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Editorial Reviews From Publishers Weekly If a copy (often unread) of The Name of the Rose on the coffee table was a badge of intellectual superiority in 1983, Eco's second novel--also an intellectual blockbuster--should prove more accessible. This complex psychological thriller chronicles the development of a literary joke that plunges its perpetrators into deadly peril. The narrator, Casaubon, an expert on the medieval Knights Templars, and two editors working in a branch of a vanity press publishing house in Milan, are told about a purported coded message revealing a secret plan set in motion by the Knights Templars centuries ago when the society was forced underground. As a lark, the three decide to invent a history of the occult tying a variety of phenomena to the mysterious machinations of the Order. Feeding their inspirations into a computer, they become obsessed with their story, dreaming up links between the Templars and just about every occult manifestation throughout history, and predicting that culmination of the Templars' scheme to take over the world is close at hand. The plan becomes real to them--and eventually to the mysterious They, who want the information the trio has "discovered." Dense, packed with meaning, often startlingly provocative, the novel is a mixture of metaphysical meditation, detective story, computer handbook, introduction to physics and philosophy, historical survey, mathematical puzzle, compendium of religious and cultural mythology, guide to the Torah (Hebrew, rather than Latin contributes to the puzzle here, but is restricted mainly to chapter headings), reference manual to the occult, the hermetic mysteries, the Rosicrucians, the Jesuits, the Freemasons-- ad infinitum . The narrative eventually becomes heavy with the accumulated weight of data and supposition, and overwrought with implication, and its climax may leave readers underwhelmed. Until that point, however, this is an intriguing cerebral exercise in which Eco slyly suggests that intellectual arrogance can come to no good end. Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition. From Library Journal Student of philology in 1970s Milan, Casaubon is completing a thesis on the Templars, a monastic knighthood disbanded in the 1300s for questionable practices. At Pilades Bar, he meets up with Jacopo Belbo, an editor of obscure texts at Garamond Press. Together with Belbo's colleague Diotallevi, they scrutinize the fantastic theories of a prospective author, Colonel Ardenti, who claims that for seven centuries the Templars have been carrying out a complex scheme of revenge. When Ardenti... read more --This text refers to the Hardcover edition. Book Description "As brilliant and quirky as THE NAME OF THE ROSE, as mischievous and wide-raning....A virtuoso performance." THE SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE Three clever book editors, inspired by an extraordinary fable they heard years befoe, decide to have a little fun. Randomly feeding esoteric bits of knowledge into an incredible computer capable of inventing connections between all their entires, they think they are creating a long lazy game--until the game starts taking over.... Here is an incredible journey of thought and history, memory and fantasy, a tour de force as enthralling as anything Umberto Eco--or indeed anyone--has ever devised.
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18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
As the three editors compile their information (originally only for a book on the history of metals), they research as wide a range of subject matter as can be imagined. They spend hours (or for Eco, pages) explaining histories of the Templar Knights, Rosicrucians, Masons, Jesuits, and every other secret society and conspiracy theory imaginable. Because they are convinced that every fact is somehow connected with every other fact, they recruit help from a rather unlikely source to make connections: Belbo's computer, Abulafia. Explaining history by connecting facts begins as a game until they start taking their "discoveries" too seriously. The outcome of their efforts follows naturally from their efforts. Although many readers have been dissatisfied by the slow pace of the book, Eco does a masterful job in making his own connections and observations from actual history. Without a doubt, such a masterpiece would be impossible without an encyclopedic grasp not only of the facts of history but also of its consequences. Several lessons may be appropriately learned from this great work as well. I will mention only one here: simply, we are reminded to be wary of every new idea that purports to explain what we see around us. Dozens of conspiracy theories and cults claim to offer the one explanation for what has happened and is happening in the history of the world. And there is no shortage of dupes who accept and follow such explanations. In Foucault's Pendulum even a computer program spitting out responses to men who are playing a game lead people astray. Theories are propounded still, which are deduced from equally silly methods. No, Eco's book is not for everyone. It moves slowly. The plot itself does not include much action. But in the end, those who persevere will be greatly rewarded.
18 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
This book is much more entertaining, in my opionion, than the Name of the Rose as it involves a much more clever interplay of various disciplines and is more than a mere murder mystery. As in the Name of the Rose, Eco introduces each chapter with writings in a variety of languages -- Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Spanish, etc. Unless you are particularly interested in ancient languages and obscure historical writings, it is safe to ignore these but for a general sense of flavor. It is also nearly impossible to actually follow all the details of the plot, which deals with a group of publishers who conceive of the idea to publish "writers" with far-out theories for a fee, only to find that some of the theories add-up to a great mystical conspiracy. Once I gave up trying to follow all the intricate details of the plot, I found the experience quite enjoyable. I'm looking forward to reading this book again to find all the things I missed the first time. Eco's depth and breadth of knowledge in so many areas is impressive. This man is definitely a genius. In short, this book is not for anyone who doesn't want to have to do a little work as it is neither a quick nor an easy read and the subject matter is fairly esoteric. But, oh, is it worth the effort.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
It would not benefit the reader of this review if I attempted to summarise Eco's literary accomplishments in "Foucault's Pendulum", in fact it would be a disservice; instead, suffice to say that the subject matter the book is concerned with (Templars, numerology, Mein Kampf, Galileo, Stonehenge, connections between cross temporal events) is in itself absorbing and add to that, Eco's unique and simply wonderful storytelling technique, the reader is in for a genuinely enthralling experience - I will not be surprised if this book finds its way onto the reading lists of students of the social and political sciences. It is by no means reserved for the conspiratorially inclined amongst us, although ostensibly, that is why it was recommended to me in the first place. You have the benefit of reading a basic summary of the plot below in other reviews and it would be imprudent to judge the book's capacity by what you read here. In telling the story of three book editors' search for the truth, Eco packs in a tremendous amount of intricate detail on a number of subjects. The Sunday Times described the book as "...encompassing everything you ever wanted to know about practically anything...", this claim is not as absurd as it may sound. Eco's learned accounts that follows every diversion in the book (and there are numerous) are guaranteed to leave you feeling fulfilled once you have completed the book. I successfully finished the book on my second attempt. Failure the first time around is attributable to attempting to keep pace with and investigate every single new revelation the book made. By the time I had made a dent in the book, several weeks had passed and I had finished three other books and visited numerous websites and also a Templar church near the Strand area. This was all in the course of reading the first 200 pages. At the beginning, I was compelled to refresh my understanding of "Simple Harmonic Motion" and the relevant differential equations which govern the motion of a pendulum. Readers will be fascinated by different aspects of the book, depending on their individual interests and experiences and will be interested by all others. If it piques the reader's curiosity, they may wish to independently investigate aspects of this book further. This, however tempting, does slow one down but is worth it, the information picked up along the way will make for good story telling around a fire. The key is to keep the pages turning and it will not be long before this becomes an effortless process. If you are a lawyer, charge the time you spend reading this to "knowledge management" or "general development". I might read it again, I suspect it's a bit like the God Father parts I & II - certain to notice things that I missed the first time around.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
This is an intellectual ride with a very high speed! This book is very demanding in terms of intricate prose, sophisticated language, and vocabulary and constant Latin, French, Italian, and German use of language and above all length. Don't be discouraged, you will be handsomely rewarded: Unbelievable amount of information of every kind, historical, theological, philosophical, artistic and literarty (well researched, verified, and accurate - unlike the less demanding neo-cultish/historical thrillers with half the length making fascinating connections trying to put 2 and 2 together and sacrificing accuracy in return. Don't waste your time in replicas, go for the original trend-setter. Mr. Eco - Chapeau!
The plot is very simple: three editors start making connections between all the secret societies ever heard of, famous conspiracy theories, mainstream and less mainstream religions, Pandora boxes of metaphysic fun... You get the idea. But don't expect the plot to evolve much in action. As a matter of fact, don't even expect a novel. Try picturing three Mulder's from the X-Files on crack for hundreds of pages. The book is a trip, a stream of words and ideas. Dare I compare it to Joyce's Finnegans Wake? Nah, but it's one of those things where you shouldn't stop at every word you can't understand (lots of those in the book, lots and lots of it). The knowledge is interesting and certainly worth digging further, but you can also enjoy it as what it is. Much, much better than the Da Vinci code...
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
"Foucault's Pendulum" is a book rich in history and deep in mystery. Even when you reach the end, you may not be entirely sure what just happened. And of course, considering the subject matter, that is entirely the point. The story centers around one Casaubon, a student writing a paper about the Knights Templar. By chance, he meets Jacopo Belbo, a book editor working for a small publisher in Milan. They strike up a fast friendship, and Casaubon shortly begins working for the same publisher, helping them to gather facts and imagery for a new series of books they are publishing. Casaubon, Belbo, and another editor named Diotallevi take a morbid interest in the subject matter of the many books that are brought to them. The prospective authors, who they call "the Diabolicals," present them with far-fetched ideas about global historical conspiracies and a centuries-old plot to somehow rule the world from the shadows. While each story is different, the three men can see common threads running through all of them, and on their own time they explore the idea further themselves, just for the fun of it. Using an early model of a word processor (celverly named Abulafia, after the Hebrew Kabbalah scholar), they begin borrowing random concepts from the work of the Diabolicals and stringing them together. They include other sources as well, just to mix it up a bit. What they discover is what they call the Plan, and it could be the most important conspiracy theory in the history of the modern world, involving the Rosicrucians, the Jewish Kabbalah, Masonic rituals, Napoleon, the Nazis, and of course at the center of it all, the Knights Templar, spanning over 600 years of European history... or, it could just be a huge coincidence. What makes "Foucault's Pendulum" such a great novel is not just how it strings the different pieces of the puzzle together (which it does masterfully), nor simply how it makes it whole idea so compelling (which it also does well), but how, simulataneously, it makes you question everything you're reading. Right up until the end (and even beyond), Eco keeps you guessing as to what is "real" and what is not. Where other authors, covering similar subjects, make the conclusions predictable or melodramatic, Eco manages to find a place where the reader is never really sure if what they're reading about is fact, fiction, or something in between. The conclusion is subtle, and leaves nagging doubts in the reader's mind. The history presented in the book is top-notch, and it's never presented in a way that is insulting or "dumbed down" for the reader. Many books like this tend to include long, painfully obvious passages of exposition, but with Eco one never feels like the information is being presented by sacrificing the story. He manages exposition quite well, and everything that is presented matches the needed context of story and the characters. The characters themselves have depth, and their dialogue never fails to make them real for the reader. I particularly enjoyed one part, early on, when the three new friends discuss a School of Comparative Irrelevance, a course of studies for useless or impossible subjects, such as "Urban Planning for Gypsies," "Morse Syntax," and "The Phonetics of the Silent Film." This passage served many purposes. On the surface level, it was extremely amusing. It also told the reader a great deal about each of the main characters in an efficient, transparent way. Finally, it serves as foreshadowing of the far broader and deeper invention these characters would soon be embarking upon. To accomplish so much in just a few pages of (primarily) dialogue is the mark of a gifted author. Through the course of the book Casaubon has many different experiences, both mystical and mundane. Abulafia becomes more than a simple word processor, it becomes a source of truth and another veil of mystery to be pulled aside. Belbo tries to reconcile his sardonic nature with the mystery they seem to be uncovering, trying to maintain a scholarly distance while becoming more and more entranced with the story beneath the stories they hear. And Diotallevi ties everything they learn in with his own beliefs, and what truth means to him. In the end, "Foucault's Pendulum" is a story about faith, and both the wonderful and terrible things a powerful belief can accomplish. It is also about how different people can take the same facts and each will interpret them in their own way, often wildly different from one another. Eco conveys his ideas via a compelling, original story, and in so doing makes we, the readers, think about what he has to say. It is not the facts themselves that are important, but only the connections we make between them. Perhaps, in the end, it is the interpretations, not the facts themselves, which shape beliefs... and therefore shape the events of history. "But I have come to believe that the whole world is an enigma, a harmless enigma that is made terrible by our own mad attempt to interpret it as though it had an underlying truth."
--This text refers to the Hardcover edition
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Connections, connections, connections, March 2, 2004
Oh so complex but very fun and clever, March 4, 2003
