Three book editors, jaded by reading far too many crackpot manuscripts on the mystic and the occult, are inspired by an extraordinary conspiracy story told to them by a strange colonel to have some fun. They start feeding random bits of information into a powerful computer capable of inventing connections between the entries, thinking they are creating nothing more than an amusing game, but then their game starts to take over, the deaths start mounting, and they are forced into a frantic search for the truth (2000-12-11)
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. Learn more. |
Book Description
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, and more.
Product Description
Review
"Brilliant, funny, encompassing everything you ever wanted to know about practically everything (including numerology, James Bond's foes, and the construction of sewers), this book is both extraordinarily learned and well plotted." (Sunday Times)
"Endlessly diverting... Even more intricate and absorbing than his international bestseller The Name of the Rose." (Time)
"Brilliant... A novel that is deeper and richer than The Name of the Rose." (New York Times)
"An intellectual adventure story, as sensational, thrilling, and packed with arcana as Raiders of the Lost Ark or The Count of Monte Cristo." (The Washington Post)
"Umberto Eco is literature's great magician... He offers us many passages of brilliance, and treats us to a Shakespearean alternation of paroxysm and intimacy, madness and wisdom. There is something here for everyone. His genius affords his readers a selection of delights that will make their heads spin." (Le Monde)
"Endlessly diverting... Even more intricate and absorbing than his international bestseller The Name of the Rose." (Time)
"Brilliant... A novel that is deeper and richer than The Name of the Rose." (New York Times)
"An intellectual adventure story, as sensational, thrilling, and packed with arcana as Raiders of the Lost Ark or The Count of Monte Cristo." (The Washington Post)
"Umberto Eco is literature's great magician... He offers us many passages of brilliance, and treats us to a Shakespearean alternation of paroxysm and intimacy, madness and wisdom. There is something here for everyone. His genius affords his readers a selection of delights that will make their heads spin." (Le Monde)
Book Description
A brilliantly executed intellectual detective story from the author of international best seller The Name of the Rose.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
64 of 67 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is not an easy read, indeed the first forty pages or so make some of the most intense demands on the reader of any book I have ever read, but if you have a love of the mysterious, the obscure and the sinister it is well worth persisting with. The way the story unfolds is quite ingenious and you will, if nothing else, learn a huge amount of obscure history along the way.
The basic premise of the plot is actually quite simple: three editors in a Milan publishing house specializing in wildly whacky works on the mystical and the occult begin, for their own amusement, to make speculative connections between the various way-out theories put forward in the manuscripts submitted for publication. To their amazement it soon transpires that they might be on to something, something so important that their own lives are suddenly put at risk.
Eco clearly had great fun with this, throwing every crack-pot theory and esoteric religious belief into the mix. The Templars are there, of course, as are the Rosicrucians, the darker branches of the Catholic church and the Masons. The Hollow Earth theory is given a spin, Khabbala is discussed, Dr Dee puts in an appearance and the measurements of the great pyramids in Egypt provide the answers to nearly everything. It is all beautifully explained, so outlandishly implausible that maybe, just maybe, it has to be true......
For a novel which is primarily about obscure branches of knowledge and the play of ideas the characters are actually surprisingly well drawn: Casaubon, the narrator of the story wondering just what it is they have stumbled upon; Belbo with his melancholy sense of the colourful road not travelled; Diotallevi, mild and knowledgeable, getting slightly drunk on mineral water, and the mysterious Aglie, who appears to have all the answers. Or, perhaps, all the answers bar one...
If you're looking for something imaginative and challenging, something which could perhaps be described as the Da Vinci Code's immeasurably smarter brother, then this could be for you. Demanding, but well worth the effort.
The basic premise of the plot is actually quite simple: three editors in a Milan publishing house specializing in wildly whacky works on the mystical and the occult begin, for their own amusement, to make speculative connections between the various way-out theories put forward in the manuscripts submitted for publication. To their amazement it soon transpires that they might be on to something, something so important that their own lives are suddenly put at risk.
Eco clearly had great fun with this, throwing every crack-pot theory and esoteric religious belief into the mix. The Templars are there, of course, as are the Rosicrucians, the darker branches of the Catholic church and the Masons. The Hollow Earth theory is given a spin, Khabbala is discussed, Dr Dee puts in an appearance and the measurements of the great pyramids in Egypt provide the answers to nearly everything. It is all beautifully explained, so outlandishly implausible that maybe, just maybe, it has to be true......
For a novel which is primarily about obscure branches of knowledge and the play of ideas the characters are actually surprisingly well drawn: Casaubon, the narrator of the story wondering just what it is they have stumbled upon; Belbo with his melancholy sense of the colourful road not travelled; Diotallevi, mild and knowledgeable, getting slightly drunk on mineral water, and the mysterious Aglie, who appears to have all the answers. Or, perhaps, all the answers bar one...
If you're looking for something imaginative and challenging, something which could perhaps be described as the Da Vinci Code's immeasurably smarter brother, then this could be for you. Demanding, but well worth the effort.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I came to Foucault's Pendulum after greatly enjoying Name of the Rose and this is a very different book altogether.
The premise can be read on the blurb and makes the book come across as an 'intellectual thriller'. The first few chapters and the last few are indeed those of an intellectual thriller and the hard work is in-between. It could be argued that skipping the most part of the book and just reading the parts from the periscope to the periscope would give a great short-story. However you'd miss a lot of seawater and 2+2=5 not to mention an insane amount of historical and occult conspiracy. All that is great stuff but is bogged down by frustrating attempts of characterisation: a 100 pages, or so it seemed, is given over to the main character going to South America and I was bored witless with the wooden conversations and monologue. Later he becomes a father which plays no part in anything much and the relationship with the mother serves one purpose, that of a discovery concerning a 'shopping list', which was indeed very funny but long-winded.
In fact, no reviews I've read have mentioned the humour in this book: I laughed out loud on a number of occasions.
I would've given Foucault's Pendulum 4-stars if Eco had edited to a stricter regime.
The premise can be read on the blurb and makes the book come across as an 'intellectual thriller'. The first few chapters and the last few are indeed those of an intellectual thriller and the hard work is in-between. It could be argued that skipping the most part of the book and just reading the parts from the periscope to the periscope would give a great short-story. However you'd miss a lot of seawater and 2+2=5 not to mention an insane amount of historical and occult conspiracy. All that is great stuff but is bogged down by frustrating attempts of characterisation: a 100 pages, or so it seemed, is given over to the main character going to South America and I was bored witless with the wooden conversations and monologue. Later he becomes a father which plays no part in anything much and the relationship with the mother serves one purpose, that of a discovery concerning a 'shopping list', which was indeed very funny but long-winded.
In fact, no reviews I've read have mentioned the humour in this book: I laughed out loud on a number of occasions.
I would've given Foucault's Pendulum 4-stars if Eco had edited to a stricter regime.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By FarehamBiz
Format:Paperback
I really wanted to like this, especially as The Name of the Rose was so good. But the prose is borderline incomprehensible with little or no cohesion from one paragraph to the next. And I would agree with another reviewer - the reviews on the back of the book are incredibly misleading. Umberto Eco is someone I admire greatly but this seemed just a vehicle to advertise his massive intellect at the expense of a readable story. I persevered to the end but it was excruciating.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
›
Go to Amazon.com to see all 467 reviews
3.8 out of 5 stars
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
1.0 out of 5 stars
Unreadable
I have read the opening couple of chapters about 10 times trying to get into this book, and not managed to get past them. It is awful.
Published 8 days ago by Allan P
4.0 out of 5 stars
Witty, erudite and funny but overlong
This books plot is detailed at length and with spoilers on wikipaedia, but to condense a lot it involves a group of friends at a publishers the specialises in printing books by... Read more
Published 23 days ago by Captain Kirk
5.0 out of 5 stars
Pleased with the product. . . . . . Did the job as expected! . . . ....
Pleased with the product. . . . . . Did the job as expected! . . . . . . .
Published 1 month ago by Y Bashmakova
5.0 out of 5 stars
Casaubon and the Boys
"The German woman's eyes were wide, and every moment of her hysterical limbs begged for oblivion. The other daughters of the saint went into ecstasy, flung their heads back,... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Josh
5.0 out of 5 stars
What's not to like?
This book is in places very funny, always very engaging and (towards the end) very thrilling. It's everything a novel should be. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Joseph Schwartz
3.0 out of 5 stars
Enjoyable but dense.
I think the best way to describe this novel is dense, although it was very engrossing and I did really enjoy it. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Ms. G. L. Whitley
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great book
I was very happy with the prompt delivery of this order. The book was in great condition, no markings or signs of wear. Now if only I had the time to actually start reading it!
Published 7 months ago by Cristiana Strava
4.0 out of 5 stars
captivating but needs patience
Eco takes you through streets of Paris, Provins, Rome, plus certain unnamed villages marked with stars****..in a realistic manner. Read more
Published 11 months ago by R. Suryanarayanan
5.0 out of 5 stars
Foucault's Pendulum review
A bit difficult to get into but one you get hooked it is a great book. It is miles above the normal far-fetched conspiracy books. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Henk
2.0 out of 5 stars
Not The Da Vinci Code for Grown-ups
I couldn't have picked a more difficult book as my first review. This sat on my bookshelf for twenty years before dusting it off and having another go. Read more
Published 16 months ago by Moon Blossom
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
