This book was fun. It is nothing more than Foucault's Pendulum for dummies. It is short and to the point. Only briefly does Eco appear to go off on one of his tangents and bog us down with his normal descriptions of endless names and occurrences. But it is Eco and he gets a pass regardless. Conspiracy theories planted by the media is no new concept. But Eco shows us just how easy it is to bait the mindless readers of disposable media and its never-ending deceptions. ( )

Cerró con broche de oro. Yo pondría El péndulo de Foucault, El cementerio de Praga y ésta como "la trilogía de las conspiraciones y la desinformación". ( )

Ever wondered how news are made? How articles get selected and organized and why is it very difficult to find newspaper that will provide you with the facts and motivate you to learn more about subjects of interest? These days everything has bombastic headlines - sometimes not even related to articles - facts are there but in certain cases re-arranged to give somewhat different view on the event (and thus affect the perception). And of course everything needs to be a summary, even summary of summary - because people cannot get bored down with stuff they might not understand. News are made to fit people and as long people want simpler and simpler news these will get more and more summarized and simplified. Sounds scary doesn't it.

Now imagine a project to create the newspaper that could give you tomorrows' news today, could provide you with insights of what tomorrow could bring. And lets say this project starts by creating samples by looking into past events and reconstructing them using data known to have taken place after event but writing about it like they are yet to take place - so that these issues can be presented like demo version, or issues nr. 0. And imagine they make connections about some things from the past not meant to be connected.

Excellent book, highly recommended, it will make you laugh at times but most of all it will make you aware (hopefully) of how news get made and how to try to make sense of what is presented to you through media - always question and never take things for granted. ( )

Over a year ago, I started to read Umberto Eco's [b:Il pendolo di Foucault|218860|Il pendolo di Foucault|Umberto Eco|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1295369935s/218860.jpg|11221066] but I seem to be stuck at around two-thirds of it and can't get round to finishing it (not given up yet...). In the meantime, I came across Eco's last novel - Numero Zero - in its idiomatic English translation (by Richard Dixon) and completed it in a couple of days.

At first glance, the novel seems quite close in concept to Foucault's Pendulum. In the latter book, a group of three editors, inspired by their research into the occult, decide to cook up a work which connects the strands between various esoteric theories until fiction seems to take over. The plot of Numero Zero is built around a similar harebrained scheme.

We are in 1992 in Milan, at the time of Magistrate Antonio di Pietro's "Mani Pulite" investigation into political corruption and kickbacks. The hapless protagonist, failed writer Colonna, is recruited by one Simei to collaborate on a fledgling newspaper - "Domani". There's a twist though - Domani will never see the light of day. A team of journalists will prepare dummy issues - "number zero" - which will contain just enough innuendo and gossip to worry certain high-ranking individuals. The newspaper's financier - the mysterious "Commendatore" - plans to agree to "withdraw" the venture in return for entry to the Italian political inner sanctum. Trouble starts brewing when one of the journalists - Braggadocio - starts researching a piece on Mussolini, a story close to his heart. Braggadocio believes that Il Duce was not killed in 1945 and that he was spared death as part of a right-wing plot. According to the journalist, most of the "unexplained" episodes in recent Italian history, from Piazza Fontana to the mysterious death of Pope John Paul I are marked by the shadow of Mussolini. It all seems far-fetched, until Braggadocio is murdered and his theories do not seem so unbelievable after all.

As in most of his works (and not just his fiction), Eco explores the fine line between truth and falsehood, history and fiction, hence his penchant for drawing literary material from historical and contemporary conspiracies. Unlike in Foucault's Pendulum and, to a lesser extent, The Prague Cemetery, the occult does not feature. Through the voice of Braggadocio, Eco supplies us instead with an occasionally wearying list of political mysteries, allegations of cover-ups, and copious references to P2, Vatican scandals, politicians and terrorists. It sounds like one of the wilder broadcasts of Italian programme Chi l'ha Visto?. And as with this programme and others of its ilk, a judicious dose of historical fact in Braggadocio's theories make some of the crazier allegations moderately plausible. I can imagine Eco rubbing his hands in glee whilst piling conspiracies on each other.

So what is it that distinguishes this novel from others in Eco's oeuvre? For a start, it's lighter and leaner. At under 300 pages and with its snatches of humour and witty dialogue, it's a breeze of a read compared to Eco's earlier tomes, although admittedly there are some harder-going passages. On the other hand, the social satire is delivered less subtly than in other of his works. For "Commendatore" we can easily read "Cavaliere" (Berlusconi) and so we are meant to do. And when Simei embarks on a cynical description of media manipulation, it's as if Eco has taken the microphone.

This is by no means Eco's best work, but readers dazzled by "The Name of the Rose" who would like an introduction to his other books could do worse than pick up Numero Zero. At least they're less likely to get stuck halfway through as happened to me with Il Pendolo di Foucault...

3.5* ( )

Some good writing and humor, but kind of disappointing. I lot of the stuff that was supposed to be funny seemed pretty weak. Three and a half stars, I guess. ( )