Dan Brown gets lost in The Lost Symbol

Best-selling author Dan Brown’s new novel, The Lost Symbol, is set in Washington, and in it, he gives the city plenty of love. So much so, that the book will likely draw tourists to the nation’s capital in hopes of finding hidden Masonic imagery. Maybe the author himself will even take a tour around D.C.!

In fact, judging by the questionable D.C. geography in the 509-page tome, a tour might be just what Brown needs. ITK encountered the following head-scratchers in The Lost Symbol.

As the main character, Robert Langdon, flies in to Washington in the opening pages, he glimpses the Washington Monument, which he describes as the world’s tallest Egyptian obelisk-type structure. All true, until he lands at Dulles International Airport. Anyone who has flown into Dulles knows you’d have trouble spotting the monument from the air, given that it’s more than 22 miles away.

Then, mere pages later — don’t worry, we’re not giving away any plot twists — Langdon’s car speeds over the Memorial Bridge en route to the Capitol. Langdon looks to his left, across the Tidal Basin, and spots the “gracefully rounded silhouette” of the Jefferson Memorial.

Nice prose. But looking left off the Memorial Bridge while heading into D.C. from Virginia would give one a better view of the Watergate, the Kennedy Center and Georgetown, all to the north. The Jefferson is south of the bridge, requiring Langdon to turn right to see it.

Regardless, ITK recommends picking the book up. It’s a good read.