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Conference noted::sf

Title:Arcana Caelestia
Notice:Directory listings are in topic 2
Moderator:NETRIX::thomas
Created:Thu Dec 08 1983
Last Modified:Thu Jun 05 1997
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:1300
Total number of notes:18728

942.0. "Eco's Foucault's Pendulum" by QUASER::JOHNSTON (LegitimateSportingPurpose?E.S.A.D.!) Tue Jan 08 1991 14:17

Has anyone read Foucault's Pendulum?
I just got it.
The premise seemed `science fictiony'.

I was about half in the bag when I started it... read the first page, 
and couldn't figure out what the hell I had just read. So I read it
again and started laughing. Then I shut off the light and went to sleep.
I have the impression that this is one of those books that had better be
read completely sober, with no attempts made to `skim'.

Any reviews available?

Mike JN
T.RTitleUserPersonal
Name
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942.1Too much like real literatureSNDPIT::SMITHSmoking -> global warming! :+)Tue Jan 08 1991 20:097
    I started to read it (my wife gave me it for Xmas), but after about a
    dozen pages I decided it wasn't going anywhere in any great hurry and
    started looking for some real SF.  Too much of what I'll call
    striving_for_great_literature and flowery paragraphs without any plot,
    characterization, or any of the other things I like to find.
    
    Willie
942.2LABRYS::CONNELLYHouse of the AxeTue Jan 08 1991 22:589
re: .0

Well worth the effort to read...(IMO)...especially if you've read his
previous novel, _The Name of the Rose_.  The subject of both is heresy
and secret societies.  In one case the setting is medieval, in the other
modern.  The theme is that secrets can never be totally discovered...if
the solution to one secret does not contain another secret then it can
never satisfy the need that we have for mystery in the world.
								paul
942.3Keep Going !!!!HLFS00::FLORISNever say never! Shout it !Wed Jan 09 1991 05:3617
I should suggest you keep on reading and I prommiss that you are 
adicted before you finished half of it !

IMO it is a great example of a *very* ironic description of modern 
science and scientists (just like the name of the Rose was between the 
lines). Also there is I think quite a lot of mild self-critisism 
(after all ECO is a scientist hiomself).

And the story IS entertaining if you have a taste for it, and also the 
plot gets more intersting by the page.

yes you're right: I LOVED reading it....


Regards,

Floris
942.4pendulumGVA05::YSCHWEIZERMon Jan 14 1991 07:378
    
    
    Please can somebody give me the exact book name and also the author.
    I would like to buy it here in Geneva, but it needs some more details.
    
    Thanks and regards,
    
    Yvonne
942.5DRUMS::FEHSKENSlen, EMA, LKG2-2/W10, DTN 226-7556Mon Jan 14 1991 12:216
    Foucault's Pendulum, Umberto Eco.
    
    No ISBN handy, sorry.  I believe it just came out in paperback.
    
    len.
    
942.6SHIRE::TONINATOpizza e pastasciuttaThu Jan 17 1991 05:404
Hi Yvonne,

If you go to Naville (close to Cornavin) I know they have it in paperback.    

942.7The NY Times Review of BooksSUBWAY::MAXSONRepeal GravityMon Jan 21 1991 17:306
    This title is, as of yesterday, #6 on the New York Times' Bestseller
    List for Massmarket Fiction (to wit, paperbacks). A brief review was
    enthusiastic.
    
    					- Max
    
942.8LABRYS::CONNELLYHouse of the AxeWed Jan 23 1991 00:379
re: .7

>						A brief review was
>    enthusiastic.
    
Interesting, in that Anthony Burgess's review in the NYT Book Review
almost made me not read this book (which would have been a grave mistake!).

								paul
942.9Belatedly ...HELIX::KALLISPumpkins -- Nature's greatest giftTue Feb 18 1992 16:079
Without trying to give too much away, this book is a lot of fun, with a great 
deal of scope and hardly any depth.  Set in contemporary times, it demonstrates
a number of things, including several that might fall into the "self actualiz-
ing" category.

Going into detail would spoil a lot, but it's clear Eco was having a roaring
good time with this one.

Steve Kallis, Jr.