Rating: 
Summary: why?
Review: This review reveals a bit of the ending, so don't read it if you don't want the ending spoiled. (Though by the time you get to the end you're just glad to be there).One of my (too many) hobbies is esoterica. So a book like this should have been a treat. I can follow more of the arcane references than the average reader, I reckon. But the book is all intellect and no imagination or soul. The plot is not interesting or believable. Nor are the characters. The characters don't even care about each other. (At the end, the narrator's best friend is hung by a group of theosophists and the narrator doesn't intervene or get upset but simly engages in abstract speculation.) Read it for the few chapters on the history of the templars, and for the overview of esoterica. But not for the plot, or the theme, or the characters, or for any other reason you normally read a book.
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Summary: absolutely astonishing...
Review: This book matches the best works of Hesse and Mann. It is thought provoking, funny, intelligent, and mysterious. It is great writing by a REAL writer.
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Summary: Fascinating and Mischeivous Book. Unputdownable!
Review: "Foucalt's Pendulum" is a unique piece of literature. Though Eco may be a Professor of Semiotics in Milan this book is essentially a piece of good fun whereby Eco pokes fun at the myriad of esoteric sects and beliefs based around the Templar Knights, Masons, Rosicrucians and assorted other groups, some real and some made up. For the majority of the book, however, he keeps us in a world where we actually believe the possibility of the strange and esoteric mysteries he spins. In doing so Eco walks the tightrope between farce and satire with some skill. Even as the book undermines credibility in the esoteric it also builds a fascination around it. The central exercise of this book, then, is to poke fun at those who believe in the illogical, the unlikely and the absurd. Many of the characters in this book are so conspiracy-focussed that they would paraphrase the old saying: "If it looks like a dog, walks like and dog and smells like a dog, it certainly can't be a dog". The results of this are fascinating and take the plot in some very surpirsing directions. This is a unique book, clever, well written, intellectually resonant and with an impish sense of fun. The effect of this is that it is totally unputdownable. I read this recently on holiday and became fascinated by it, even reading it when I woke up, before breakfast(!). Top marks also go to the translator who must have had to deal with some very unusual and difficult translation from the original Italian; Eco's sense of fun and cleverness shine through without a hint of awkwardness. Best book I've read for ages. You really should read it.
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Summary: The Role of the Reader shouldn't be to create the story.
Review: A publisher thinks authors who try to convey their own passion are fools; that it doesn't matter what you put in a book, people will draw their own conclusions from anything you throw together because humans need to see meaning where there is none. The publisher's conclusion being that you can make a good living by duping everybody. This is both the plot of the book and the intent of the author. An interesting duality that Eco must delight in. I, too, could be delighted if there was a bit of art rather than just correctness in the delivery. With one hundred pages of Umberto Ecco's book remaining, I may yet be surprised: There may still be character development. The very next page might hold a well turned phrase, an artful description, a crackling bit of dialog. The real characters may wake from a sleep induced by a long lecture in semiotics; one in which they dreamt the first 430 pages and now can get on with their real lives. But I doubt it. Bottom line for me is that I'm insulted. My first thought was that I had a bad translation; an international best seller wouldn't be such a chore to drag my eyes through. Even badly translated fiction, though, would have tangible characters and robust settings. "Foucault's Pendulum" has neither. What it does have is a tedious display of facts, some real, some not. Bits and pieces of titillating information about the Knights Templar, Rosicrucians, Freemasons; secrets that many readers will just love to believe. Are there any academics out there who will condemn a colleague? It seems not. The Chronicle of Higher Education recently ran an article about two brothers who managed to have meaningless text with false mathematical equations pass peer review to get published in a physics journal. That same spirit allows some to claim that "Foucault's Pendulum" is a work of genius. There may be layers. There may be knowledge of history. There is, however, no worthwhile story; nothing new to challenge a mind that hungrily observes the life around them. Like the lad who said the emperor is naked, I have to say this book stinks. Save your money, but more- save your time.
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Summary: Nothing is real but everything could be...
Review: Three editors go on a mental trek to rediscover and revise the history of the world based on the writtings of people who could be considered credible and others that could have zero credibility at all. As they do, they unravel a massive web of conspiracies orchestrated from the depths of history to the present day by innumerous secret societies and underground groups poised to control the world and take over. These "societies" often clashing amongst themselves and often figments of imagination of others (but how can we really know) take the three protagonists around the world as they search for more and more data to put together their story. And the more data that piles in the more the truth becomes a blur.
As the story spins, they, and we too, do not know which of their "facts" are real and which aren't. For some the devices are not available to test their authenticity, and for others, the suspicion lingers that strategically placed false information has been laid in their path to throw them off track.
But the worst element for the three investigators is the very real possibility that some of the "facts" could be mere inventions of their own brains! Thus, they constantly need to investigate themselves too to keep their story in check. But how easy, or rather, how feasible is that?
"Foucault's pendulum" is a book that spans over 650 pages, and a story that many people have found exhausting or even pointless. But if you had to attempt yourself to write a story with the outcome and the "moral" of this one then it would be very probable that you'd need a build-up as long and as "exhausting" as Ubmerto Eco here does.
Allthough i could agree with some that this incredible novel is at times "exhausting", i totally understand the need for its structure and length.
Eco deals with more than just a story here. The way we perceive reality and how we are sometimes led to perceive it is a topic that bears no borders. Which, probably explains why 100s of books have been written on the subject.
Is there a conspiracy by secret societies to control the world? Hmm, who are you to answer, and, if there is, why do you imagine that these "societies" would let you know? You are enlightened? Says who? And what if it's all in your brain? If it is indeed "all in your brain" how would you be able to know?
How much "knowledge" and how many "facts" rest in your cerebrum about which you cannot trace the track by which they got there? How much of the "history" you know and have been taught can you actually prove for yourself?
And even if you set out to prove it for yourself, could you?
How easy is it really to separate truth from lie? I say it's not that easy. And if it's not that easy, then, wouldnt those who hold power and know this too, try to use this little fact to their advantage?
Wouldn't they try to use that as a device to manipulate, brainwash, mislead and misguide, whole peoples for their dark goals? Common sense would dictate that yes, but then, if common sense is really "common" why is it so uncommon to begin with?
Hmm..
To cut a long story short, this is a tremendous book. Yes it demands your dedication, but for good reason. Yes, it might not be for everyone (and judging from other reviews i read) it obviously isn't but, so what? Good things are by definition not for everyone, especially in days like these where intraterrestrial intelligence is becoming more rare than the white eagle.
This incredible rollercoaster of a book takes you deep back with a time machine, thrusts you back...forward, plays with your mind, plays with its own mind, and climaxes in its last 100 pages to the question troubling us all:
what is real?
While you might attempt to think about it, excuse me while i go get paranoid.
Umberto Eco is without a doubt one of the sharpest thinkers of our time. But on second thought, who's to say??
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Summary: Is It Real Or Is It The Templar Plan?
Review: A theme running through all of Eco's novels is the ambiguity between text and reality. In _Foucault's Pendulum_, the "text" is a convoluted plan to do... something. Take over the world, maybe. This plan may have been hatched by the Templars, prior to their dissolution some seven hundred years ago. Or maybe the plan was entirely hatched by three editors in a publishing house, speculating on historical possibilities and arcane canards. Certainly, people around the editors act and react as if the plan had some substance, as if the goal of the plan were some object of incredible value. Value great enough to kill for. And so the book proceeds on two levels: the editors reconstruct history and the editors battle occult forces who may represent the partisans of the Templar plan, or who may believe that the editors are the Templars. For me, the most interesting part is the historical reconstruction -- among other things, it's a great parody of books like _The Hiram Key_. But the part narrative and the present narrative can't be separated that easily, and the whole is quite gripping. So it's not an ordinary whodunit and you shouldn't expect it to end like an ordinary whodunit. Eco is a great writer and an interesting thinker, and if you come without expectations of reading a pulpy thriller I think you'll really enjoy this book.
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Summary: A funny expose of the occult
Review: For those who believe or nearly believe that the world has been ruled by a secret group of benevolent (or maybe not) conspirators, you have got to read Foucault's Pendulum. The Knights Templar. Esoteric alchemy. The Priory of Sion. The Trilateral Commission. The Kennedy assassination. You will howl at Casaubon, Belbo, and Diotalevi as they roam through the looking glass and into the wonderland. In short, there ain't no such things as those above, and if they were, the bunch of nuts wouldn't be ruling anything. Eco is a student of James Joyce.
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Summary: It's all part of the Plan
Review: The first Eco book I'd read before this one was The Island of the Day Before and this one is so much better than I find it hard to believe the same person wrote both. The reason I wasn't so fond of the previous novel was because it felt more like an academic exercise than an actual book, I had no emotional connections to the characters, who felt more like mouthpieces for the author to debate what he thought were clever ideas. At that point I wondered what exactly people had thought so highly of this Eco guy. Then I finally read this book. Now I'm officially impressed. The sense of humanity that was sorely lacking from The Island of the Day Before is here in spades, as well as the dense academic stuff to keep all those scholar types happy. It doesn't hurt that there's an actual plot here, though be warned, the pacing is slooowwww. Most people have noted that the book starts out quickly enough, I think it starts too slow and the beginning, with its overly descriptive writing and rather ponderous imagery, nearly stopped the book dead for me. But once you get over the hurdle of the first few chapters and the book really starts getting into gear. The eventual premise is that a bunch of guys who are reading manuscripts on secret societies and hidden plots decide as a joke to try and connect it all . . . and then people start believing them. The novel successfully weaves the characters' lives into the academic threads and over the course of the many hundreds of pages the story alternates between minor character study and circus quality academic feats. The middle portion is what most people have trouble with, once the characters start trying to invent their Plan, the book turns into a lot of historical discourse, some of which may or may not be true . . . I didn't care either way and enjoyed just watching the characters make all the connections, since I wasn't reading the book for a history lesson, no matter how well Eco knows his stuff. But when the book dispenses finally with the bulk of the Plan and gets back into a plot of sorts, it becomes almost suspenseful and highly entertaining and by the end, even extremely moving. Eco's writing can take some getting used to, most of the time his prose is more clever than poetic but it's highly readable for the most part and once in a while he pulls some surprisingly beautiful passages out. The choppy structure of the novel helps too, the short chapters breaking the story up nicely and forcing the reader to digest the story is gigantic chunks of text at a time. So I'm finally starting to see why everyone thinks this guy is so great, if you're not obsessed with fact checking all the historical details and are just along for the ride, this book can be great fun (the dialogue is fairly witty and Belbo's password made me laugh out loud for several minutes) and will read faster than you might think of a book this size. And they say The Name of the Rose is better. Should be fun. But for those who like their books dense and heaped with historical detail, then this is quite recommended.
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Summary: moby dickish
Review: It was almost a chore to get through the middle portion of this book; lots of extra detail and happenings that are far from what I'd consider important to the overall plot. The end was very anticlimactic. Nonetheless, the story concept was very interesting. After having the same kind of reaction to the Illuminatis trilogy, I think if you liked them, you'd like this book, though this book is a little more realistic, as far as world domination conspiracies go.
I don't plan to read another Eco book.
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Summary: Spirit and Science...
Review: Foucault's Pendulum is not an easy read, but it is a gratifying venture for those willing to resist the seduction of the artificial separation of science and spirit to which modern Westerners have become addicted in the last 200 years.
Eco ostensibly weaves his story within the matrix of the Kabbalah-an ancient Jewish mysticism which seeks to reconcile all aspects of human experience through the study of the energies which inspire them. The chapter headings themselves are indicators of specific mystical concepts. Upon first inspection, the reader may fail to grasp this correspondence between Eco's story and Jewish mysticism.
Indeed, a familiarity with the Kabbalah may help one to better appreciate Eco's juxtaposition of the skeptical mechanism of the scientific Jean Bernard Leon Foucault and the elegance of thought displayed by the more contemporary philosopher Michel Foucault. The cosmology of Foucault's Pendulum is an amalgamation of time and mind which is informed by the vision of both Foucaults.
It is not necessary, however, for the reader to carry out in-depth research to appreciate Foucault's Pendulum. While it does allude to an arcane Jewish mysticism, Eco's story must stand on its own-even for the reader for whom the beliefs are unfamiliar.
Eco's writing style is intricate, and his ideas complex. He uses this to great effect in presenting a world which is neither simple nor straightforward, creating a story which is challenging and vivid. Eco skillfully reconciles the mystical world with the scientific, and indeed creates a world in which the artificial distinction ceases to exist. Eco's Pendulum forces one into the nascent space there at the apex of the pendulum's swing...
...and invites one to figure out how to live there.
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