Reddit reviews Foucault's Pendulum

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I'll read damn near anything I can get my hands on, but I prefer fiction.


Some non-fiction books that I'm currently enjoying though are Godel, Escher, Bach and A Short History of Nearly Everything

On the fiction list right now are Foucault's Pendulum and The Broom of the System.

> I used to intern at a place that got tons of crazy mail, and you'd get these long winded, eloquent, yet delousinal ranting letters. It was amazing, it created in me some weird love of well written paranoid bunk, or well written literature based off of conspiracy ideas.

Then I'm guessing you're one of the characters in this book:

http://www.amazon.com/Foucaults-Pendulum-Umberto-Eco/dp/015603297X/

(absolutely worth a read BTW, especially in your case)

This would be my gift one choice. I love all things Kindgom Hearts, and I still have the first game, but my PS2 was lost when my house burned down so I have no way to play it anymore. I almost peed myself when I found out this game was coming out.

For the second gift, C'mon...gimme. This books sounds so interesting!!

Synopsis for the lazy. Amazon has it for ~13$...also can get it on the kindle!

You must read these two books:

The Illuminatus Trilogy

Foucault's Pendulum.

Both are amazing books near to the topic - the first is a huge spoof that's hilarious and heavily popularized Discordianism (All hail Eris!). The second is a seminal piece of literature by one of the best living authors and everybody should read it...it's about some publishers who put together 'the grand conspiracy' of the Illuminati and suddenly are embroiled in what they created.

I wish the Illuminati was real...the world would be a heck of a lot cooler place!

• The Historian
  
• Foucault's Pendulum
  
  If you visit Scotland, try Black and Blue or maybe The Loch.
  
  Whereabouts in Europe?

Doesn't sound like RAW to me. I think this is Foucault's Pendulum

Umberto Eco: The Name of the Rose and Foucalt's Pendulum

If you liked Dan Brown, you could give Umberto Eco a try with Foucault's Pendulum or In the Name of the Rose - His books are more intelligent and were written before Brown was around.

I read a lot of historical fiction, if that is of interest you could start with The Gates of Fire by Pressfield or The Last Kingdom by Cornwell

Mystery, action, and fantasy all rolled into one - Dresden Files might be of interest to you - it is kind of a detective noir mixed with fantasy. Also, the series vastly improves as it progresses.

If you would like a coming of age story, The Power of One follows a boy in turn-of-the-century South Africa and examines class and race relations in a very accessible way.

If you want to try reading some of what are considered "The Classics" I would recommend All Quiet on the Western Front and To Kill a Mockingbird

Tried to think of some of my favorites across several very different genres...If any of these appeal, I can expand on them with more similar suggestions.

I'm going to recommend two based on the books you've read:

1. Mr. Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore. by Robin Sloan
   
   I'm a big fan of books about cryptography, codes, etc. This one is fun, smart, and a good read. Based on your interests (Cryptonomicon, Millenium series, etc.) I think you'll really enjoy it.
   
   
2. Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco
   
   This is the ultimate conspiracy book. The first 100 pages are hard to get through, but it's amazingly worth it.

You could try what They tried in Umberto Eco's Foucault's Pendulum
https://www.amazon.com/dp/015603297X

That's just for 2008 though... I'd open it up to other years.

First up is anything by Umberto Eco. He's the guy who wrote "Name of the Rose", but his other books are phenomenal. If you hated "The DaVinci Code" then check out "Foucalt's Pendulum". He makes Dan Brown look mildly retarded. His novels are so heavy and serious that I was surprised by his tiny book of essays "How To Travel With a Salmon" which is hilarious.

Let's see... what else... "Shadow of the Wind" is excellent. The Musashi novels are fun to read. Scaramouche, which was turned into an OK movie. Classics like Cyrano de Bergerac should be required reading.

I had a hard time hunting down all the volumes to "Journey to the West" and it's not a task that should be taken on lightly, but I think I'm a better person for having muscled through them.

Links:

http://www.amazon.com/Name-Rose-Everymans-Library-Cloth/dp/0307264890/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1228637805&sr=1-1

http://www.amazon.com/Foucaults-Pendulum-Umberto-Eco/dp/015603297X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1228637841&sr=1-1

http://www.amazon.com/Travel-Salmon-Other-Essays-Harvest/dp/015600125X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1228637864&sr=1-1

http://www.amazon.com/Shadow-Wind-Carlos-Ruiz-Zaf%C3%B3n/dp/0143034901/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1228637894&sr=1-1

http://www.amazon.com/Musashi-Eiji-Yoshikawa/dp/4770019572/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1228637921&sr=1-1

http://www.amazon.com/Scaramouche-Rafael-Sabatini/dp/0554360268/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1228637963&sr=1-1

http://www.amazon.com/Cyrano-Bergerac-Edmond-Rostand/dp/0451528921/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1228637993&sr=1-1

http://www.amazon.com/Journey-West-4-Boxed-Set/dp/7119016636/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1228637756&sr=8-1

Apophenia: The human tendency to see patterns in things. We find come correspondance and we (people) want to put meaning into it.

Have I got some books for you:

A discussion, via a novel, of coincidences, and how we can find connections to everything: Foucaults Pendulum
https://www.amazon.com/Foucaults-Pendulum-Umberto-Eco/dp/015603297X
Best related scene: The Comte De Saint Germain (sort of) points to a magazine kiosk, and points out all the connections between its design and the solar system at large. Also points out you can find something connected to something else everywhere. Most of the book revolves and resolves around this concept (as well as a few others).

A more humorous, but very cool take, on "kabballistic" thought and correspondences: Unsongbook.com
Best related scene: The main character Aaron, is challenged by someone one to defend a kabbalist's ability to find connections when looking at completed events, and in ability to predict future events.

The correspondence of Pi and the number of seconds in a year can be looked at through both these lenses. Sure... the number isn't exact. But you could go forward or backward in time (the earth's orbital velocity changes through the aeons), to find a moment when these numbers do correspond, maybe you could make some additional connections to that period.

Bonus connection: A pendulum that swings at exactly once a second is exactly one yard long at the equator. (I.e. one of the old definitions of a yard.)

Ah I've seen your comment below. read maybe:

Joe Abercrombie - Best Served Cold

Max Berry - lexicon

Dürrenmatt - Suspicion

Gaiman - Good Omens

Kafka - The Trial

Sillitoe - The Loneliness Of The Long Distance Runner

Adams - Hitchhiker's Guide ( no way you haven't read that - but who knows )

Branderson - Way Of Kings

Libba Bray - The Diviners

Nietzsche - Thus Spoke Zarathustra ( there is a really ugly bible style translation - beware!!! )

Lynn Kurland - Star Of The Morning ( your sex and age is of interest )

Schwab - Vicious

Bakker - The Darkness That Comes Before

Robert Thier - Storm and Silence

Eco - Name Of The Rose ( no way you haven't read it but u know the drill ) + Foucault's Pendulum

Lord Of The Rings ( duh )

Sanderson - Mistborn

Sanderson - Alloy of Law

Harris - Hannibal

Rothfuss - The Name Of The Wind

Bukowski -Ham on Rye

Burroughs - Running With Scissors

Wong - John Dies at the End

The Crying of Lot 49 is pretty amazing.

I'm also a big fan of both Gravity's Rainbow and Foucalt's Pendulum.