Umberto Eco

My interest in Umberto Eco started the wrong way round, really. I've made an effort to read books before I watch the movie, this is a value I'm trying to instill into my kids as well, not just because usually "the book is better" but books ask the reader to be involved in a bigger way than a movie does. A friend of mine in Holland many years ago now, rented this movie with Sean Connery, The name of the rose, a detective kind of movie, set in the middle ages, monestaries etc, would I come over and watch it. Sure. So I did. That's what started it, although it would be many years before I managed to find the book and buy it, but eventually I did, and then Foucault's Pendulum followed, and now I was deeply addicted, if you think 'The Name of the Rose' is a good book, you need to read Foucault's Pendulum, I love that book, should be required reading for anyone who is even contemplating reading the 'Davinci Code', after FP the Davinci Code is empty, gas, not worth mentioning, lowest common denominator type marketing hype. Anyway, enough of that, 'The Island of the Day Before' was a bit of a dissapointment, not as exciting, but 'How to Travel with a Salmon' and 'Misreadings' (collections of Eco's columns from Italian newspapers) made up for that. Then I tried my hand at 'Serendipities' (what was I thinking) and 'Faith in Fakes' (loving Eco again). Picked up 'Baudolino' in Taiwan in 04 read it straight through, Eco is back on track, 'Six Walks in the Fictional Woods' good for the interested ones (Eco is professor of semiotics) and then this year, just last month actually, I read 'The mysterious Flame of Queen Loana' and now I'm craving more Eco again, I think I'll have to start re-reading the others just to feed the appetite. This brings me to 'Kant and the Platypus'. I started this book courageously, thinking I should give it a try, after all I'm interested in history, philosophy, semiotics, art, etc etc, but I must admit, I've not made it through, but I still recommend it. Why? Well it's abook that keeps you humble. You read it and feel humbled by the language, especially for people like me, so I keep it on my shelf, take it down occasionally and read a couple of pages, start to get into it, keep on going and then I get stuck, put it away and 'save it for a rainy day. Try Eco out, start with Baudolino or The Name of the Rose, or maybe How to Travel with a Salmon and see where that takes you.

Highly recommended

Interesting