Rating: 
Summary: 3 months later...
Review: It took me a while to get through this. The book is densely written and goes in more directions than a spider's web. The breadth of topics is impressive even though most of the depth is manufactured. The last 150 pages I just wanted it to end...for there to be some resolution to the seemingly endless diversions on almost every subject. Instead there is only something about truth or beauty or something else that really doesn't bring the book to a close. But most of the book is entertaining. I'd give it 3.5 stars if I could.
Rating: 
Summary: not really worth the effort
Review: Before picking up this tome I was under the impression that I was reasonably well-informed on the subject-matter. Having read fairly widely about conspiracies in general I thought my working knowledge of the Illuminati, Priory of Sion , Albigensian Heresy and the like would give me an advantage in penetrating the dense, often confusing and poorly translated prose. Sadly not. I doff my cap to the other reviewers whose descriptions of a racy romp through paranoia certainly do not tally with my miserable plod through this stodgy dirge of a book. I have never found obscurantism particularly entertaining, and having made it to the end only experienced relief that the ordeal was over. Eco's gentle ridicule of the farther reaches of 20th century belief systems may cause some to reassess their irrationality, but I fear it may inspire more to read Baigent and Leigh's nonsense to find out what on earth this semiologist chap was banging on about. If anybody can direct me to somebody who pretends to understand half of one percent of the obscure allusions I will be glad to pay homage. Eco is almost certainly a towering intellect, but by defying comprehension over several hundred pages I fear he may well become the next Stephen Hawking- his work prominently displayed on the bookshelf and universally lauded but nobody ever gets past page 23. Sad, really.
Rating: 
Summary: Superstition brings bad luck
Review: This is a very difficult book to read and can at times be tedious. Various foreign languages (Hebrew, Italian, German, lots of French) are sprinkled throughout with no translation, leaving you thinking "what'd he just say?" It touches upon so much history and so much supposed history that you begin wondering what is the truth and what is fiction, what is myth? Which I suppose is kind of the theme of the book. A good book for skeptics and atheists. Fascinating book but it does drive you a little whacky. My head was spinning for a week after reading it and I'm not sure I'll ever fully recover. Like the main character, I felt compelled to go to a shrink and tell him everything, just to spill it all out of my over-stuffed mind. But then I might have some occultists coming after me! Shhhh...I don't know nothin'!
Rating:
Summary: Intellectual joke turns dangerous
Review: Three Italian intellectuals who work for a prestigious publishing house in Milan, get acquainted with authors who write about occultism, secret societies and cosmic consipracies. As an elaborate intellectual joke, they invent a complex plan "plotted" by the Templar Knights seven centuries ago, and kept secret to this day. Using a computer, they spread the game, but someone will take it seriously. As the "conspiracy" get out of control, the three men will get involved in a nightmare of passion, death, satanism and preversion, that will take the action to Brazil. The book is a thriller, as well as an ironic mock on people who believe in these conspiracy theories, but also a mix of love stories, strange and surreal. The two female characters are fascinating: Lorenza and Lia exemplify frivolity and humanity; snobbism and sense; sensationalism and the warmth of simplicity. Certainly a demanding reading, it is very rewarding and entertaining.
Rating: 
Summary: Dense, compelling, and imaginative
Review: Caveat emptor! This book is not for the faint of heart, weak of mind, or deficient of time. This is a Sam Spade novel for antiquarians, medievalists, esoterics, and anyone with a cranium fill with trivia. The story is a bit hard to discern, but such is life. Three editors at a boutique history publishing house come across a story aobut the Kinghts Templar from a crackpot colonel. Though they dismiss the colonel's tale as fantasy, coincidences and disappearances quickly cause the three to think that something is amiss. Is there some grand mystical conspiracy? Is there a war being fought on such an epic scale that we cannot begin to comprehend it? Is there an ineffable plan that even the players do not know of? This book has all the quirkiness of Tom Robbins mixed with the intelligence of Vidal. A knowledge of other languages is definitely helpful.. perhaps French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Latin, Hebrew, Arabic, Aramaic, Ugaritic, and a working knowledge of all the base Indo-European proto-languages. If you do not know what Aramaic or Ugaritic are, this might not be the right book for you. This book takes effort to read, but the effort pays off. Read this book and take a ride through the looking glass of history.
Rating:
Summary: SIMPLY THE BEST
Review: I've read all of eco's books. He really makes research. Foucaults pendulum in his native language is just amazing. He touches every sense from the ocultism to the reality going through jacobd=s de molat and the templars, the rosicrucians, astrology , brazil and bleck magic...Of course everything vs scientific methods and reaL life. Also the picture of differtent cities is great.For me he gives thhe best description of the count of st germain.. the first 100 pages are not worth it but the whole explains it all
Rating:
Summary: great fun
Review: I just finished reading it for the third time and still love it. I understand why people don't - if you're not that interested in occult conspiracy theories, I imagine it's staggeringly tedious. If you are, though, it's great fun. My only problem is Lorenza. At no point was I given any reason why Belbo would have given her so much power over him. There was never a moment that she gave even the slightest indication of caring for him, so it was hard for me to see whatever he saw.
Rating:
Summary: A true masterpeice!
Review: When I read this incredible book in 1989 I started on a journey of exploration for the truth. With my eyes and mind wide open - I read a book that was so fascinating that I read it 3 times within a year. This book started an exploration for me - I was exposed to the Knights Templar which led to an exploration of Christianity and the Masons, etc. The list goes on and on. Eco is the best - I just wish that he would write more so I could fill my mind with his beautiful words.
Rating:
Summary: The Pendulum
Review: Before I start, let me say make a few points. What confusion you do have about what is actually happening in the book is supposed to be there. I recall one part towards the end of the book where I flipped back about 20 pages just to see if I was missing something (I wasn't) because I completely lost all gauge of reality in the book. Only when I pushed on did I realize that I fell into a fairly simple trap (a trap that I still don't believe I fell into). The book is huge, complex, intricate, and disconcerting. Any simple types of comprehension have to be sacrificed to truly understand the book. Life needs a plan. As the characters in the book fell into madness caused by the Plan that they constructed, I felt myself believing the Plan they devised. I could see the connection between the Rosicrucians and how my car works. Mendhirs appeared everywhere. I don't want to reveal the plot in its whole, but let me say that the first 100-150 pages are the *perfect* setup to the pages where they first devise the Plan. The Plan, so simple and complex, so seductive, acts like a parasite (a perfect meme) in your head. Of course the Plan is not real, that was precisely the point. Buy this book, kick back, relax, and appreciate one of the most unconventional and daring books I have ever read. Simply perfect.
Rating:
Summary: Synchronistic Analogies of Influential Egocentric Analysis
Review: Intrinsically woven into the fabric of time, is a hidden school of thought. Principles of heretical, hidden knowledge, coded into the Philosopher's library of secret works. Gematria, Temura, Notariquon. Veiled allusions, deciphered by man. Intricate conspiracy of Rosicrucian branches of the Tree of Illumination. Infatuation with symbolic overtures of hidden music. Initiation into a world of spiritual exclusiveness and egotistical adherence to a scientific, structural revelation of the mind of Deity. Illusive logic. Can the mind of man know the mind of God? Can a computer break the code and reveal all the secrets of the secret schools? Are The Templars trying to stop the Revelation? What is The Password? I cannot reveal the structure of the story, because They are coming for m alfk;lhag'['ppjjjjjjj
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