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The year is 1327. Franciscans in a wealthy Italian abbey are suspected of heresy, and Brother William of Baskerville arrives to investigate. But his delicate mission is suddenly overshadowed by seven bizarre deaths that take place in seven days and nights of apocalyptic terror. Brother William turns detective, and a uniquely deft one at that. His tools are the logic of Aristotle, the theology of Aquinas, the empirical insights of Roger Bacon-- all sharpened to a glistening edge by his wry humor and ferocious curiosity.
As Constantinople is being pillaged and burned in April 1204, a young man, Baudolino, manages to save a historian and a high court official from certain death at the hands of crusading warriors. Born a simple peasant, Baudolino has two gifts: his ability to learn languages and to lie. A young man, he is adopted by a foreign commander who sends him to university in Paris. After he allies with a group of fearless and adventurous fellow students, they go in search of a vast kingdom to the East.
Whether it’s a critically acclaimed novel or provocative collection of essays, every work from best-selling author Umberto Eco is a highly anticipated publishing event. The Prague Cemetery is set amid conspiracy-rich 19th century Europe, where intrigue abounds—and where a lone, evil genius may be pulling all the strings.
In 1643, in the still un-chartered waters of the South Seas, Roberto della Griva survives the wreck of his ship, the Amaryllis, only to find himself a castaway on another ship, the mysteriously deserted Daphne. Why is she deserted? Or is someone still on board? Get ready for a romance of navigation and science in the mid-17th century as told by the internationally acclaimed Umberto Eco.
Numero Zero is the feverish and delightfully readable tale of a ghostwriter in Milan whose work pulls him into an underworld of media politics and murderous conspiracies (involving the cadaver of Mussolini's double, naturally). This novel is vintage Eco - corrupt newspapers, clandestine plots, imaginary histories - and will appeal to his many readers and earn him legions of new ones.
The Strange Order of Things is a pathbreaking investigation into homeostasis, the condition that regulates human physiology within the range that makes possible not only the survival but also the flourishing of life. Antonio Damasio makes clear that we descend biologically, psychologically, and even socially from a long lineage that begins with single living cells; that our minds and cultures are linked by an invisible thread to the ways and means of ancient unicellular life and other primitive life-forms.
The year is 1327. Franciscans in a wealthy Italian abbey are suspected of heresy, and Brother William of Baskerville arrives to investigate. But his delicate mission is suddenly overshadowed by seven bizarre deaths that take place in seven days and nights of apocalyptic terror. Brother William turns detective, and a uniquely deft one at that. His tools are the logic of Aristotle, the theology of Aquinas, the empirical insights of Roger Bacon-- all sharpened to a glistening edge by his wry humor and ferocious curiosity.
As Constantinople is being pillaged and burned in April 1204, a young man, Baudolino, manages to save a historian and a high court official from certain death at the hands of crusading warriors. Born a simple peasant, Baudolino has two gifts: his ability to learn languages and to lie. A young man, he is adopted by a foreign commander who sends him to university in Paris. After he allies with a group of fearless and adventurous fellow students, they go in search of a vast kingdom to the East.
Whether it’s a critically acclaimed novel or provocative collection of essays, every work from best-selling author Umberto Eco is a highly anticipated publishing event. The Prague Cemetery is set amid conspiracy-rich 19th century Europe, where intrigue abounds—and where a lone, evil genius may be pulling all the strings.
In 1643, in the still un-chartered waters of the South Seas, Roberto della Griva survives the wreck of his ship, the Amaryllis, only to find himself a castaway on another ship, the mysteriously deserted Daphne. Why is she deserted? Or is someone still on board? Get ready for a romance of navigation and science in the mid-17th century as told by the internationally acclaimed Umberto Eco.
Numero Zero is the feverish and delightfully readable tale of a ghostwriter in Milan whose work pulls him into an underworld of media politics and murderous conspiracies (involving the cadaver of Mussolini's double, naturally). This novel is vintage Eco - corrupt newspapers, clandestine plots, imaginary histories - and will appeal to his many readers and earn him legions of new ones.
The Strange Order of Things is a pathbreaking investigation into homeostasis, the condition that regulates human physiology within the range that makes possible not only the survival but also the flourishing of life. Antonio Damasio makes clear that we descend biologically, psychologically, and even socially from a long lineage that begins with single living cells; that our minds and cultures are linked by an invisible thread to the ways and means of ancient unicellular life and other primitive life-forms.
Internationally best-selling author Umberto Eco is a master stylist whose books, including The Name of the Rose and Baudolino, have been savored by millions around the world. Now, with The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana, Eco crafts another of the ambitious and breathtaking novels that are his trademark.
A 999 line poem in heroic couplets, divided into 4 cantos, was composed--according to Nabokov's fiction--by John Francis Shade, an obsessively methodical man, during the last 20 days of his life.
Warped Passages is an altogether exhilarating journey that tracks the arc of discovery from early 20th-century physics to the razor's edge of modern scientific theory. One of the world's leading theoretical physicists, Lisa Randall provides astonishing scientific possibilities that, until recently, were restricted to the realm of science fiction. Unraveling the twisted threads of the most current debates on relativity, quantum mechanics, and gravity, she explores some of the most fundamental questions posed by Nature.
In this exhilarating book, we accompany Umberto Eco as he explores the intricacies of fictional form and method. Using examples ranging from fairy tales and Flaubert, Poe and Mickey Spillane, Eco draws us in by means of a novelist's techniques, making us his collaborators in the creation of his text and in the investigation of some of fiction's most basic mechanisms.
Quite unexpectedly, Mrs. Oedipa Maas finds herself the executor of the estate of Pierce Inverarity, a man she used to know in a more-or-less intimate fashion. When Oedipa heads off to Southern California to sort through Pierce's affairs, she becomes ensnared in a hilarious and puzzling worldwide conspiracy.
When Roland Barthes's groundbreaking Mythologies first appeared in English in 1972, it was immediately recognized as one of the most significant works in French theory - yet nearly half of the essays from the original work were missing. This new edition of Mythologies is the first complete, authoritative English version of the French classic. It includes the brilliant "Astrology", never published in English before.
World-renowned Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is summoned to a Swiss research facility to analyze a cryptic symbol seared into the chest of a murdered physicist. What he discovers is unimaginable: a deadly vendetta against the Catholic Church by a centuries-old underground organization, the Illuminati. Desperate to save the Vatican from a powerful time bomb, Langdon joins forces in Rome with the beautiful and mysterious scientist Vittoria Vetra.
Liber AL vel Legis, also known as The Book of the Law, is the central sacred text of Thelema. Channeled by Aleister Crowley and transcribed by his wife Rose Edith Crowley, The Book of the Law has become a cornerstone of New Age thought.
Best selling author Anne Rice reveals the dark, eerie beauty of the 18th-century Italian society of the castrati: the castrated males - sterile yet sexually functional - who were celebrated and adored for their glorious soprano voices. She draws the listener into the castrati's strange and luminous world of extraordinary decadence, opulence, and brutality.
Neil Gaiman has long been inspired by ancient mythology in creating the fantastical realms of his fiction. Now he turns his attention back to the source, presenting a bravura rendition of the great northern tales. In Norse Mythology, Gaiman fashions primeval stories into a novelistic arc that begins with the genesis of the legendary nine worlds; delves into the exploits of the deities, dwarves, and giants; and culminates in Ragnarok, the twilight of the gods and the rebirth of a new time and people.
Composed in the last years of Roberto Bolaño's life, 2666 was greeted across Europe and Latin America as his highest achievement, surpassing even his previous work in its strangeness, beauty, and scope. Its throng of unforgettable characters includes academics and convicts, an American sportswriter, an elusive German novelist, and a teenage student and her widowed, mentally unstable father. Their lives intersect in the urban sprawl of Santa Teresa - a fictional Juárez - on the U.S.-Mexico border.
"Creativity is the unique and defining trait of our species, and its ultimate goal, self-understanding", begins Edward O. Wilson's sweeping examination of the humanities and its relationship to the sciences. By studying fields as diverse as paleontology, evolutionary biology, and neuroscience, Wilson demonstrates that human creativity began not 10,000 years ago, as we have long assumed, but over 100,000 years ago in the Paleolithic Age.
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.
whoever edited this book for this too short audio book pretty much ruined it. most of the things that truly make this book interesting were cut out. this is my favorite book to read...least favorite to listen to. on the good side, tim curry did a fine job reading this one.
40 of 40 people found this review helpful
I love this book, and I love Tim Curry. However, I do not love this recording at all. Basically the issues can be summed up as thus: the way it is abridged makes it difficult to follow if you haven't already read the full text; and the quality of the audio recording (although NOT the quality of the narration, which is excellent) makes listening difficult at best. This is such a shame, as I love the text and the reader and had hoped for great things.
22 of 22 people found this review helpful
I couldn't listen to this book because the audio quality is simply too bad. I had listened to the sample and thought it would be okay because I was in the comfort of my house, without any ambient noise. In the car however, I couldn't follow the story because I was missing too many words due to the poor quality of the audio recording.
Too bad, it seemed like a great book otherwise.
13 of 13 people found this review helpful
I like Ecco and enjoyed in the Name of the Rose, but am disappointed in this audiobook. I think I would prefer the story if I were reading it. I found the audiobook a bit hard to follow. Perhaps this is due to the abridgement. I also disliked the narrator. I found his pronunciation of foreign words affected and a bit irritating. The most difficult thing about this audiobook, however, is the terrible sound. Audible states that format 2 is akin to AM radio. I'd say its worse than that if this audiobook is a typical example. The sound is very muddy. I listen to audiobooks while walking to work and this one was very difficult to hear with street noise in the bankground. It's not all that easy to listen to in silence.
I did like the story and may actually read the book.
8 of 8 people found this review helpful
First, be aware that the audio quality isn't super, being a conversion from Format 1, but I got beyond that without issue. The big problem I had with this audio book was that it was near impossible to follow the story. I can only suspect that the abridgement of this book took a lot away from the flow of the story. The entire time I listened it seemed like there were meaningful details and scenes just plain missing. By the time I was finished I really had very little idea of what was the significance of the ending. A colleague read the book, and listened to the audio version later, and enjoyed it immensely so I can only suppose that the abridgement had something to do with it.
15 of 16 people found this review helpful
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.
15 of 16 people found this review helpful
This version is too heavily abridged, the unabridged version by Alexander Adams (aka Grover Gardner) is superior in every way. Too bad it’s not available, it was only ever available on cassette tapes. Tim Curry brings drama to this version, though he mispronounces some names (notably Wagner, where the desired pronunciation is specified in the text) and his vigorous inflection of the key phrase “Ma gavte la nata” is completely wrong.
Some of the book is retranslated, and some foreign phrases that, in the text, remain as foreign phrases, are instead translated into English. One egregious case of mistranslation comes near the end, during Casaubon’s final meeting with Wagner, whose reply “Monsieur, vous etes fou”, is rendered as “Monsieur, you are a fool” (it should be: Sir, you are insane).
Another complaint is about the distorted sound quality of the transitional music, which I regard as extraneous in any event. Nevertheless, on balance I did enjoy listening to this, being quite fanatical about the book. Hopefully the unabridged versions of Eco’s novels will reappear.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful
I originally thought this would just be a fun listen of fringe conspiricy theories woven into a story, and it was that. But it is also so much more. I've learned alot of obscure history by researching some of the story lines mentioned, like the Rosicrucian order. Or even the science behind the Foucault pendulum. All of which is fascinating. If you liked the DiVinci Code you'll love this, it is made even better by Tim Curry's reading of it. His voice was made for books on tape!
5 of 5 people found this review helpful
I liked some aspects of the plot. The whole idea of creating a story that takes on a life of its own. However the audio, the way the story was told, and probably some things missing from the book really made this story no that good. At the end I wish I would have listened to something else.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful
Tim Curry does an exemplary job reading Eco's brilliant meditation on the nature of secrets, of life, and the pursuit of truth and beauty. Having read the book twice before, I knew it intimately, and expected to be disappointed by the abridgement. To my surprise, the novel crackled along so well that it took me a while to realize what was missing: Belbo's diaries telling of his battles with fear and self-doubt, the tales of Seven Seas Jim, Don Tico's band, and the word games played with Belbo's computer Abulafia.
Contrary to earlier reviews, the book listens brilliantly, with much warmth, humor and suspense. It might also be your best introduction to Eco. Nor does the ending leave one wanting; Eco knows how to make his novels end with moments of deep revelation. I can say without hesitation that Foucault's Pendulum is one of the greatest books I have ever read (three times!). It will forever hold a special place in my life.
6 of 8 people found this review helpful