I mean, get a life. They're all dead right? View all comments. Jun 27, Lisa rated it it was amazing Shelves: books-to-read-before-you-die , favorites. I remember the first time I read it, as a child. I was immeasurably impressed with the sudden insig "And he gave it for his opinion, "that whoever could make two ears of corn, or two blades of grass, to grow upon a spot of ground where only one grew before, would deserve better of mankind, and do more essential service to his country, than the whole race of politicians put together.
I was immeasurably impressed with the sudden insight that things are small or great depending on comparison with other things, and that there are no absolute values. That knowledge, combined with the idea that you learn to understand yourself by seeing your peculiarities through the eyes of people who do not share your social and cultural background, helped me navigate my globetrotting childhood. When I reread the Travels as a grown-up, I focused more on the political satire, finding pleasure in discovering that the typical idiocies of my own time apparently had their correspondences centuries ago.
Somehow, that made life easier to bear. But now I am beginning to wonder. Are the yahoos degenerating further? When will they hit rock bottom? And could we maybe ship off some of our worst yahoos to Lilliput, where they can claim they are great without lying? Thank Goodness there are authors like Swift, who are capable of making humanists in despair laugh on dark November nights after reading the never-ending misery called news. Oh Lordy, I wish they were fake.
But they are likely to mirror the world - without the wit and irony that Swift added to make life endurable, enjoyable even! That is a quality in an author that is always needed, now more than ever! View all 25 comments. Aug 03, Lori rated it it was ok Shelves: fiction. Oh man. This book was sheer torture. The writing was dry and bland and boring. Swift had some really interesting ideas - An island of people no larger than your finger. Another island with people that are 60 feet tall.
A floating island, an island of scientists, the island of Yahoos I came very close to putting this novel down many many times. I admit to not being a fan of early, victorian literature, but this was just painful. View all 41 comments. Jan 08, Matthew rated it it was amazing Shelves: favorites , required-reading-high-school , classic , fantasy.
This was my favorite required reading in high school well, actually, probably tied with Animal Farm. It was a very pleasant and unexpected surprise. The reference points I had were cartoon retellings of this from my youth. I only really had an image of Gulliver vs the Lilliputians - and that was only the most basic "giant in a land full of very small people" storylines well, they were trying to entertain children, so it doesn't have to get much more complex than that.
But, the book is made u This was my favorite required reading in high school well, actually, probably tied with Animal Farm. But, the book is made up of more stories than just Gulliver as a giant hence the Travels - plural. The content of these stories is witty and not-so-thinly veiled political and social commentary. In the end, it didn't feel like required reading at all - it was a truly enjoyable adventure I was glad to take! View all 4 comments. Jonathan Swift — writes towards the end of his book This thought warns me against continuing any further with my review.
But the Travels of Gullible Gulliver have made me laugh like no other book for Jonathan Swift — writes towards the end of his book But the Travels of Gullible Gulliver have made me laugh like no other book for a long time. And I want to share this. The introduction in my edition by Michael Foot was almost as funny.
His rehabilitation started during WW1, beginning with a lecture in Cambridge in Some rejection still lingered for a while and surprisingly both George Orwell and Aldous Huxley were highly critical of Swift. Nowadays, many aspects of this book appeal strongly to our more cynical and detached age. As everyone knows this is a book about travelling. The popularity of two of its four parts and their easy refashioning into tales for children disguise the fact that the book was written as a parody of the then prevailing travel writing.
If for us Travel now means consumption, then it still meant discovery. But in all discoveries there is some degree of presumptuousness. And this is what bothered Swift. But this book is a journey in itself: Travel into Acerbity. Each part becomes more acidic and sour than the previous one. And if the Victorians found it indecent we have to admit that there is a fair amount of stripping in this book, but not of clothes.
Swift is stripping human nature. For apart from the hilarious and highly creative stories, the sum of reflections on the relativity of some of our beliefs, which we hold as absolute, constitutes a fully developed treatise on us.
The Fantastic and Utopian character is disguised by Swift's framing with exact dates each of the four trips. Gulliver sets off on the 4th of May and returns from his final trip on the 5th of December And another adamantly denied that the whole thing could be true!!
The third trip, to the Land of Laputa some knowledge of Spanish helps in understanding this title is an amusing diatribe against mathematicians and academics. A good reader of Swift must be willing to embrace self-parody. The fourth and final trip is the most controversial one, since it is a direct blow at the arrogance of human nature. In spite of the irony and satire, his writing reads as coming directly from the pen of Mister Common Sense. Swift wrote in a limpid form, keeping a perfect pace that accompanied an impeccable stream of clear thinking.
Swift was known for his conviction on the appropriate use of language: That the use of speech was to make us understand one another, and to receive information of facts; now if any one said the thing which was not, these ends were defeated. And to make sure of this, he would read aloud to his servants to confirm that his text would be understood. He kept his humour until the end, and this is what he wrote for his own epitaph. He gave the little wealth he had, To build a House for Fools and Mad.
I close this book feeling a great respect for the smart, polite Houyhnhnms who enjoy a level of wisdom and common sense that should be the envy of all of us.
View all 50 comments. Oct 12, Piyangie rated it liked it Shelves: irish-lit. I really don't know how I formed this opinion, but it was how I viewed this book until now. It is a prosaic satire directed at human nature and human conduct. There is adventure of course, but only to provide the background to work on satire. The story consists of four different voyages of Gulliver and the many adventures that he encounters in the process.
Swift uses Gulliver's experiences during these adventure and his trials to satirize the human nature and human conduct generally. There is no branch that escapes Swift's satire.
The human greed for power and avarice are two areas that meet heavily with his satire. Under the first category, European governments including his own , their politics, their diplomacy and international relations comes under heavy blows.
Under the second category, many individuals ranging from politicians, lawyers, doctors to common man and woman suffer from his lashes. The story is written in a "Voltairean" style. It was partly interesting, partly boring, partly annoying and partly offensive. I cannot really say that I "liked" the story, but this odd combination kept me going through it.
And when I finished reading my heart was set for a 3 star rating which means that I must have enjoyed it enough to view it in a favourable light. According to Wikipedia, Swift has claimed to have written the book "to vex the world rather than divert it'.
I certainly think he achieved his objective. View all 10 comments. Dec 20, Manny rated it really liked it Shelves: parody-homage , too-sexy-for-maiden-aunts , the-goodreads-experience , well-i-think-its-funny. Another excellent invention of the Laputan Academy is a kind of fellowship or club, which they call in their language Sdaerdoog, or superior literature; and indeed the name does not belie the thing, for it is quite the most superior manner of enjoying literature yet devized.
Noting that every man will be well acquainted with the great books of the world, yet few have the inclination to read them, the Laputan savants have ordained a scheme, no less ingenious than equitable, whereby this onerous d Another excellent invention of the Laputan Academy is a kind of fellowship or club, which they call in their language Sdaerdoog, or superior literature; and indeed the name does not belie the thing, for it is quite the most superior manner of enjoying literature yet devized.
Noting that every man will be well acquainted with the great books of the world, yet few have the inclination to read them, the Laputan savants have ordained a scheme, no less ingenious than equitable, whereby this onerous duty is divided among the members of the club. On completing the perusal of a book, the reader composes a short pamphlet, that they term a "weiver", containing all the knowledge a gentleman of good sense and education may learn from the writing in question.
This he then distributes to his fellows, who can can now read a score of weivers in the time they would perforce have laid down on the reading of a single tome. There are members of the Academy who do naught but read weivers the length of the day; it is impossible to exaggerate the prodigious extent of their learning, which would be the envy of any Oxford or Cambridge professor. View all 49 comments. Everyone remembers poor Gulliver in breeches and three-cornered hat, pinned down with cords on a beach, by an army of minute soldiers.
This is indeed an astonishing book. The name of Jonathan Swift is omitted, as well as the fact that the whole narrative is a heap of whoppers from cover to cover.
Through the four parts of this book, Gulliver first discovers the islands of Lilliput and Blefuscu, with its diminutive inhabitants, off the coast of Java if you ever fancy going there, the narrator provides a few maps and GPS coordinates ; he then sails to the West coast of America and discovers Brobdingnag, where people are, on the contrary, of gigantic proportions; later on, he travels across the Pacific Ocean and visits the flying island of Laputa no pun intended?
On his last trip, around New-Holland aka Australia , he travels to the idyllic island of the neighing and rational Houyhnhnms and of the despicable Yahoos — the most politically loaded and, in my opinion, best part of this book. A total of seven discoveries. The universal ridicule and relentless attacks aim at practically everything, in a sort of encyclopaedic undertaking: nobility titles, impractical scientific achievements and Royal Academies, philosophical jargon, the quackery of physicians, the general falsehood that runs among lawyers, the foolish wish for a long life, European politics and wars, the English constitution, Western colonialism, human grandeur i.
It is, all in all, an essential book on the human condition. Dec 09, Calista rated it liked it Shelves: genre-comedy , genre-fantasy , groundbreaking , bage-middle-grade , and-before-ancient-books , genre-travel , myth-folktale-fable , sub-sea , bage-mature , classic. I picked this up to do a re-read. Out side of the Lilliput part of the story, I remember little about this. I read it over 20 years ago. The book is several different stories told by Gulliver on his wild travels. They are: 1.
Lilliput - the most famous one people know this story for 2. Brobdingnag - the opposite of lilliput. He goes to a land of giants 3. Laputa, Balnibarbi, Luggnagg, Glubbdubdrib and Japan 4. Houyhnhnms If this book had just been about Lilliput and Brobdingnag - it would have been a I picked this up to do a re-read.
Houyhnhnms If this book had just been about Lilliput and Brobdingnag - it would have been a 4 star read for me, but taking the whole into account and it's barely 3 stars.
There are weird things that happen all through this story. In Lilliput, the royal quarters are set on fire and Gulliver rushes to helps. He urinates on the building to put out the fire. The queen is so upset about this that they want to blind Gulliver.
The first two parts are interesting. Starting in Part 3, things get very slow and somewhat miserable. Jonathan is a wonderful writer and that is something, but it was miserable trying to get through the end.
I can't believe I got through this as a kid. By the time we were in the land of the Houyhnhnms and he was describing the hair around their beasts anus and their utters, I was just done. It was horrible. The end became a torture. I was so glad to be done with this book. I'm surprised I don't give it a lower star.
I know this is supposed to be satire, but I don't know what was happening back in the s enough to get the references. I can't really enjoy the satire. One thing, I will never read this book again. If anyone asks. If you know European history and love Satire, then you might enjoy this book.
All others should read the first two parts and put the book down. The last two parts would be a good torture devise for someone you don't like. Just make them listen to it. Nov 20, Vit Babenco rated it it was amazing. Lemuel Gulliver was the first who discovered the theory of relativity: he comprehended that everything in the world is relative therefore while amongst Lilliputians he is a giant, amongst Brobdingnagians he is a midget.
Eccentricity excellently stands against the erosion of time — much better than any fashion. But it takes a genius to see everything ordinary and commonplace in a bizarre light and to make it withstand the ages. Everyone knows how laborious the usual method is of attaining to arts Lemuel Gulliver was the first who discovered the theory of relativity: he comprehended that everything in the world is relative therefore while amongst Lilliputians he is a giant, amongst Brobdingnagians he is a midget.
Everyone knows how laborious the usual method is of attaining to arts and sciences; whereas by his contrivance, the most ignorant person at a reasonable charge, and with a little bodily labour, may write books in philosophy, poetry, politics, law, mathematics and theology, without the least assistance from genius or study.
He then led me to the frame, about the sides whereof all his pupils stood in ranks. It was twenty foot square, placed in the middle of the room.
The superficies was composed of several bits of wood, about the bigness of a die, but some larger than others. They were all linked together by slender wires.
These bits of wood were covered on every square with papers pasted on them; and on these papers were written all the words of their language in their several moods, tenses, and declensions, but without any order.
The professor then desired me to observe, for he was going to set his engine at work. Rejoice, Jonathan Swift was an inventor of a computer and he was the first programmer! View 1 comment. Jan 07, Jason Koivu rated it liked it Shelves: fiction , fantasy , humor.
So much more than just a fantastical tale of a man journeying to mystical lands. This is thinly veiled satire A seafaring Englishman ends up in four fairytale worlds where people are small, gigantic, smarties in the maths, and where people are horses. By the second journey you'd think he'd be done with all this, but in the end he's done with humans and has trouble living amongst his own kind.
Written in the old style where listing off occurrences constituted an adventure and a perfec So much more than just a fantastical tale of a man journeying to mystical lands. Written in the old style where listing off occurrences constituted an adventure and a perfectly well constructed story, Gulliver's Travels can be at times a tedious read.
It's filled with a laundry list of actions "I did this and then I did this" , and when you think some tension or conflict is a brewin' you get simple expedients flatly stated "I was faced with an obstacle and so I overcame it by doing this. However, if you've come to this book looking for condemnation of the human race's worst foibles, you've come to the right place.
Swift dispatches venom towards the leeches of humanity. Lawyers, for instance, get blasted left, right and center. I'm one of those people that feels we're not much better, and sometimes not any better, than base animals, so I was okay with the author's bashing of my fellow man.
Those who don't understand anything beyond "Humans! We're 1! Regardless of its faults, I'm glad I finally got around to reading the original, full-length version. In school I read an abridged and sanitized version, which left out all the mentions of genitalia and bodily functions. This is much better with all the pee and tits included! View all 6 comments.
Oct 16, Fergus rated it it was amazing. There are many here among us Who think that life is but a joke. Bob Dylan This fantasy has haunted my steps and dogged my days all my life. Nevertheless, the politely Houyhnimic, and thus archly knowing Pilosopher-Kings of Georgian Britain judge There are many here among us Who think that life is but a joke.
Nevertheless, the politely Houyhnimic, and thus archly knowing Pilosopher-Kings of Georgian Britain judged Swift to be rather odd, as they too judged me. Just outta bounds. Beyond simple decency. A Stranger to intellectual progress. You see, when a kid first wakes up he often sees himself as catapulted into a Land of Liliputians.
If he rebels, he is blacklisted by their establishment, tied to the ground with tiny inextricably knotted threads while he sleeps, and roundly excoriated by their tiny, tinnily middle-class voices. In short, he is just too proud by a very unhealthy margin. If he still is not heeled, he will then be courted and thus grossed out by the humunguously odorific Brobdingnagians. Gulliver, though, reacts with panic.
If still unrepentant and self-willed, his next stop will be Laputia and its surrounding archipilago of islands. For he must at least learn humility. There he will be pegged as a danger both to himself and polite society, when he continues to value himself over others.
Motte, who sensed a bestseller, used several presses to foil any attempt at piracy, and made many cuts to reduce the risk of prosecution. The first edition appeared, in two volumes, on 26 October , priced 8s 6d, and sold out its first printing in less than a week.
Later scholarly editions of Swift have to choose between Motte and Faulkner, but whatever the version it has never been out of print since the day it first appeared. Photograph: Alamy Photograph: Alamy. Book IV: While Gulliver is captain of a merchant ship bound for Barbados and the Leeward Islands, several of his crew become ill and die on the voyage.
Gulliver hires several replacement sailors in Barbados. These replacements turn out to be pirates who convince the other crew members to mutiny. As a result, Gulliver is deposited on a "strand" an island to fend for himself. Almost immediately, he is discovered by a herd of ugly, despicable human-like creatures who are called, he later learns, Yahoos. They attack him by climbing trees and defecating on him. He is saved from this disgrace by the appearance of a horse, identified, he later learns, by the name Houyhnhnm.
The grey horse a Houyhnhnm takes Gulliver to his home, where he is introduced to the grey's mare wife , a colt and a foal children , and a sorrel nag the servant. Gulliver also sees that the Yahoos are kept in pens away from the house. It becomes immediately clear that, except for Gulliver's clothing, he and the Yahoos are the same animal.
From this point on, Gulliver and his master the grey begin a series of discussions about the evolution of Yahoos, about topics, concepts, and behaviors related to the Yahoo society, which Gulliver represents, and about the society of the Houyhnhnms.
Despite his favored treatment in the grey steed's home, the kingdom's Assembly determines that Gulliver is a Yahoo and must either live with the uncivilized Yahoos or return to his own world. With great sadness, Gulliver takes his leave of the Houyhnhnms. He builds a canoe and sails to a nearby island where he is eventually found hiding by a crew from a Portuguese ship.
The ship's captain returns Gulliver to Lisbon, where he lives in the captain's home. Gulliver is so repelled by the sight and smell of these "civilized Yahoos" that he can't stand to be around them.
Eventually, however, Gulliver agrees to return to his family in England.
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