Years ago, when Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code was the big summer read (can't even count the number of people who recommended that book to me!), I used to play the game "Judge people by whether they mention Umberto Eco when they mention Dan Brown". Of course, almost no one ever did (either they don't make the connection between Eco's "Foucault's Pendulum" and "Da Vinci Code" or else they do and don't want to sound pretentious).
Of both books, I remember one big take away from each after forgetting all the details:
After Dan Brown: "Wow, I must be pretty smart - I figured out all those puzzles right away!"
After Umberto Eco: "Wow, every deep insight I've ever had is someone else's trivial reference in a complex overlay of intersecting ideas."
Seriously though, I should reread Foucault's Pendulum for I remember profoundly the contrasting concepts of belief as embodied by the Pendulum itself: Whereas religion's Faith is untestable; faith in science is testable.
Last summer, we saw the original Foucault Pendulum (well, almost - the original bob was off to the side as it has been damaged during a fall) in the Musee d'Arts et Metiers :
Afterwards, Irene and I were commenting to friends of just how much more popular Sainte Chapelle is these days than on our previous visits to Paris when they responded with "Yes, ever since the Da Vinci Code..." Irene and I both responded with a groan of deep disappointment:
The mix of derivative and original work that I mused about in 2010 is now complete and inseparable.
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