>Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol sold over half a million copies in first week of UK sales, making it the fastest-selling adult book of all time
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/sep/22/dan-brown-lost-symbol-record-sales
How does this make you feel?
I lost all hope for the future.
I'm getting castrated so that my children don't have to grow up in a post-Lost Symbol world.
he needs to stop writing
Oh come on, he ain't that bad. I haven't read that book, though.
For two hours, Becker interpreted an endless stream of Mandarin symbols. But each time he gave them a translation, the cryptographers shook their heads in despair. Apparently the code was not making sense. Eager to help, Becker pointed out that all the characters they'd shown him had a common trait-they were also part of the Kanji language. Instantly the bustle in the room fell silent. The man in charge, a lanky chain-smoker named Morante, turned to Becker in disbelief.
"You mean these symbols have multiple meanings?"
Becker nodded. He explained that Kanji was a Japanese language based on modified Chinese characters. He'd been giving Mandarin translations because that's what they'd asked for.
"Jesus Christ." Morante coughed. "Let's try the Kanji."
Like magic, everything fell into place.
The cryptographers were duly impressed, but nonetheless, they still made Becker work on the characters out of sequence. "It's for your own safety" Morante said. "This way, you won't know what you're translating."
Becker laughed. Then he noticed nobody else was laughing.
haha oh wow
Pfft, I'm actually reading The Lost Symbol. It isn't an epic novel, but it is enjoyable to read. I can't just drop the series after finishing Angels and Demons and DaVinci Code.