Dan Brown sends his hero Robert Langdon off on another adventure with his latest novel, The Secret of Secrets. And I’m divided. I like the research and the information Brown is putting forth, it opens up a number of avenues for questions and research, but, the story doesn’t have the same punch and push as some of his other Langdon stories.

Langdon, and his romantic partner, Katherine Solomon are in Prague. Solomon is a noetic scientist, who has been asked to speak, and is also on the verge of publishing a well-researched book on her work. In short order they find themselves pursued by the Prague police, and the U.S. government in the form of the CIA.

There’s something in Katharine’s book that they don’t want reaching the public en masse. So that means everything is going to be related to what is in Katharine’s book, and not so much a lot of art and symbology this time around.

And that’s fine. Brown still tells a cracking story. It races along and has the expected twists, turns and revelations one expects from Brown’s work, but it feels like it lacks something – and it’s the art and hidden meanings.

That being said, he does put forward a lot of solid arguments for the noetic sciences. He once again references real institutes, projects and studies, weaving them into his story.

There were a couple of things that I found really interesting in the subject matter, one that I hadn’t explored before, that of non-local consciousness. The way Brown lays it out, in layman’s terms, allows for a rudimentary understanding of the subject, even as it hints about some of the wilder things it could lead to, like remote viewing.

And remote viewing opens a whole can of worms, unless non-local consciousness is true, which some evidence suggests. Anyway. The book also touches on out of body experiences, terror management theory, and also, once again, grounds a lot of its ideas in actual science.

It also explores GABA (gamma aminobutyric acid) levels and how they may work as reality filters for the mind, and if they could be explored and controlled could lead to some amazing possibilities.

So, that being said, The Secret of Secrets is not my favourite Langdon adventure. But I quite like the subject material at its heart, and the way it’s laid out and explored. And not to sound cynical or sarcastic, can it be too long before Langdon starts investigating ancient cartouches, vedas, and more when he gets pulled into a UFO story?

Keep presenting ideas in entertaining ways Mr. Brown, and get people talking.