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FOUCAULT'S PENDULUM by Umberto Eco (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich; $22.95). Eco has woven together a novel that is even more intricate and absorbing than his international best seller The Name of the Rose. Beneath its endlessly diverting surface, this book constitutes a litmus test for ways of looking at history and the world.
THE TIMES ATLAS OF WORLD HISTORY (Hammond; $85). This classic reference book, in its third edition, chronicles the history of mankind through striking visuals and concise narratives. The new version contains more than 600 handsome maps, as well as updated sections on both antiquity and modern times. A must for history buffs!
TELEVISION
MOYERS: THE PUBLIC MIND (PBS, debuting Nov. 8, 9 p.m. on most stations). Public TV's resident big-think man is back with a four-part series on the role of image in modern life, especially as revealed through the media.
POLLY (NBC, Nov. 12, 7 p.m. EST). Will a batch of new songs and The Cosby Show's Keshia Knight Pulliam be able to improve on the old Disney film about an orphan with a cheery outlook? Don't be a Pollyanna!
SMALL SACRIFICES (ABC, Nov. 12, 14, 9 p.m. EST). Farrah Fawcett, whose Charlie's Angels days are an ever fading memory, plays an Oregon mother accused of shooting her own children in another ripped-from-the-headlines mini-series.