Losing Symbols

I just finished the latest book by Dan Brown last night, "The Lost Symbol". In this third instalment of his Robert Langdon series, Brown explored the mysteries of the Masonic Order, religion, and the notion of beauty.
With out going into details of the book and it's story, let me just say that if you liked the first two, you will like this one. The main difference is that he spends even more time talking about the religious aspect of symbols and the human condition than he does in the other books, if you can imagine that.
My only point about story specifics is that Brown makes the quasi-love-interest an attractive woman of the grand old age of 50. I don't' know how old of an actress they will get to play her in the Ron Howard adaptation, but I hope it's a woman close to that age. I say kudos to you, Mr. Brown. I have no difficulty imagining the heroine to be a half century old and beautiful. Thanks for giving this image to the popular culture.
I'm mostly concerned about this book as a philosophical text. I at first think of Albert Camus (see previous posts) and while the philosophy is not the same, wonder if Mr. Brown will ever write any non-fiction books that explore the religious and philosophical aspects of the Robert Langdon seriece. My thoughts also turn to Pullman and his "His Dark Materials" series as a better example of what Brown is doing.
It seems that there are many fine authors who are concerned with religion and philosophy, but not concerned as being labelled philosophers. I think this is sad in a way, not that they are unconcerned, but that modern Western culture is lacking in philosophers. Don't get me wrong, as a student of philosophy, I have read the work of many excellent philosophers who are alive and writing today, it's just that they are not known to mainstream culture. Religious leaders and quasi-religious leaders and political pundits are all known, and someitmes it's hard to tell which of the things I mentioned that they actually are, but our culture seems to be lacking popular thinkers that engage in the public discourse for the sake of furthering knowledge and not some personal agenda.
But, maybe it's all a matter of perspective. It may be that in a few years I will comem to realize that Brown, Pullman and others really are shaping the national discourse and that the philosophers of old go by a different name now. It may well be that modern media and the vast size of our society compared to the ancient or even more recent history means that the popular thinkers are not known to all because they have never been known to all. I think of an old addage "fools names and fools faces always appear in public places". I am after all, not looking for the fool, unless it is the fool that I need to see. :)
Perhaps this blog entry is the modern equivalent of a student sitting in a bath house asking questions of the philosopher who is their teacher in all respects. And while the answer may never come back to me from Brown himself, it is possible that others may give me answers or opinions or ask more questions, and in the end the same is achieved.