This is a collection of essays written in various times and contexts, in which Umberto Eco considers many topics: holography, wax museums, "The Return of the Middle Ages", Superman and Casablanca, Federico Fellini and Michelangelo Antonioni, the survival of ancient African religious sects and cults in contemporary Brazil, Jim Jones and his murderous temple, the Red Brigades and terrorism in general, Marchall McLuhan and Charles Manson, Woody Allen and St Thomas Aquinas, the social and personal implications of snug-fitting blue jeans and the secret meaning of spectator sports...