The Name of the Rose
by Umberto Eco · first published 1983
50% recommend47% neutral3% critical
Why HN recommends it
Medieval monastery murder mystery praised for intricate historical detail and philosophy woven into the plot; suits readers who like intellectual fiction, though the opening takes some perseverance.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
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…argue with her supporters, who can pointedly ask, "well, have you read it?" No, I have not. I tried and it was terrible. For great fiction with a healthy dose of philosophy, I'd recommend reading The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco instead.
on “"Ayn Rand's Revenge" - NYTimes Book Review of new Rand biography” ↗The Name of the Rose (Umberto Eco) surely? The tantalizing sense of loss as rare texts are censored and erased for ever, leaving as their only trace suggestive references and mentions in other works gets me every time.
on “Novels with giant, possibly magical, libraries” ↗I've begun reading The Name of the Rose, by Umberto Eco, his first novel. It's left a very good impression so far. It's a fourteenth century murder mystery, set in a monastery, where the mystery is mostly an excuse for exploring the historical…
on “Ask HN: Books you plan to read in 2020?” ↗Walden; or, Life in the Woods by Henry David Thoreau Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
on “Ask HN: Please name two of your most favorite books.” ↗…or most of Robertson Davies' work, or Ursula K. Le Guin's better novels (like Earthsea), or Carlos Ruiz Zafon's recent novels (which are very highly plotted and very fascinating), or Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose, or, or, or... As you can tell from the way I've structured my response, I'd prefer the latter. To my mind, being well read means reading a lot and reading meaningfully—not reading a particular set of…
on “Becoming "well read"” ↗…still unknown to us, as they were lost. Reading (and writing my final thesis on on of his books) a lot from Umberto Eco showed me, what it means, that literary works are nodes in a network. Reading "The Name of the Rose" (and not just watching the movie) really drove home this point. Especially, if you know a little bit about history or the basic structure of the genre "detective stories" ;-) [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palimpsests:_Literature_in_the...…
on “Should We Teach Literature Students How To Analyze Texts Algorithmically?” ↗Been a big Stephenson fan since Cryptonomicon. Enjoyed the Baroque Trilogy, Anathem & Reamde, but non of them are as good as Cryptonomicon. It's a bit like be an Umberto Eco fan - nothing since Name of the Rose has been quite as good. Or Wes Anderson for that matter; there's been good stuff, but nothing's touched the heights of Royal Tenenbaums.
on “Ask HN: What's one book you've recently read and enjoyed?” ↗…discourse. Same applies to all mediums. It pays to be mindful of that. - A good book is much better than a good series or film. HBO's Game of Thrones versus GRRM's A Song of Ice and Fire. Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose versus the recent series. Richard K. Morgan's Takeshi Kovacs series versus Netflix's Altered Carbon. Same goes for non-fiction. - I'm a lover of film, but I turned to books because there's only so many…
on “Ask HN: Are books worth it?” ↗…Piano, a moral discourse on technology and its social effects. Even though it is old, the social complications are familiar. To keep your brain busy, anything by Umberto Eco, but this would be my order: Name of the Rose, Foucault's Pendulum, The Island of the Day Before.
on “Ask HN: Mind bending books to read and never be the same as before?” ↗…;-) ): Michael Palin - Erebus ; Alan Moore - Jerusalem ; Graeme Green - Travel with my Aunt ; Karen Maitland - A Company of Liars ; Louis de Bernieres - Captain Correlli's Mandolin ; Umberto Eco - The Name of the Rose ; Nikolai Gogol - Dead Souls ; Robert Harris - Imperium trilogy ... I'd second for Master & Margarita and almost anything by Dostoyevsky
on “Ask HN: What are some must read books?” ↗…Island, Most of the Jules Verne's books, The Iliad and The Odyssey from Homer, The Godfather from Mario Puzo, Hermit in Paris, Under the Jaguar Sun, The Complete Cosmicomics from Italo Calvino, The Name of the Rose from Umberto Eco, In the World from Maxim Gorky, ... First works coming to mind but there should be more... Also I probably re-read many times basic printed materials related Abrahamic religions like…
on “Ask HN: What book have you re-read 3x or more?” ↗Yesterday I finished reading "The Name of the Rose" by Umberto Eco for the second time. Fantastic book. It talks about a series of crimes in an abbey, and one of the lead characters, William of Baskerville, is a Franciscan logician who uses his mind and…
on “Roger Bacon” ↗…engaged - with rare exceptions. On top of head, I think that something like Shigurui or Berserk would be great examples of art that engages with ideas and complexity. So would be Umberto Eco and the Name of the Rose, more or less. Even original Witcher books have huge amount engagement with ideas despite being meant for entertainment. The movie "Come and See" managed to make war sound not fun which is something…
on “The Businessmen Broke Hollywood, and Now They Don't Want to Pay Their Employees” ↗the Catholic Church had the monopoly on the smartest people in Europe for a thousand years. I would have been a priest (or monk) too. Read the name of the Rose by Umberto Eco.
on “Who Was Duns Scotus?” ↗I remember enjoying these as a child without understanding any of the subtext or satire: Jonathan Swift: Gulliver's Travels Umberto Eco: The Name of the Rose Bohumil Hrabal: Cutting it Short Antal Szerb: The Pendragon Legend
on “The Good Soldier Švejk (2018)” ↗