Foucault's Pendulum, by Umberto Eco

I have heard many people say that this is a hard book to get through. Given that Eco is a true scholar, his writings might not be exactly light, but this is one of the most fantastic books ever written, in my opinion, and could well be one of my 5 favourite books of all time.

What makes it heavy for most people is the fact that the book is highly non-linear and takes you on long historical side lectures every now and then. But you should never be discouraged by that if you're really into it: first, it adds substance to the story and second, you could be a chance to learn some hard facts at the same time as you entertain yourself with the book. Just try not to get reality mixed up with fantasy in this story about conspiracies, secret societies and mysticism if you can, because that's what it's all about.

If you ever wondered what truly happened to the Templar Knights, if the Holy Grail is out there with the Ark of The Covenant, if the Count of Saint Germain is real, if there is a vast source of energy in the universe waiting to be tapped in, if the Nazis had some secret mystic weapon, if any true power can be obtained from the Jewish Kabbalah, if there are secret societies controlling the media, international financial institutions and basically, your simple existence, this book is going to keep you up until you read the last page. And then it's going to shock you, slap you in the face and maybe even annoy you a bit. But it's all in the name of wisdom, because you might even learn something important about all this paranoia from it.

Here's your teaser: a man who is writing a graduate thesis on the Templar Knights gets mixed up two others who work for a publishing house. They receive a manuscript from a misterious character that inspires them to publish a book about a certain "plan" for world domination based on the writings they received. It turns out that the plan is "too close" to something that someone out there is doing for real and there begins their whole trouble because the powers behind it are not happy that uninitiated people are going around openly talking about their darkest secrets.