Word: arcana
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...information and irreverent observation and is a storehouse of facts about the famous and infamous. He fondly recalls, for example, that Jimi Hendrix had a disastrous turn as an opening act for the Monkees in 1967. As comfortable with sports trivia as he is with political arcana, Ellis considers 1972 a noteworthy year because a New York Yankee (Rich McKinney) made four errors in one game and Archie Bunker received a vote for Vice President at the Democratic Convention in Miami Beach...
From this spooky, arresting premise, Umberto Eco has launched a novel that is even more intricate and absorbing than his international best seller The Name of the Rose (1983). Unlike its predecessor, Foucault's Pendulum does not restrict its range of interests to monastic, medieval arcana. This time Eco's framework is vast -- capacious enough to embrace reams of ancient, abstruse writings and a host of contemporary references or allusions. The latter include the Yellow Submarine, Casablanca, Tom and Jerry, Lina Wertmuller, Barbara Cartland, Stephen King, Superman, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Flash Gordon, the Pink Panther, Minnie Mouse...
...Business section every two or three weeks. Tobias will write primarily about personal investing but will occasionally comment on wider economic and financial issues. Says Business editor Stephen Koepp: "Andy brings a rare combination of irreverence and expertise to these topics. Whenever he troops through the jungles of financial arcana, he always emerges with pithy, practical advice for his readers and unusual insights into the latest financial trends. He skewers the bad deals and scouts out the good ones...
Aaron's tale bristles with arcana picked up during the author's career in Washington, where he served as deputy to Zbigniew Brzezinski on President Carter's National Security Council, and on Wall Street, where he is a board member of the Oppenheimer investment firm. At times, Aaron can get carried away with brand names, as when he notes that a character was able to fall asleep on a plane "despite a monster roar from the four Rolls-Royce SNECMA Olympus 593 jet engines." But he manages to keep his plot shifting as fast as the ticks in the price...
Reagan could never master the arcana of nuclear weaponry or arms control. Even the finer points of economics, one of his majors in college, eluded him. But he understood Middle American folklore and myth very well. After growing up in small-town simplicity and pursuing his first career in Hollywood, Reagan needed no tutoring in symbolism. By 1980 a frustrated, confused America had lost all patience with stagflation at home, impudent adversaries abroad and ambiguity from its leadership. The moment was perfect for a leader who dealt in stark simplicities. When he declared that "government is not the solution...