron Howard directing and Tom Hanks starring as Robert Langdon. Box office receipts were $758 million. The same team will release Angels and Demons theatrically worldwide on May 15, 2009.

Following the publication of The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown's earlier novels, Digital Fortress, Deception Point and Angels and Demons have all gone on to become multi-million copy international bestsellers.

The Lost Symbol will be published in the U.K. on September 15th by Transworld Publishers, a division of The Random House Group who has published all of Brown's novels.

Dan Brown is represented by Heide Lange at Sanford J. Greenburger Associates, Inc.

[Raph's Girl]

Yeah... been waiting for this since it was called Solomon Key. He's also gonna be writing one about Mozart being part of some weird cult thing.

[Ginny]

Originally Posted by Raph's Girl

Yeah... been waiting for this since it was called Solomon Key. He's also gonna be writing one about Mozart being part of some weird cult thing.

Wow! I hadn't heard about the Mozart book. That is too cool! I'm a HUGE Dan Brown fan. And Steve Berry also, have you ever read his work? I highly suggest the "Cotton Malone" novels by Steve Berry, the first one is 'The Templar Legacy'.

I read somewhere they are already planning to make 'The Lost Symbol' into a movie. Speaking of reading something somewhere, I remember reading that Dan Brown said the date of the release would be significant, and you'd understand upon reading the book. I wonder what that could mean?

[Raph's Girl]

Originally Posted by Ginny

Wow! I hadn't heard about the Mozart book. That is too cool! I'm a HUGE Dan Brown fan. And Steve Berry also, have you ever read his work? I highly suggest the "Cotton Malone" novels by Steve Berry, the first one is 'The Templar Legacy'.

I read somewhere they are already planning to make 'The Lost Symbol' into a movie. Speaking of reading something somewhere, I remember reading that Dan Brown said the date of the release would be significant, and you'd understand upon reading the book. I wonder what that could mean?

Oh..hmm.. Didn't know Templar Legacy is a series...*lol* I have it around here somewhere....I love anything to do with the Templars.

And they already DID make The Lost Symbol into a movie...it was called National Treasure.... Seriously The National Treasure films and Lost Symbol have basically the same plot.

But anyways...there's gonna be like 14 or 15 books in all for the Robert Langdon series... Tom Hanks has a lifetime job now *lol*

Here's a site that might interest you. Theories on Solomon Key (uh apperantly there's some sort of connection to the Mormons? Uh WTF? I really wanna read that book now if that's true...)
http://community.middlebury.edu/~beyer/sk/index.htm

[Ginny]

Originally Posted by Raph's Girl

Oh..hmm.. Didn't know Templar Legacy is a series...*lol* I have it around here somewhere....I love anything to do with the Templars.

And they already DID make The Lost Symbol into a movie...it was called National Treasure.... Seriously The National Treasure films and Lost Symbol have basically the same plot.

But anyways...there's gonna be like 14 or 15 books in all for the Robert Langdon series... Tom Hanks has a lifetime job now *lol*

Here's a site that might interest you. Theories on Solomon Key (uh apperantly there's some sort of connection to the Mormons? Uh WTF? I really wanna read that book now if that's true...)
http://community.middlebury.edu/~beyer/sk/index.htm

I study the Templars a lot. Actually, I'm pretty intense about my research, mainly because of my dad's side of the family.

The second book after the Templar Legacy is the Alexandria Link, about the Library of Alexandria. It is awesome!

Thank you for the link! I checked it out, but I'm off tomorrow so I can get in deeper with it. I've been on a mad quest researching September 15th. Awhile ago, Dan Brown said he had a very specific release date in mind for the book and that the readers would understand when they've read the book. Now that may have changed since I think it was 3 years ago I read that, but you never know. So far, the most interesting thing I've found is that on September 15, 1789 President Washington signed the legislation to establish a Department of Foreign Affairs (State Department). One of the responsiblities was to be the keeper of the Great Seal of the United States, which could certainly be a connection to the Masons.

Mormons? Really, ok now I'm seriously wanting that book!

Oh, and I have to add, the National Treasure movies are some of my favorites of all time, so a new version is fine with me!

[Raph's Girl]

The following things have occured on Sept 15th:

668 – Eastern Roman Emperor Constans II is raped in his bath at Syracuse, Italy.

921 – Saint Ludmila is murdered at the command of her daughter-in-law at Tetin.

1556 – Departing from Vlissingen, ex-emperor Charles V returns to Spain.

1584 – San Lorenzo del Escorial Palace in Madrid is finished.

1600 – Battle of Sekigahara.

1616 – The first non-aristocratic, free public school in Europe is opened in Frascati, Italy.

1762 – Battle of Signal Hill.

1776 – American Revolutionary War: British forces land at Kip's Bay during the New York Campaign.

1789 – The United States Department of State is established (formerly known as Department of Foreign Affairs).

1812 – The French army under Napoleon reaches the Kremlin in Moscow.

1812 – War of 1812: A second supply train sent to relieve Fort Harrison is ambushed in the Attack at the Narrows.

1820 – Constitutionalist revolution in Lisbon, Portugal; (see Portugal's crises of the Nineteenth Century.

1821 – Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica jointly declare independence from Spain.

1830 – The Liverpool to Manchester railway line opens

1831 – The locomotive John Bull operates for the first time in New Jersey on the Camden and Amboy Railroad.

1835 – HMS Beagle, with Charles Darwin aboard, reaches the Galápagos Islands.

1851 – Saint Joseph's University is founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

1862 – American Civil War: Confederate forces capture Harpers Ferry, Virginia.

1873 – Franco-Prussian War: The last German troops leave France upon completion of payment of indemnity.

1883 – The Bombay Natural History Society is founded in Bombay (now Mumbai), India.

1894 – First Sino-Japanese War: Japan defeats China in the Battle of Pyongyang.

1916 – World War I: Tanks are used for the first time in battle, at the Battle of the Somme.

1928 – Tich Freeman becomes the only bowler to take 300 wickets in an English cricket season.

1931 – In Scotland, the two-day Invergordon Mutiny against Royal Navy pay cuts begins.

1935 – Nuremberg Laws deprive German Jews of citizenship.

1935 – Nazi Germany adopts a new national flag with the swastika.

1940 – World War II: The climax of the Battle of Britain, when the Royal Air Force shoots down large numbers of Luftwaffe aircraft.

1942 – World War II: The U.S. aircraft carrier USS Wasp is torpedoed at Guadalcanal.

1944 – Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill meet in Quebec as part of the Octagon Conference to discuss strategy.

1945 – A hurricane in southern Florida and the Bahamas destroys 366 planes and 25 blimps at NAS Richmond.

1947 – RCA releases the 12AX7 vacuum tube.

1947 – Typhoon Kathleen hit the Kanto Region in Japan killing 1,077.

1948 – The F-86 Sabre sets the world aircraft speed record at 671 mph (1080 km/h).

1950 – Korean War: United States forces land at Incheon, Korea.

1952 – United Nations gives Eritrea to Ethiopia.

1957 – West Germany holds its third parliamentary election. Konrad Adenauer remains chancellor.

1958 – A Central Railroad of New Jersey commuter train runs through an open drawbridge at the Newark Bay, killing 58.

1959 – Nikita Khrushchev becomes the first Soviet leader to visit the United States.

1961 – Hurricane Carla strikes Texas with winds of 175 miles per hour.

1962 – The Soviet ship Poltava heads toward Cuba, one of the events that sets into motion the Cuban Missile Crisis.

1963 – The 16th Street Baptist Church bombing kills four children at an African-American church in Birmingham, Alabama, United States.

1966 – U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson, responding to a sniper attack at the University of Texas at Austin, writes a letter to the United States Congress urging the enactment of gun control legislation.

1968 – The Soviet Zond 5 spaceship is launched, becoming the first spacecraft to fly around the Moon and re-enter the Earth's atmosphere.

1972 – A magnitude 4.5 earthquake shakes Northern Illinois.

1972 – An SAS domestic flight from Gothenburg to Stockholm was hijacked and flown to Malmö-Bulltofta Airport.

1974 – Air Vietnam flight 727 is hijacked, then crashes while attempting to land with 75 on board.

1975 – The French département of Corse (the entire island of Corsica) is divided into two: Haute-Corse and Corse-du-Sud.

1981 – The United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary unanimously approves Sandra Day O'Connor to become the first female justice on the United States Supreme Court.

1981 – The John Bull becomes the oldest operable steam locomotive in the world when the Smithsonian Institution operates it under its own power outside Washington, DC.

1981 – Vanuatu becomes a member of the United Nations.

1983 – Israeli premier Menachem Begin resigns.

1987 – U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz and Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze sign a treaty to establish centers to reduce the risk of nuclear war.

1989 – The U.S. Congress recognizes Terry Anderson's continued captivity in Beirut.

1990 – France announces it will send 4,000 troops to the Persian Gulf

1993 – Liechtenstein Prince Hans-Adam II disbands Parliament

1998 – With the landmark merger of WorldCom and MCI Communications completed the day prior, the new MCI WorldCom opens its doors for business.

2004 – NHL commissioner Gary Bettman announces a lockout of the players union and cessation of operations by the NHL head office.

2008 – Lehman Brothers file Chapter 11 bankruptcy, the largest bankruptcy filing in U.S. History.

[Cipher]

Originally Posted by Raph's Girl

He's also gonna be writing one about Mozart being part of some weird cult thing.

You're kidding, right? That's like something I'd make up if I was trying to parody Dan Brown.

[Barkworm]

I only read "Angels & Demons" and it made me want to kill myself.

[Ginny]

Originally Posted by Raph's Girl

The following things have occured on Sept 15th:

1789 – The United States Department of State is established (formerly known as Department of Foreign Affairs).

This one sticks out to me the most. But, I'm probably missing something.

I found the article where I read that;

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120122061077215305.html

The part where it mentions the date;

"Dan Brown has a very specific release date for the publication of his new book, and when the book is published, his readers will see why," says Stephen Rubin, president of Bertelsmann's Doubleday Broadway Publishing Group, whose Doubleday imprint publishes Mr. Brown. Mr. Rubin declined further comment

And the part I found quite interesting when I just re-read the article;

There are other more obscure dates that could be significant, however: On Sept. 18, 1793, President Washington led a Masonic parade down Pennsylvania Avenue to lay the cornerstone of the U.S. Capitol. It is considered one of the most important events in Masonic history.

I know the date of the release is the 15th but this is too close to be coincidence. I don't believe in coincidences at all actually.

Incidently, the numerology for 9/15/2009 is 8, the sign of infinity. But, I'm probably one of the few that finds that interesting.

[Raph's Girl]

Originally Posted by Ginny

Incidently, the numerology for 9/15/2009 is 8, the sign of infinity. But, I'm probably one of the few that finds that interesting.

Numerology has always fascinated me. That's way kewl... 8 hmmm

[Ginny]

I was reading a theory about the release date of 'The Lost Symbol' on one of the book forums I frequent. After some reasearch, and going to see Angels and Demons again, I have to say, this makes a lot of sense.

From the section on "Accuracy"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Before_Christ

"Although scholars generally believe that Christ was born some years before A.D. 1, the historical evidence is too sketchy to allow a definitive dating".[5] According to Matthew 2:1 and Matthew 2:16, King Herod the Great was alive when Jesus was born, and ordered the Massacre of the Innocents in response to his birth. Blackburn & Holford-Strevens fix King Herod's death shortly before Passover in 4 BC,[2]:770 and say that those who accept the story of the Massacre of the Innocents sometimes associate the star that led the Biblical Magi with the planetary conjunction of 15 September 7 BC or Halley's comet of 12 BC; even historians who do not accept the Massacre accept the birth under Herod as a tradition older than the written gospels.[2]:776

Interesting to say the least. Especially to astrology buffs like me. A triple conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn in Pisces an rare occurence we have never again experienced? Or maybe I'm just reading too much into this.

[Sewer Bull]

Originally Posted by Raph's Girl

The following things have occured on Sept 15th:

668 – Eastern Roman Emperor Constans II is raped in his bath at Syracuse, Italy.

... WHAT?!

I guess this must be what Dan Brown means.

[Ginny]

Cover art revealed! The US version is on the left, UK on the right!



I was also wondering if anyone else has been trying to solve 'The Lost Symbol' puzzles on Twitter and Facebook?

[Raph's Girl]

Originally Posted by Ginny

Cover art revealed! The US version is on the left, UK on the right!



I was also wondering if anyone else has been trying to solve 'The Lost Symbol' puzzles on Twitter and Facebook?

I just joined his Facebook thing and am trying to figure em out now.

Dan Brown's publisher invites you to solve this: Marked mailbox, 37th and R Street. He wants a meeting

Uh....

[Ginny]

Originally Posted by Raph's Girl

I just joined his Facebook thing and am trying to figure em out now.

Uh....

Yeah, some of them are really hard. I usually just end up looking at the other comments on a lot of these.