It is completely different. Think of Focault's pendulum as an intellectual and noble ancestor of Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code, better written, better researched an

It is completely different. Think of Focault's pendulum as an intellectual and noble ancestor of Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code, better written, better researched and much more intellectually rewarding. The story is beautifully twined in extremely fascinating scenarios and the general topic was much more relevant when the book came out. Numero zero, on the other hand, reads like some long form notes hastily out together to resemble a short novel. The book is fast, lacks action (as noted by the review) and in the end really seems unfinished or unproperly edited. It certainly wasn't something you'd expect from someone like Professor Eco. Plus, the plot and the setting are completely out off time and focus on a period - the 90's, or the late Wild West of media control by Berlusconi and his accolades - that's obsessing Eco for some time, along with the fact that he's more comfortable writing about the mechanics of old media that he, on some level, misses dearly.