Deciphering THE LOST SYMBOL: Finished.

As I sipped the warming liquid of my coffee and the wind was throwing the rain against my window I opened the well designed covers of Chris Hodapp’s most recent book ‘Deciphering THE LOST SYMBOL’.

The cover of his book; easily as intricate as that of the recent tome that covers the Washington DC outing of the Harvard Professor made popular in the DaVinci Code, is a pleasing combination of browns and reds with ghost effects of symbolism akin to a journal from the mystical past.

Someone said you should never judge a book by its cover but so often it is impossible not to do so, and with that in mind I expected great things. I must admit up front I consider Chris a friend and have never found anything lacking in his previous works which include ‘Freemasons for Dummies’ and ‘Solomon’s Builder: Freemasons, Founding Fathers and The Secrets Of Washington DC’ if anything I found this position had me requiring a bit more than if I didn’t know him.

In his opening statement he describes Dan Browns book as a

‘509-page love letter to the fraternity of Freemasonry.’

…something that many men in the fraternity were surprised by as they had expect a book which may have painted Freemasonry in the same dark tone as Brown had previously painted the Opus Dei and the Catholic Church.

Hodapp weaves his way through the many twists and turns of THE LOST SYMBOL trying and succeeding to explain some of the inconsistencies of the book, and to explain where Brown hit the nail on the head and where he was at the risk of hitting his thumb with near misses and of course where he just hit the table with a complete error of information. But in these instances Hodapp puts forward a hypothesis which I will let you read and in which I found myself agreeing.

With his usual humour Chris presents us short easy to read chapters much akin to Browns writing style that makes this a very informative, educational yet easy read. I found his chapter on Noetics a huge help in further understanding the theories that Katherine Solomon puts forward in the book and he provided information on where; should you want, you can read more about this fascinating subject.

Chapter 3: Art, Codes, and the Cover of The Lost Symbol and Chapter 4: Symbolism had to be my two favourite pieces in the book but not once did I feel I was wasting my time in reading this book and feel confident in recommending it to everyone Mason and non-mason alike, this is the perfect a compliment to The Lost Symbol and I feel it should be on the shelf right next to it on your bookcase.

In conclusion this is a great book well worth its cover price and a great way to spend a chilly winter night, which everyone should own.