History, mystery, fact, fiction, conspiracy theory, religion, love, and mythology all wrapped up into one long book. Sounds great, right? Not necessarily. Foucault's Pendulum is an average book. Although I'm fluent in French and am an avid linguist/etymologist, some of the foreign words were too much for me. This book is definitely not easy reading; it requires lots of concentration. ( )

It certainly held my interest, though I admit it took a bit to get into it.

Our narrator, Casaubon, is a doctoral student, preparing his dissertation on the Templars. His friends, Belbo and Diotallevi, work for a publisher who has a side business in vanity publishing. One day, a man calling himself Colonel Ardenti arrives with a manuscript, one in which he has, he says, decoded the truth about the Templars, a truth that says they are still extant, with a deep secret. Casaubon and the editors decide that they will prepare a manuscript of their own, on similar conspiratorial lines. They will gather up all sorts of bits from hermetic theories, Rosicrucianism, Brazilian voodoo, and any other odd ideas they can come up with, feed them all into a computer, and come up with a grand scheme. But it appears they may have accidentally stumbled upon the truth . . .

Complex, confusing, brilliant, intelligent, a splendid skewering of conspiracy theorists (I broke into loud laughter when, in the midst of medieval crusaders and Kabbalah, someone cries out, "I'a Cthulhu! I'a S'ha-t'n!") and an interesting mystery. Well worth the trouble.

Of equal parts esoteric, eclectic and equivocal “Foucault’s Pendulum” by Umberto Eco is truly an awe inspiring work. The sheer breadth and knowledge of Mr. Eco in this novel is both astounding and stupefying due to the sheer magnitude of the information presented as the plot of “The Plan” unfolds. I must have spent a majority of my time while reading “Foucault’s Pendulum” glued to the internet looking up translations, definitions and seemingly innocuous fragments of information. And while I did not enjoy Mr. Eco’s final conclusion the novel nevertheless left me breathless and my mind aching. ( )

After reading the first page of this novel about a dozen times, I knew that it was going to be tough going. I struggled through the first twenty or so pages, and then suddenly I began to find my way and the story opened out into an epic. I could only respect Eco's learning, and the way that he manipulates ideas and words around to suit his purpose. The plot is very interesting, and the characters profoundly human; I also found the novel unashamedly clever and erudite, which was very refreshing. It is one of the few books I have read that have made a truly lasting impression on me, and I am sure that I will revisit it again in the future. ( )

Fascinating read! ( )