Foucault's Pendulum
by Umberto Eco
On This Page
Description
Bored with their work, three Milanese editors cook up "the Plan," a hoax that connects the medieval Knights Templar with other occult groups from ancient to modern times. This produces a map indicating the geographical point from which all the powers of the earth can be controlled-a point located in Paris, France, at Foucault's Pendulum. But in a fateful turn the joke becomes all too real, and when occult groups, including Satanists, get wind of the Plan, they go so far as to kill one of the show more editors in their quest to gain control of the earth. Orchestrating these and other diverse characters into his multilayered semiotic adventure, Eco has created a superb cerebral entertainment. show lessTags
Recommendations
Member Recommendations
P_S_Patrick These books have a fair bit in common. They are both intense and thrilling mysteries, involving the occult, conspiracies, books, murders, and are both set mainly in Europe. What The Club Dumas does, Foucalt's Pendulum does better, but that is just my opinion. I have known people give up on reading Foucalt's Pendulum because of its length, its abundance of complicated detail, and its demands on the readers concentration, but any serious reader who enjoyed the Club Dumas should enjoy this more. Anyone who enjoyed Eco's story, likewise, should enjoy the other book, but don't expect it to be quite as good, though I don't think there is a surplus of work in this genre that can compare, with this being more or less the next best thing that I have read.
Also recommended by stephaniefeldman, Sensei-CRS
225
bookmomo Two brilliant conspiracy stories, with heaps of secrets and scret societies, wicked or plain mad characters. Both well written.
92
freddlerabbit See the Name of the Rose recommendation above - I find Foucault's even more analogous here because Name of the Rose is a bit more plot-driven than the other two, where Foucault's and Anathem both have as much as 40% pure theory-disguised-as-dialogue.
32
ursula Alamut tells the story of the assassins of the Alamut fortress reference in Foucault's Pendulum. It also has a philosophical bent that will probably appeal.
billmcn The best paranoid alternate history novel ever written. Also the best novel ever written.
45
ehines A good primer on a lot of the conspiracy theories that drive this book.
P_S_Patrick These two books have a fair bit in common. Both are dense, demanding, historical, and are thick with intrigue, conspiracy, and foul play. Thrilling stuff.
24
PghDragonMan Numerology, arcane science, secret societies and foreign languages bind these two works together.
14
Farringdon Umberto Eco is essentially an up-market Dan Brown
Also recommended by hankreardon
15
Member Reviews
This is a fascinating literary mystery that takes the reader through the creation of an elaborate hoax. After speaking with an eccentric man who tells them a bizarre story involving the Knights Templar, three editors of a small Milanee press, Belbo, Casaubon, and Diotallevi, decide to entertain themselves by concocting an intricate theory of their own, which they call the “Plan.” Their version includes details from the Knights Templar, Rosicrucianism, occult groups, mythology, alchemy, literature, medieval history, and events of World War II. It also involves the creation of a map indicating a geographical point (the titular Foucault’s Pendulum) from which the earth’s (supposed) powers can be controlled.
The novel opens as show more Casaubon is in a difficult situation, worried about his safety, since their theory has taken on a life of its own, and the various groups they inserted into their theory believe (or at least say they believe) it is real, putting the lives of the editors in danger. Much of the novel is told in flashback by Casaubon, relating how he got into this tight spot. His narrative portrays the editors’ increasing obsession with their creation to the point that they find themselves entangled in a web of secret societies and a growing paranoia (or is it?).
I really enjoyed this cerebral mystery. The writing is exquisite and includes plenty of satiric humor. The story drew me right in and kept me wondering what else they could throw into this intricate “Plan” and somehow justify its inclusion. It is a labyrinthine tale that takes the reader on a wild mental ride. It examines the nature of knowledge and beliefs, and the line between reality and illusion. It goes right to the core of the human psyche and is certainly relevant in today’s world. I could totally buy into this type of thing happening. Just don’t tell the current conspiracy theorists about this book.
4.5 show less
The novel opens as show more Casaubon is in a difficult situation, worried about his safety, since their theory has taken on a life of its own, and the various groups they inserted into their theory believe (or at least say they believe) it is real, putting the lives of the editors in danger. Much of the novel is told in flashback by Casaubon, relating how he got into this tight spot. His narrative portrays the editors’ increasing obsession with their creation to the point that they find themselves entangled in a web of secret societies and a growing paranoia (or is it?).
I really enjoyed this cerebral mystery. The writing is exquisite and includes plenty of satiric humor. The story drew me right in and kept me wondering what else they could throw into this intricate “Plan” and somehow justify its inclusion. It is a labyrinthine tale that takes the reader on a wild mental ride. It examines the nature of knowledge and beliefs, and the line between reality and illusion. It goes right to the core of the human psyche and is certainly relevant in today’s world. I could totally buy into this type of thing happening. Just don’t tell the current conspiracy theorists about this book.
4.5 show less
Eco presupposes whatever information available to a person at any point in time is open to multiple valid interpretations. This is true both of a small number of facts and an archive of complex detail. Certain characters evidently do not see the world quite the same way, leaving themselves vulnerable to all manner of conspiracy theory, and the consequences of treating such conspiracies as true. Perhaps more interesting, even characters who begin from Eco's cautionary position eventually prove vulnerable despite -- or because of -- their intent to manipulate their gullible peers.
Eco's byzantine plot explores conspiracy theories historically and psychologically through various machinations, diversions, and escalating fear of and among show more characters. Connections and confusion proliferate as more historical events are considered, by characters and reader. Eco further implicates the reader in employing various literary devices and historical allusions within his descriptions of character and plot. (LTer Grunin provides a succinct and vivid example, but instances are legion: "This book deliberately messes with your head.") The character of Gudrun seems to offer an alternative to the unfounded conspiracy and paranoia on display: along with hermeneutic intent, a person does well in bringing a certain psychological outlook to bear.
This re-reading was prompted both by fond (admittedly vague) memories of a solid historical summary of the Knights Templar, and curiosity as to whether Eco's theme would shed light on our prevailing culture of disinformation and antifoundationalism. I also held out hope Eco may have treated of esoteric traditions beyond the Templar, as well, which I had simply forgotten since my first reading: perhaps Freemasonry, Ordo Templi Orientis, Golden Dawn, Thelema? Foucault's Pendulum did not disappoint. show less
Eco's byzantine plot explores conspiracy theories historically and psychologically through various machinations, diversions, and escalating fear of and among show more characters. Connections and confusion proliferate as more historical events are considered, by characters and reader. Eco further implicates the reader in employing various literary devices and historical allusions within his descriptions of character and plot. (LTer Grunin provides a succinct and vivid example, but instances are legion: "This book deliberately messes with your head.") The character of Gudrun seems to offer an alternative to the unfounded conspiracy and paranoia on display: along with hermeneutic intent, a person does well in bringing a certain psychological outlook to bear.
This re-reading was prompted both by fond (admittedly vague) memories of a solid historical summary of the Knights Templar, and curiosity as to whether Eco's theme would shed light on our prevailing culture of disinformation and antifoundationalism. I also held out hope Eco may have treated of esoteric traditions beyond the Templar, as well, which I had simply forgotten since my first reading: perhaps Freemasonry, Ordo Templi Orientis, Golden Dawn, Thelema? Foucault's Pendulum did not disappoint. show less
This was my first Eco book. It won't be my last.
I usually lose patience quickly when an author has a proclivity to use two, three - even four analogies where one is sufficient. Not so with this book. The analogies are so clever - and cleverly delivered - that I barely noticed I was being pestered by one of my pet peeves. Even after realizing it, I still was not bothered all that much. Strange, that.
Eco is a very wordy writer who, at the same time manages to drive the plot forward while painting immense pictures with words. The translation from Italian to English must have been a monumental task as the prose is dense and the sheer amount of cryptic references is staggering. While I'm sure some parts must have suffered due to translation, show more I found the text eminently readable. Anyway, on to the story...
Imagine that you work at a publishing house in Milan as a researcher. Now, imagine that, previous to being hired into this position, you wrote your doctoral thesis on the Knights Templar, thereby making you somewhat of an expert on the subject. Imagine further that your little publishing house is constantly beset by crackpot wanna-be authors who are looking to publish their personal crack-pot theories about the Knights Templar, the Rosicrucians, the Jesuits, the Jews, the Illuminati, the Catholics, the Nazis, the Masons, the Muslims, and... oh yes! The Masters of the World, who live underground, (naturally!)
So one night, after a long day at the office researching compounds for books on metallurgy, you are sitting around with a couple of your co-workers at the local watering hole discussing these crack-pot authors, (whom you have dubbed 'Diabolicals' - smirk!), when you hit upon an idea; you and your friends will write 'The Plan'! You will create a cohesive, all- encompassing plot that ties together all known conspiracy theories into a single unified plot! This plot will explain, once and for all, what all these mysterious secret groups have been up to all these centuries. To help with this task you enlist the aid of a strange, urbane old fellow named Agliè who is extremely knowledgeable about the occult and who likes to imply that he is the Comte de Saint-Germain, living in perpetuity and assuming new identities as the previous ones, (ahem), outlive their usefulness. But I digress...
As you and your friends obsessively enter historical details of 'The Plan' into your computer, (which is compiling all the data and turning it into 'The Plan' by finding conflicts in your data), you realize that the original Templar plan, (you know, the one that you are creating), went awry due to some mismanaged numerology. This led to one splinter group of Templars missing their meeting with another splinter group of Templars, which led to various and sundry shadowy organizations meandering around in the dark trying to figure out how to get back on track. When they catch wind of 'The Plan', these shadowy groups begin to pursue you and your friends in order to wring the final key to mastery of the world from you! Verily, your hoax is become like The Great Worm Ouroboros, eating it's own tail.
Oh, and everything of course hinges on the pendulum.
I liked this book despite the wordy 640-page length. I liked it despite Eco's insistence on lengthy descriptions. I liked it despite - and because of - the 'kitchen sink' approach that included just about every secret organization and conspiracy theory ever dreamed up. I loved this book for the humor and education it bestows. With that said, Focault's Pendulum is not for everyone. Many people will likely find it dry and tedious. I found it funny and entertaining in many parts. Downbeat and sad in others. One thing most readers will probably agree on - love it or hate it, Eco writes some extremely well-researched material and the depth of his historical knowledge is incredible.
If you're not sure, give it a try. Don't give up too soon but, if you're not having a good time by around page 200 or so, this book might not be for you. show less
I usually lose patience quickly when an author has a proclivity to use two, three - even four analogies where one is sufficient. Not so with this book. The analogies are so clever - and cleverly delivered - that I barely noticed I was being pestered by one of my pet peeves. Even after realizing it, I still was not bothered all that much. Strange, that.
Eco is a very wordy writer who, at the same time manages to drive the plot forward while painting immense pictures with words. The translation from Italian to English must have been a monumental task as the prose is dense and the sheer amount of cryptic references is staggering. While I'm sure some parts must have suffered due to translation, show more I found the text eminently readable. Anyway, on to the story...
Imagine that you work at a publishing house in Milan as a researcher. Now, imagine that, previous to being hired into this position, you wrote your doctoral thesis on the Knights Templar, thereby making you somewhat of an expert on the subject. Imagine further that your little publishing house is constantly beset by crackpot wanna-be authors who are looking to publish their personal crack-pot theories about the Knights Templar, the Rosicrucians, the Jesuits, the Jews, the Illuminati, the Catholics, the Nazis, the Masons, the Muslims, and... oh yes! The Masters of the World, who live underground, (naturally!)
So one night, after a long day at the office researching compounds for books on metallurgy, you are sitting around with a couple of your co-workers at the local watering hole discussing these crack-pot authors, (whom you have dubbed 'Diabolicals' - smirk!), when you hit upon an idea; you and your friends will write 'The Plan'! You will create a cohesive, all- encompassing plot that ties together all known conspiracy theories into a single unified plot! This plot will explain, once and for all, what all these mysterious secret groups have been up to all these centuries. To help with this task you enlist the aid of a strange, urbane old fellow named Agliè who is extremely knowledgeable about the occult and who likes to imply that he is the Comte de Saint-Germain, living in perpetuity and assuming new identities as the previous ones, (ahem), outlive their usefulness. But I digress...
As you and your friends obsessively enter historical details of 'The Plan' into your computer, (which is compiling all the data and turning it into 'The Plan' by finding conflicts in your data), you realize that the original Templar plan, (you know, the one that you are creating), went awry due to some mismanaged numerology. This led to one splinter group of Templars missing their meeting with another splinter group of Templars, which led to various and sundry shadowy organizations meandering around in the dark trying to figure out how to get back on track. When they catch wind of 'The Plan', these shadowy groups begin to pursue you and your friends in order to wring the final key to mastery of the world from you! Verily, your hoax is become like The Great Worm Ouroboros, eating it's own tail.
Oh, and everything of course hinges on the pendulum.
I liked this book despite the wordy 640-page length. I liked it despite Eco's insistence on lengthy descriptions. I liked it despite - and because of - the 'kitchen sink' approach that included just about every secret organization and conspiracy theory ever dreamed up. I loved this book for the humor and education it bestows. With that said, Focault's Pendulum is not for everyone. Many people will likely find it dry and tedious. I found it funny and entertaining in many parts. Downbeat and sad in others. One thing most readers will probably agree on - love it or hate it, Eco writes some extremely well-researched material and the depth of his historical knowledge is incredible.
If you're not sure, give it a try. Don't give up too soon but, if you're not having a good time by around page 200 or so, this book might not be for you. show less
This is my favorite Umberto Eco story. Three friends come up with a ridiculous theory that starts leading its own life. Even better: it starts dictating reality instead of the other way around. In the end everyone seems to have become a fool in a non-existent plot to change history. Written well before the Dan Brown cr@p, yet a perfect way to ridicule the complete batch of “stooopid worldwide plot” books.
"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." (pg. 95)
When I was growing up in the Nineties, I loved the Broken Sword video game (and still do), which can best be described as a more fun and charming, interactive version of The Da Vinci Code (which wasn't yet a thing). The two shared the same source material, The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, about a Knights Templar conspiracy concerning Mary Magdalene. All very entertaining, if junky, stuff.
But the Broken Sword version of the myth also had another source, which perhaps accounts for its less credulous take on Templar occultism and the fact that – graphics show more aside – it has aged very well. Right down to the suitcase bomb (pg. 556), that source was Umberto Eco's book Foucault's Pendulum, a dense, erudite adventure with a masterly use of satirical logic and irony. If Broken Sword was a more charming and fun Da Vinci Code, then Foucault's Pendulum is as if The Da Vinci Code had been written by Nabokov.
The book follows three academically-inclined men who run a vanity press in Milan. Tired of reading countless manuscripts about occult conspiracies (Knights Templar, secret societies, pyramids, Atlantis, etc.), they decide – merely as a parlour game – to create one of their own, establishing connections at random using a computer program and devising pseudo-academic extrapolations as to their hidden meaning. Finding "occult links between… cabala and the spark plugs of a car," as one of them puts it on page 377. However, they all start to become rather worried as 'the Plan' increasingly makes sense the more they add to it, and what is more, it begins to attract the attention of some rather shady people. "There exists a secret society with branches throughout the world, and its plot is to spread the rumour that a universal plot exists" (pg. 317). After all, "what better hiding place for the true Templar than in the crowd of his caricatures?" (pg. 355)
It is, as you might imagine, a magnificent satire of that great number of too-earnest occultists, numerologists and conspiracy theorists who see Masonic iconography everywhere, even in their sleep. But Eco also has his cake and eats it too: this 'hidden hand' stuff is box-office (as The Da Vinci Code was to prove) and it is very entertaining to join Eco and immerse yourself in Templar myth, hollow earth theories, and the labyrinthine Parisian sewer system (not literally, of course). Early on in the book, the narrator – trying to guess a password to access his missing friend's computer – spends a chapter unpacking all the various combinations and spellings of the word 'Yahweh', only for the password to turn out to be something trivial and unconnected (pg. 42). The book is thickly adorned with academic digressions and miscellanea of this nature, in order to give authenticity to the satire; you'll have to decide if that kind of humour is for you.
It certainly was for me. Not only do I love conspiracy theory (in a sort of fun, detached, spooky ghost story kind of way), and have a great nostalgic love for Broken Sword and Indiana Jones and anything of that nature, but I've also been needing a reading tonic lately. I've been thirsting for a high-brow, intellectually stimulating, but also fun and readable novel to really sink my teeth into – preferably an adventure story – and Umberto Eco provided this and more. This is top-tier. "Why involve yourself in a story that was imaginary and that didn't concern you anyway?", our narrator asks on page 569. Because we love stories, particularly stories like this, and all the more so when they're so well done. We can't get enough of them. show less
When I was growing up in the Nineties, I loved the Broken Sword video game (and still do), which can best be described as a more fun and charming, interactive version of The Da Vinci Code (which wasn't yet a thing). The two shared the same source material, The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, about a Knights Templar conspiracy concerning Mary Magdalene. All very entertaining, if junky, stuff.
But the Broken Sword version of the myth also had another source, which perhaps accounts for its less credulous take on Templar occultism and the fact that – graphics show more aside – it has aged very well. Right down to the suitcase bomb (pg. 556), that source was Umberto Eco's book Foucault's Pendulum, a dense, erudite adventure with a masterly use of satirical logic and irony. If Broken Sword was a more charming and fun Da Vinci Code, then Foucault's Pendulum is as if The Da Vinci Code had been written by Nabokov.
The book follows three academically-inclined men who run a vanity press in Milan. Tired of reading countless manuscripts about occult conspiracies (Knights Templar, secret societies, pyramids, Atlantis, etc.), they decide – merely as a parlour game – to create one of their own, establishing connections at random using a computer program and devising pseudo-academic extrapolations as to their hidden meaning. Finding "occult links between… cabala and the spark plugs of a car," as one of them puts it on page 377. However, they all start to become rather worried as 'the Plan' increasingly makes sense the more they add to it, and what is more, it begins to attract the attention of some rather shady people. "There exists a secret society with branches throughout the world, and its plot is to spread the rumour that a universal plot exists" (pg. 317). After all, "what better hiding place for the true Templar than in the crowd of his caricatures?" (pg. 355)
It is, as you might imagine, a magnificent satire of that great number of too-earnest occultists, numerologists and conspiracy theorists who see Masonic iconography everywhere, even in their sleep. But Eco also has his cake and eats it too: this 'hidden hand' stuff is box-office (as The Da Vinci Code was to prove) and it is very entertaining to join Eco and immerse yourself in Templar myth, hollow earth theories, and the labyrinthine Parisian sewer system (not literally, of course). Early on in the book, the narrator – trying to guess a password to access his missing friend's computer – spends a chapter unpacking all the various combinations and spellings of the word 'Yahweh', only for the password to turn out to be something trivial and unconnected (pg. 42). The book is thickly adorned with academic digressions and miscellanea of this nature, in order to give authenticity to the satire; you'll have to decide if that kind of humour is for you.
It certainly was for me. Not only do I love conspiracy theory (in a sort of fun, detached, spooky ghost story kind of way), and have a great nostalgic love for Broken Sword and Indiana Jones and anything of that nature, but I've also been needing a reading tonic lately. I've been thirsting for a high-brow, intellectually stimulating, but also fun and readable novel to really sink my teeth into – preferably an adventure story – and Umberto Eco provided this and more. This is top-tier. "Why involve yourself in a story that was imaginary and that didn't concern you anyway?", our narrator asks on page 569. Because we love stories, particularly stories like this, and all the more so when they're so well done. We can't get enough of them. show less
It's only taken me ... well, several months longer than I would care to admit to... to finish this book. And having now waded through all 623 pages of it, I can firmly state that it is one of the biggest exercises in intellectual onanism that it has ever been my misfortune to read. Self-indulgent, boring, incoherent and eminently unlikeable—Eco is clearly a learned person, but his ego is in even greater evidence here than his intellect.
Speaking as a medievalist, there is also one enormous plot hole: at least one of the main characters has a doctorate in medieval history, but is lacking in the basic palaeographical skills required to understand the difference between 'p' and the symbols for 'per' and 'pro'? This is a mistake on which show more a large chunk of the book turns, by the way. I almost threw the damn thing at the wall when I realised that. Avoid. show less
Speaking as a medievalist, there is also one enormous plot hole: at least one of the main characters has a doctorate in medieval history, but is lacking in the basic palaeographical skills required to understand the difference between 'p' and the symbols for 'per' and 'pro'? This is a mistake on which show more a large chunk of the book turns, by the way. I almost threw the damn thing at the wall when I realised that. Avoid. show less
Three employees of a small publishing house are commissioned to write a book detailing a conspiracy by a group known as the Rosicrucians, who are seeking the Umbilicus Mundi with which they can control the world. It sounds ridiculous, and they take it as a joke, compiling all the historical arcana they can with little concern for accuracy. But the pieces of the puzzle keep falling into place a little *too* neatly, and the three begin to wonder that maybe the Plan actually exists.
Umberto Eco must be a brilliant, brilliant man; Foucault's Pendulum is chock-full of all sorts of historical details and allusions that I'm sure I missed plenty of. I would *love* a good annotated version of this, but it's really accessible even without a show more background in medieval history (or conspiracy theories). Eco manages to be intellectual and also let the reader play along; I never felt like I was in over my head. It's a gripping and suspenseful (and often very funny) novel the whole way through, and a great read show less
Umberto Eco must be a brilliant, brilliant man; Foucault's Pendulum is chock-full of all sorts of historical details and allusions that I'm sure I missed plenty of. I would *love* a good annotated version of this, but it's really accessible even without a show more background in medieval history (or conspiracy theories). Eco manages to be intellectual and also let the reader play along; I never felt like I was in over my head. It's a gripping and suspenseful (and often very funny) novel the whole way through, and a great read show less
Members
- Recently Added By
Published Reviews
ThingScore 75
Umberto Eco has launched a novel that is even more intricate and absorbing than his international best seller The Name of the Rose. Unlike its predecessor, Foucault's Pendulum does not restrict its range of interests to monastic, medieval arcana. This time Eco's framework is vast -- capacious enough to embrace reams of ancient, abstruse writings and a host of contemporary references or show more allusions...
True believers, skeptics, those waffling in between: all are in for a scarifying shock of recognition. show less
True believers, skeptics, those waffling in between: all are in for a scarifying shock of recognition. show less
added by Shortride
You may call the book an intellectual triumph, if not a fictional one. No man should know so much. It is the work not of a literary man but of one who accepts the democracy of signs. .... To see what Mr. Eco is really getting at, the reader of his fiction or pseudofiction should consult his scholarly works, where observation and interpretation are not disguised as entertainment. I don't think show more ''Foucault's Pendulum'' is entertainment any more than was ''The Name of the Rose.'' It will appeal to readers who have a puritanical tinge - those who think they are vaguely sinning if they are having a good time with a book. To be informed, however, is holy. show less
added by Aerrin99
I doubt if we will see a more exhilarating novel published this year, and you don't have to take a reviewer's word for it: can 600,000 Italians be wrong?
added by qball56k
Lists
1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die
1,448 works; 1,131 members
The Guardian's 1000 Novels Everyone Must Read
1,005 works; 546 members
Best books about books
209 works; 106 members
Favorite Long Books
330 works; 42 members
20th Century Literature
1,161 works; 55 members
Italian Literature
556 works; 41 members
Recommend the 20 best books you've read in the last five years
2,167 works; 606 members
Favourite Books
1,817 works; 309 members
Historical Fiction
889 works; 89 members
Books Set in Italy
167 works; 19 members
Magic Realism
371 works; 51 members
Folio Society
831 works; 53 members
EU Fiction: 1950-2022
223 works; 68 members
Crime and Mysteries to Read
746 works; 31 members
Unreliable Narrators
170 works; 43 members
Blue Pyramid 1,276 Best Books of All Time
1,248 works; 32 members
Experimental Literature
141 works; 17 members
Five star books
1,755 works; 107 members
Top Five Books of 2015
811 works; 240 members
Books Read in 2014
2,341 works; 89 members
LibraryThingers' 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die
442 works; 30 members
1,001 BYMRBYD Concensus
723 works; 27 members
Most difficult novels
68 works; 27 members
Books tagged favorites
390 works; 30 members
Speculative Fiction from around the World
610 works; 17 members
Books Read in 2016
4,666 works; 197 members
SHOULD Read Books!
354 works; 9 members
Literature in Translation
113 works; 5 members
Speculative Fiction to Read
706 works; 32 members
Fiction: Historical
288 works; 3 members
Biblio-Mysteries
6 works; 4 members
Books Read in 2024
4,623 works; 126 members
Hilos Invisibles: Sincronicidad y el Azar en la Literatura
12 works; 1 member
Books We Want To Read Again For The First Time
384 works; 160 members
Books That Changed Our Perspective
423 works; 166 members
Retrospective of 20th- and 21st-century literature
154 works; 1 member
Cult Classics
30 works; 1 member
Favorite Books in Translation
320 works; 133 members
2024
34 works; 1 member
Books translated from Romance Languages into English
102 works; 6 members
Books We Love to Reread
688 works; 296 members
Cryptology - non-fiction and fiction
57 works; 4 members
Secret Histories
28 works; 8 members
My TBR
371 works; 3 members
Fiction for Readers Who Love Science and Math
57 works; 15 members
I Can't Finish This Book
189 works; 22 members
Unread books
1,063 works; 86 members
Author Information
500+ Works 114,991 Members
Umberto Eco was born in Alessandria, Italy on January 5, 1932. He received a doctorate of philosophy from the University of Turin in 1954. His first book, Il Problema Estetico in San Tommaso, was an extension of his doctoral thesis on St. Thomas Aquinas and was published in 1956. His first novel, The Name of the Rose, was published in 1980 and won show more the Premio Strega and the Premio Anghiar awards in 1981. In 1986, it was adapted into a movie starring Sean Connery. His other works include Foucault's Pendulum, The Island of the Day Before, Baudolino, The Prague Cemetery, and Numero Zero. He also wrote children's books and more than 20 nonfiction books including Serendipities: Language and Lunacy. He taught philosophy and then semiotics at the University of Bologna. He also wrote weekly columns on popular culture and politics for L'Espresso. He died from cancer on February 19, 2016 at the age of 84. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Some Editions
Awards and Honors
Awards
Notable Lists
Series
Belongs to Publisher Series
Work Relationships
Is contained in
Contains
Has the adaptation
Inspired
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Foucault's Pendulum
- Original title
- Il pendolo di Foucault
- Original publication date
- 1988 (original Italian) (original Italian); 1989 (English translation) (English translation)
- People/Characters
- Jacopo Belbo; Casaubon; Diotallevi; Gudrun; Lia; Dolores (show all 19); Sandra; Amparo; Colonel Ardenti; Inspector De Angelis; Annunziata; Signor Agliè; Professor Bramanti; Signora Grazia; Signor Garamond; Commendatore De Gubernatis; Professor Camastres; Riccardo; Signor Salon
- Important places
- Milan, Lombardy, Italy; Paris, France; Musée des Arts et Métiers, Paris, France; Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil; Salvador, Bahia, Brazil; Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (show all 8); Schwabing, Munich, Bavaria, Germany; Tomar, Portugal
- Epigraph
- Only for you, children of doctrine and learning, have we written this work. Examine this book, ponder the meaning we have dispersed in various places and gathered again; what we have concealed in one place we have disclosed i... (show all)n another, that it may be understood by your wisdom.
—Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim, De occulta philosophia, 3, 65
Superstition brings bad luck.
—Raymond Smullyan, 5000 B.C. 1.3.8 - First words
- That was when I saw the Pendulum.
- Quotations
- I am not for one moment denying the presence in your house of alien entities; it's the most natural thing in the world, but with a little common sense it could all be explained as a poltergeist.
It was becoming harder for me to keep apart the world of magic and what today we call the world of facts. Men I had studied in school as bearers of mathematical and physical enlightenment now turned up amid the murk of supers... (show all)tition, for I discovered they had worked with one foot in cabala and the other in the laboratory. - Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)It's so beautiful.
- Blurbers
- Burgess, Anthony
- Original language
- Italian
- Canonical DDC/MDS
- 853.914
- Canonical LCC
- PQ4865.C6
- Disambiguation notice
- ISBN 9781593972165 is an abridged audiobook edition of Foucault's Pendulum narrated by Tim Curry. It is 6 hours and 38 minutes long which is approximately only 1/3rd of the original work. This edition should not be combined ... (show all)with unabridged editions of Foucault's Pendulum. Thank you.
Classifications
- Genres
- Fiction and Literature, General Fiction, Historical Fiction, Mystery
- DDC/MDS
- 853.914 — Literature & rhetoric Italian, Romanian & related literatures Italian fiction 1900- 20th Century 1945-1999
- LCC
- PQ4865 .C6 — Language and Literature French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese literatures Italian literature Individual authors, 1961-2000
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 19,085
- Popularity
- 314
- Reviews
- 272
- Rating
- (3.88)
- Languages
- 31 — Bulgarian, Catalan, Chinese, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, Norwegian (Bokmål), Norwegian, Polish, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish, Portuguese (Brazil)
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 174
- ASINs
- 98