The Lost Symbol covers released
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Conspiracy theorists, ready, set, go! Publishers in the United States and Great Britain today released the covers for Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol, which goes on sale Sept. 15. The U.S. version (on left) shows the Capitol surrounded by mystical symbols and a red seal that features a double-headed eagle, the number 33 and the a Latin phrase meaning "order from chaos." It looks genuinely creepy, but no less so than the dollar bill's Great Seal, an eyeball hovering over a pyramid. Brown decoders have noted the similarities to emblems of the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, which has a headquarters in Washington.
The U.K. version (on right) seems more straightforward. The Capitol is more prominent, presumably to emphasize to folks in the Mother Country that Washington is the mystery's setting. It also features a key with a square and compass, an age-old symbol of architecture and Freemasonry.
You can keep following the mystery on The Lost Symbol's Twitter page, where puzzles are regularly posted. Or you can get creative, deciphering this intriguing map of Washington, which has the square and compass image superimposed to link key buildings. Or take Read Street's Dan Brown quiz. (Answers here.)
While she always preferred The Hardy Boys to Nancy Drew, 
Comments
Fans of Dan Brown and his upcoming "The Lost Symbol" may want to take a look at the non-fiction, "Rebel Gold: One Man's Quest to Crack the Code Behind the Secret Treasure of the Confederacy," (Simon & Schuster). Here's a blurb from Rebel Gold's back cover:
Dan Burstein, editor of the national bestseller "Secrets of the Code: The Unauthorized Guide to the Mysteries Behind The Da Vinci Code," writes:
"Rebel Gold is a great adventure story and a fascinating treasure-hunt tale, but it is much more than that. It is an improbable, fantastic, and yet ultimately eye-opening trek through unknown, unseen, and unremembered episodes of American history. Jesse James, Confederate gold, the Knights of the Golden Circle, Freemasons, Albert Pike, the Ku Klux Klan, mysterious maps, codes, and symbols, echoes of the Knights Templar: It would make a great case for Dan Brown's Robert Langdon character -- except Warren Getler and Bob Brewer got there first -- and in non-fiction!"
Posted by: Fan of Dan Brown--Washington, D.C. | July 7, 2009 5:21 PM
I like the U.K. cover (the one on the right) much, much better than the U.S. one. The U.K. cover is simple and elegant; the U.S. one seems kind of glitzy and "busy."
Posted by: Gail Farrelly | July 7, 2009 6:15 PM
looks to be an interesting read.
Posted by: Zemindar | July 31, 2009 3:56 PM