THE COMMENTS.

Dear Valery, when I saw your book choice I become interested in reading this book. And It was very interesting. From the biggining, I thought that this story is very boring... but then I got deeper into plot I was interested in the ending of this book. I think, it's worth reading.
http://living-while-reading.blogspot.ru/2013/12/last-post.html#comment-form

Dear Mary, I thought, this book isn't very interesting but when you retell this store at the university I wanted to read this book. And I promise I will.
http://maryes17.blogspot.ru/2013/12/hello-today-i-want-to-write-conclusion.html?showComment=1387401500381#c4762593478302961459

MY FILM.

MORE INFORMATION.

ROTUNDA -  is any building with a circular ground plan, sometimes covered by a dome.

 United States Capitol rotunda

 is the central rotunda of the  United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. Located below theCapitol dome, it is the tallest part of the Capitol and has been described as its "symbolic and physical heart."

The rotunda is surrounded by corridors connecting the House of Representatives and Senate sides of the Capitol. To the south of the rotunda is the semi-circular National Statuary Hall, which until 1857 was the House of Representatives chamber. To the northeast of the rotunda is the Old Senate Chamber, used by the Senate until 1859 and by the Supreme Court of the United States until 1935.

The rotunda is 96 feet (29 m) in diameter and rises 180 feet 3 inches (54.94 m) to the canopy, and is visited by thousands of people each day. It is surmounted by the American Statue of Freedom. And it is also used for ceremonial events authorized by concurrent resolution, including the lying in state of honored people.






Hand of the mysteries 

The alchemical symbol of apotheosis, the transformation of man into god, is traditionally represented by an image of a hand with other symbols, including skulls, crowns, stars, fish, keys, lanterns, astrological symbols and the all-seeing eye.

The Hand of the Mysteries goes by many other names, including the Hand of the Master Mason,Hand of the Philosopher, and the Emblematic Hand of Mysteries.

It is said that the hand holds the keys to divinity, and is 

used as an invitation to discover the ‘great secrets.’

REVIEW.

http://bestsellers.about.com/u/r/od/suspensethrillers/gr/lost_symbol_brown.htm

After I read a few reviews about this novel, I came to the conclusion that majority of people seems novel boring. I disagree. Yes, certainly it’s not the Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons, but there is something special. After reading it, I wanted to dip into this world, to learn more about Freemasons, their traditions, goals, means and methods of influence. In the novel was mentioned that Washington is stuffed with symbols of the Freemasons. I immediately began to search for more information. Perhaps I was interested to read it because I'm fond of such things. I think there's nothing boring and unnecessary.

Dan Brown does not betray himself, he always wrote realistic. When you read the descriptions in any of his novel, you feel that you are close to the characters; it is worth you to reach out and touch a Professor Langdon.

Let it not filled with chases, but the novel end gradually and logically.

Vocabulary.

austere- строгий

pale - бледный

struggling - в бедственном положении

anxiety - беспокойство

affectionately -  нежно, с любовью

reassuring  - обнадёживающий

hum - жужжать

eventual  - возможный

drift - относить, гнать

mentor -  воспитатель

wing - крыло

void - пустота, вакуум

slender - тонкий, узкий, стройный

rear - воздвигнутый

surpass - возвышаться

marble - мрамор

meticulous - мелочный

fold - сгибать, складывать

tarmac - дёгтебетон

glistening - блестящий

groan - стон

Continuation.

Mal'akh is revealed to be a Freemason with tattoos covering almost his entire body. He infiltrated the organization in order to obtain an ancient source of power,[9] which he believes Langdon can unlock for him in return for Peter Solomon's life. Several chapters also delve into Mal'akh's history with Peter Solomon: many years ago, Peter bequeathed a large sum of inheritance money to his rebellious son, Zachary, who then fled the Solomon household and led a reckless life in Europe until he was arrested and imprisoned in Turkey for smuggling drugs. Peter flew to Turkey, but decided to have Zachary extradited in a week's time instead of getting him out immediately in order to teach him a lesson, but apparently, Zachary was murdered by his cellmate, who got his hands on Zachary's fortune and fled to Greece to lead a luxurious life under the name Andros Dareios. Dareios, however, soon grew tired of his life. Apparently having spoken with Zachary about Solomon's life as a Mason, Dareios broke into Solomon's home to find the pyramid, but accidentally killed Peter's mother, Isabel, and was in turn shot and left to fall into a frozen river by a vengeful Solomon himself. Surviving the fall, Dareios nursed himself back to health, covered his scars and eventually his entire body with tattoos and set off on a mission to infiltrate the Freemasons and gain access to their secrets, adopting the name Mal'akh.

As Langdon deals with the events into which he has been thrust, Mal'akh destroys the Smithonsonian-sponsored laboratory of Dr. Katherine Solomon, Peter's younger sister, where she has conducted experiments in Noetic Science, in the process ambushing and almost killing Katherine in a cat-and-mouse chase, but Katherine manages to escape and meet up with Langdon and Bellamy. Mal'akh then destroys all of Katherine's research. Eventually, when cornered by the authorities, Bellamy is forced to give himself up while Langdon and Katherine escape. Both are later apprehended by Sato's team. Following clues regarding Mal'akh's previous identity as Peter Solomon's psychiatrist, Dr. Christopher Abaddon, Sato allows Langdon and Katherine rush to his mansion to confront him, but Mal'akh ambushes them and murders their CIA escort. Meanwhile, as he is being interrogated by Sato, Bellamy expresses belief that Sato is working with Mal'akh, but Sato assures Bellamy that she is also pursuing Mal'akh in the interests of national security, and displays a piece of evidence that visibly shocks Bellamy.

Mal'akh places Langdon into an airtight sensory deprivation tank, where he interrogates Langdon by slowly filling the tank with liquid. He is able to convince Langdon to unlock the code at the Pyramid's base, but continues to fill the tank until Langdon apparently drowns. Mal'akh then ties Katherine to a chair and inserts an open-ended transfusion needle into her arm, and leaves her to bleed to death, and then flees with a weakened and wheelchair-bound Peter Solomon to the Temple Room of the Scottish Rite's House of the Temple. He uses the threat of not calling an ambulance for Katherine as further coercion for Peter's cooperation. Sato leads a team of agents to the mansion after Langdon and Katherine's escort fails to check in, and are able to save Katherine's life. Langdon is revealed to have survived, due the "water" in the tank actually being breathable oxygenated liquid, and the tank being a device for meditation. Sato, Langdon, and Katherine race to the House of the Temple where Mal'akh threatens to release a heavily edited video showing government officials performing secret Masonic rituals (the same video that Sato showed to Bellamy), which without context, appears highly disturbing. Mal'akh forces the Word—the circumpunct—out of Peter and tattoos it on his head on the last portion of unmarked skin on his body. Mal'akh then orders Peter to sacrifice him, as he believes that it is his destiny to become a demonic spirit and lead the forces of evil. When Peter claims that he will do so without hesitation to avenge his son and mother, Mal'akh shocks Peter by revealing that he is actually Zachary Solomon himself, having conspired with the prison warden to fake his death by disfiguring the body of another inmate beyond recognition (at the same time, Langdon, Katherine and Bellamy discover several photos of Zachary in Greece after his supposed death that show his gradual transformation into Mal'akh). Tears in his eyes, Peter prepares to stab Zachary, but ultimately cannot bring himself to do so, and drops the knife just as Langdon arrives and tackles him. Director Sato arrives at the Temple in a helicopter, which smashes the Temple's overhead glass panel, the shards of which fatally impale Zachary. The CIA then thwart Zachary's plan to transmit the video to several leading media channels using an EMP blast, disabling a cell tower in the network path leading from Zachary's laptop computer. Langdon and Katherine then share a tearful reunion with Peter, and mourn Zachary's death. Zachary, in soul form, is only briefly able to lament his body's mutilation before he is presumably dragged down to Hell.

Later on, Peter informs Langdon that the circumpunct Zachary tattooed on his head is not the Word. He also informs Katherine that made back-ups of all of her noetic research data on his own computer, meaning her research can continue. Deciding to take Langdon to the true secret behind the Word, Peter leads him to the room atop the Washington Monument and tells him that the Word—a common Christian Bible, the "Word of God"—lies in the Monument's cornerstone, buried in the ground beneath the Monument's staircase. Langdon realizes that the symbols on the pyramid's base spelled out the words Laus Deo which translate to Praise God. These words are inscribed upon the small aluminum capstone atop the Monument, which is the true Masonic Pyramid.

Peter tells Langdon that the Masons believe that the Bible is an esoteric allegory written by humanity, and that, like most religious texts around the globe, it contains veiled instructions for harnessing humanity's natural God-like qualities—similar to Katherine's Noetic research—and is not meant to be interpreted as the commands of an all-powerful deity. This interpretation has been lost amid centuries of scientific skepticism and fundamentalist zealotry. The Masons have (metaphorically) buried it, believing that, when the time is right, its rediscovery will usher in a new era of human enlightenment.

INFORMATION FOR YOU.

Freemasonry is a fraternal organisation  that traces the origins to the local fraternities of stonemasons , which from the end of the fourteenth century regulated the qualifications of masons and their interaction with authorities and clients. The degrees of freemasonry, its gradal system, retain the three grades of medieval craft guilds, those of apprentice, journeyman or fellow (now called fellowcraft), and master mason. These are the degrees offered by craft, or blue lodge Freemasonry. There are additional degrees, which vary with locality and jurisdiction, and are now administered by different bodies than the craft degrees.

The basic, local organisational unit of Freemasonry is the Lodge. The lodges are usually supervised and governed at the regional level (usually coterminous with either a state, province, or national border) by a Grand Lodge or Grand Orient. There is no international, world wide Grand Lodge that supervises all of Freemasonry. Each Grand Lodge is independent, and they do not necessarily recognise each other as being legitimate.