It's been a few days since we checked in with the goings-on in the Vulture Reading Room, where our panel of experts has been discussing Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol. In the last few days, Sarah Weinman wondered about the possible parallels between Brown and "one of his predecessors in reality-based (or reality-shrouded) thrillerdom, the late Michael Crichton"; Matt Taibbi described the book's hero, one Robert Langdon, as the "most irritating Harvard-educated, mullet-wearing sexless pedant of all time"; and Professor Geoffrey K. Pullum labels the book as "a cacophony of poppycock." It's time to get reading about reading, people! [Vulture Reading Room]