Umberto Eco's "Foucoult's Pendulum" was an interesting read. Dealing with Templars, illuminati, Rosicrutians... The book had plenty of potential for interesting mysteries. Even the premesis, several publishers getting together and creating their own version of the development of the Templar's "Great scheme" could have been wildly creative. Umberto Eco often got bogged down in the history and his text became somewhat repetitive and odious in that he was constantly rephrasing more difficult words for an audience not used to little phrases in french, latin, or even, in difficult english. There were moments where his characters would get started on a tangent and it would go from tangent to tangent to tangent until the reader found themselves wanting to skip on and tell the characters to get to the point. (All this from a reader who is typically a lover of detail...) Ultimately, while Eco's book started with good potential, the book rambled a bit and tended to lose the point, getting wrapped up quickly at the end, ruining the tempo of the book and making it look like something that had been hashed over smoky thoughts.