Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco

"Or this apparatus for the study of the fermentation of wine. A maze of crystal arches leading from athanor to athanor, from alembic to alembic. Those little spectacles, the tiny hourglass, the electroscope, the lens. Or the laboratory knife that looks like a cuneiform character, the spatula with the release lever, the glass blade, and the tiny, three-centimeter clay crucible for making a gnome-sized homunculus--infinitesimal womb for the most minuscule clonings. Or the acajou boxes filled with little white packets like a village apothecary's cachets, wrapped in parchment, covered with untranslatable ciphers, with mineral specimens that in reality are fragments of the Holy Shroud of Basilides, reliquaries containing the foreskin of Hermes Trismegistus. Or the long, thin upholsterer's hammer, a gavel for opening a brief judgement day, an object of quintessences to be held among the Elfs of Avalon. Or the delightful little apparatus for analyzing the combustion of oil, and the glass globules arrayed like quatrefoil petals, with other quatrefoils connected by golden tubes, and quatrefoils attached to other, crystal, tubes leading first to a copper cylinder below it, then to other tubes, lower still, pendulous appendages, testicles, glands, goiters, crests...This is modern chemistry? For this the author had to be guillotined, though truly nothing is created or destroyed? Or was he killed to silence what his fraud revealed?

The Salle Lavoisier in the Conservatoire is actually a confession, a confession in code, and an emblem of the whole museum, for it mocks the arrogance of the Age of Reason and murmurs of other mysteries. Jacopo Belbo was reasonably right; Reason was wrong.

I had to hurry; time was pressing now. I walked past the meter, the kilogram, the other measures, all false guarantees. I had learned from Agliè that the secret of the pyramids is revealed if you don't calculate in meters, but in ancient cubits. Then, the counting machines that proclaimed the triumph of the quantitative but in truth pointed to the occult qualities of numbers, a return to the roots of the notarikon the rabbis carried with them as they fled through the plains of Europe. Astronomy and clocks and robots. Dangerous to linger among these new revelations. I was penetrating to the heart of  a secret message in the form of a rationalist theatrum. But I had to hurry. Later, between closing time and midnight, I could explore them, objects that in the slanted light of sunset assumed their true aspect--symbols, not instruments."

https://books.google.com/books/about/Foucault_s_Pendulum.html?id=jbpsQD0khY0C

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QyALEomuk9k

"The stigma of listening to audiobooks as somehow lazy or 'cheating' needs to stop."

Via Reddit....

As I'm sure for most regular readers and those who aren't, the act of reading a book is a large part of the enjoyment. Relaxing in bed, on the couch with your feet up, as it rains outside and you're warm inside, you feeling cool in an air conditioned living room on a blazing summer day and just being engrossed in a book. The smell of the book and the sound of the pages being turned can almost be ritualistic.

That being said, the primary act of reading is to enjoy the story. People often complain about not having the time to read when I mention a good book. So a little back story, I had brain surgery 5 years ago and while the results were good I've been left with vision and neck problems (parinauds syndrome and double vision) which makes reading more of a chore than a pleasure. So I turned to audiobooks, I've read over 60 books that I've kept track of (possibly more) on Audible and old school CD based books; books that even with perfect vision and no neck pain I'd never have read. It works great for me, I can 'read' while cooking, cleaning or enjoy it like a normal book and lay back in bed or on the couch, close my eyes and engross myself.

However whenever I tell people this I often find myself defending it when they say I cheat.. as if reading is some competition and you only get credit if you physically read the pages. Yes I can and do use my condition as an excuse but I shouldn't have to defend myself because I read my books in a different way.

Reading should be shared, great stories should be shared, no matter how it was consumed.

Top voted comment....

I wasn't even aware it was a stigma. What other people in regards of how you choose to enjoy stories should be of no concern to you, the only thing that should matter is your enjoyment of the story. Read it, listen to it on audiobooks, hell, have someone dictate it to you like Lecturers used to do for Cigar Rollers in Cuba if that is your thing, it doesn't matter.   Just enjoy it.

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From what I see it is mostly audio books.

Source: The majority of public domain books, are digitized by Gutenberg.org and recorded by Librivox.org.

When you click on a book you can listen to chapters right there.

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Reviews for The Mystery of the Yellow Room, Gaston Leroux

5 stars: yeh duniya yeh duniya pittal di....baby doll tu sone di...hahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa,.abbe thik se par ...

5 stars: The book was interesting, but the narration quality ranged from horrendous (Chapter 20) to excellent.

3 stars: The book is good, and most of the readers too. Although one or two of the readers had quite a strong accent, which unfortunately made some chapters a little tiresome to listen to.

5 stars:  Good book except I had a hard time following the characters with French names. I ended up reading about the book on Wikipedia to understand who was who and accidently read too far and found out who the real murderer was before I was done with the book. Bummer.

3 stars: The plot is great but it is read by more than one reader. One of the readers I find is fantastic but there is another whom has a very quiet voice and I struggle to hear her and I find her rather dull voice really difficult to listen to. I actually gave up and listen to another book before returning to this story because I couldn't always hear that particular readers very soft voice and accent.

5 stars: A very good mystery novel. Most chapters are really well read and the story keeps you hooked.

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