Foucault's Pendulum

By: Umberto Eco

Narrated by: Tim Curry

Length: 6 hrs and 34 mins

Publisher's summary

One Colonel Ardenti, who has unnaturally black, brilliantined hair, a carefully groomed mustache, wears maroon socks, and who once served in the Foreign Legion, starts it all. He tells three Milan book editors that he has discovered a coded message about a Templar Plan, centuries old and involving Stonehenge, a plan to tap a mystic source of power far greater than atomic energy.

The editors, who have spent altogether too much time rewriting crackpot manuscripts on the occult by fanatics and dilettante, decide to have a little fun. They'll create a Plan of their own. But how? Randomly they throw together manuscript pages on hermetic thought: The Masters of the World, who live beneath the earth. The Comte de Saint-Germain, who lives forever. They add Satanic initiation rites of the Kings of the Temple, Assassins, Rosicrucians, Brazilian voodoo, the Third Reich. And they feed all this, and much more, into their powerful computer. Abulafia. A terrific joke, they think, until the Plan assumes a life and power of its own, and turns deadly...as people mysteriously begin to disappear, one by one, starting with Colonel Ardenti.

©1988 Gruppo Editoriale Fabbri-Bompiani, Snzogno, Etas S.p.A.; 1989 Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Inc. (P)1995 Audio Renaissance

Please issue an unabridged better recording

The story is fantastic, and the narrator is great, but the recording is old and of poor quality. It is just
too old. Please issue a new unabridged recording.

Abridged version leaves too many gaps

The book overall was intriguing, especially the 'historical' information on the Templars, occult, and prominent events or people as the author cleverly intertwines them into one great master secret and the search for its truth. However I could not find an unabridged copy of this book and so this abridged audio version which I listened to felt like it left out too much information, whether important or not, it left you feeling distant from the story and hard to get lost in it. I was always trying to bridge gaps when information, characters or plot points were addressed but missing their introduction into the story. I am a sucker for these intellectual thriller/mystery novels though so overall I did enjoy it.

Great Book, Abridged Unfortunately

The book is fantastic and highly recommended, but the this abridged version isn't as good as the full version would be.

Tim Curry can read to me ANY TIME.

I bought this because of the Narrator, and despite the fact it was abridged. Really a fun story, rather dated of course, but love all the templar mystique. While there were obviously things "missing" it didn't really seem to matter much in the end... which pretty much sums up the whole existentialistic theory being explored throughout the story.

I don't really know....

...what I read but I think I enjoyed it? Maybe? Probably. I think I did at least.

Superb!

Would you listen to Foucault's Pendulum again? Why?

I've listened to this a couple of times already (it's only 6 hours). The story is great and Tim Curry is superb in the narration. He does a great job bringing the characters to life and setting the right tone and pace for the story.

Any additional comments?

Only complaint is that it's the abridged version and thus too short. However, it was well abridged and it flows well. Left me wanting for more.

Great introduction but abridged

This was very well narrated and a fascinating story but the abridged version leaves too much out. It is a very dense read/listen and with the abridged parts missing some of the chapters and ending don't make sense. After listening to this version I am listening to the unabridged version. It makes a lot more sense on the second read and with the additional content.
Definitely a great if challenging book.

Remarkable story

This, like other books by Eco, mixes medieval history with an elaborate tale of modern times. Eco mentioned in an interview that this was his best work, even better than The Name of the Rose. The narrator is excellent and I found it easier to follow the story than when I tried to read it many years ago.

Abridged version hurt the story

Unfortunately the abridged version hurt the story
Missed important parts
The story flow was missed and caused gaps in content and sense

Great book, great reader, but abridged . . .

I really enjoyed this book. Not only is Eco a master of language and story-telling, he is a master of suspense as well. I spent the entire time I listened to this book on the edge of my proverbial seat.
Tim Curry, the actor from Clue, does an amazing job reading the book. Bot only does he handle the different languages, but he conveys the mood and tempo of the book while remaining intelligible.
In the end, however, I spent much of the book wondering what I was missing. I dislike abridged works for that feeling. In this version's favor, the story line maintained its cohesiveness, as far as I could tell, unlike most of the other abridgemens I have read.