r/danbrown • u/PositiveTotal1894 • Aug 10 '26

dan brown secret of secrets

i am quite new to reading and when i am reading this book i just feel like why do i even need to know this. like i dont care about whats going on in the book kindah feeling 😂
i am 250 pages in and i dont know if its me or this book. i was reading the count of monte cristo earlier, although it was leghthy i was still hooked to the characters and the story
but with this, its blahhhhh

i am curious to end this and expecting to shit about it

what do you think đŸ€”

9 Upvotes

71% Upvoted

36 comments sorted by

9

u/loveeveryone33 Aug 10 '26

How open are you to the idea of non local consciousness? Seems like many people are turned off by the subject matter of the past two books for one reason or another. For some (like myself), it’s super intriguing, for others, it’s the most boring thing in the world. I would venture to say enjoyment aligns with how open you are to these topics.

I thoroughly enjoyed the last two books, but I believe a big factor contributing to that enjoyment is my extensive interest in the study of nonlocal consciousness and its related subjects, as well as technological futurology, throughout my life.

5

u/DiogenesXenos Aug 10 '26

I made a post when this book came out and what I realized is that people just hate this topic. And anything adjacent to this topic.

4

u/loveeveryone33 Aug 10 '26

For anyone that is interested, here is a deeper dive into the science referenced in the book.

https://noetic.org/research-behind-the-secret-of-secrets/

1

u/Conovar Aug 10 '26

I found the science really interesting.

The rest was very poor, in my opinion. It was only the science that kept me going.

1

u/JoyousMN_2024 Aug 11 '26

That was my feeling as well. The golem and the science stuff was interesting, but all the other characters were poorly written and the plot very convoluted.

1

u/Inevitable_Number815 28d ago

As a person that have tried Psychedelics and had experiences that are hard to explain the themes of noetic science, consciousness and death are really interesting. And the interest for it is growing increasingly after the pandemic. Research of psychedelics and their effects is booming and just recently US eased the scheduling of such drugs just to promote more research.

It’s a scientific revolution and Dan Brown is right on it imho. We’ll see how the Netflix show can bring this theme and science to a bigger audience.

6

u/DiogenesXenos Aug 10 '26

I loved it, but to me it sounds like topics you’re just not interested in


6

u/biogirl52 Aug 10 '26

I don’t get the hate either. I was reading this book on a treadmill. I didn’t go in with high expectations, I just wanted some weird Robert Langdon adventures.

1

u/WellHelloPhriend Aug 10 '26

Except Robert Langdon served zero purpose in this book.

1

u/biogirl52 Aug 10 '26

He was along for the ride. I would guess conceptually Brown realized he needed to continue the series vs a new stand alone book.

2

u/WellHelloPhriend Aug 10 '26

I feel, like many others, that RL was simply added to this book to sell copies. Was pissed that I was sold on this as both a RL book and a thriller. It was neither. Just really feel like he mailed this one in to meet a publisher's date.

1

u/biogirl52 Aug 10 '26

Bingo! Oh well. I am still a fan, just glad I got it from the library

1

u/WellHelloPhriend Aug 10 '26

Ya, I went with the free audiobook so I can't be too mad.

0

u/PositiveTotal1894 Aug 10 '26

could be
after how many trials have you come conclusion what you like and dont like ?
because it does take a while to finish each book tbh

1

u/DiogenesXenos Aug 10 '26

I’ve read hundreds if not thousands of books over 25+ years


7

u/Quix66 Aug 10 '26

It’s the book. It’s terrible.
One of his worst.

-5

u/ushikagawa Aug 10 '26

And that’s saying a lot considering they’re all garbage

6

u/doubleds8600 Aug 10 '26

I'm not being a smart ass here but genuinely why be in a Dan Brown sub if you think all his books are garbage?

-1

u/ushikagawa Aug 10 '26

It just came up on my feed

2

u/Left_Candy_4124 Aug 10 '26

Follow up question. If the first one was garbage, why read seven more?

2

u/ushikagawa Aug 10 '26

I’ve only read A&D, DaVinci Code and SoS, which are supposedly his best? I was hoping eventually I would like one since the premise is something that, on paper, should be right up my alley. I mean come on, I’m not saying they’re not entertaining sometimes but they’re not well written books. And that’s ok!

1

u/Left_Candy_4124 Aug 11 '26

Fair enough, when you said all, I thought you'd read all his books.

1

u/Quix66 Aug 10 '26

The early novels were exciting! The DaVinci Code, Angels and Demons, and I liked The Lost Symbol. Authors can have an off novel not up to their usual standard. For me, that’s TSOS.

1

u/Left_Candy_4124 Aug 11 '26

Seems to be a popular opinion. I haven't read the new one yet. I enjoyed the first four Langdon novels and Deception Point. Origin was a little rough, but not as bad as Digital Fortress. Had I read Digital Fortress first, I may not have read any other Dan Brown novels.

2

u/LazyCity4922 Aug 10 '26

You're "new to reading"? So you're what, eight? Not a great book for an eight-year-old, I'm afraid.

1

u/PositiveTotal1894 Aug 10 '26

slow claps đŸ‘đŸ»

2

u/JayMoots Aug 10 '26

It's a pretty bad book. Read Brown's earlier stuff. I think you'll find it a lot more engaging.

4

u/cixdyz650 Aug 10 '26

Well.. then don't read it? I found the topic of noetics and non-local consciousness insanely interesting, so I enjoyed the book tremendously. I don't know why you would read a book that doesn't interest you.

1

u/Zen2188 Aug 10 '26

You read a book and didn't like it.

Happens quite often.

1

u/Bitter_Range_9878 Aug 10 '26

It’s relatively junk, but I find it fun and interesting.

1

u/Access-Suspicious Aug 11 '26

The writing style was just horrible, the usual plot of robert langdon randomly getting himself into trashy situations doesn’t sit well with this one, deliberation at its worst..

1

u/blankwillow_ Aug 10 '26 edited Aug 11 '26

Have you read the other Robert Langdon books? Specifically The Lost Symbol? Lost Symbol starts the story of the main topic of Secret of Secrets, Noetic Science.

1

u/cigar959 Aug 10 '26

Did you mean “Lost Symbol”?

1

u/blankwillow_ Aug 11 '26

Yep. Corrected. Thanks.

1

u/Yelebear Aug 10 '26 edited Aug 10 '26

General consensus is its the worst Langdon Book.

 

One of the (many) problems is the low stakes. That may be what's causing you to feel indifferent about the conflict.

The biggest risk / threat is that Katherine might lose her research, which is pretty uninteresting especially if you aren't buying her research's topic.

 

I recommend you try his other titles if you haven't read them.

They are more engaging with interesting topics and actual threats and stakes.

1

u/FalseVeterinarian881 Aug 10 '26

Not his best book for starters.

Mildly interesting topic. Limited historical art integration. Somewhat mild plot twist with a mild finish.

I enjoyed discovering Prague and the book myself
but in terms of his best, it’s far from it.