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A Canticle for Leibowitz (St. Leibowitz, #1)

Walter M. Miller Jr.,

Mary Doria Russell (Introduction)

Start date: January 12, 2016

Finish date: January 18, 2016

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Jan 07, 2014 Kelsey rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I feel really torn about writing a review for this book. On the one hand, I feel like I could write a 3000 word essay without much trouble at all. That would be boring and redundant though. Plenty of such reviews have already been written, and better than I could write. The obvious theme is about humans failing to learn from their mistakes, technology giving people the means to end themselves (on both micro and macro scales), about death. This is all handled very well. It's post-apocalyptic in s ...more

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Mar 08, 2018 Leann rated it did not like it

Shelves: philosophy, religion, classic, sci-fi, apocalyptic, rng

Just picture me shaking my head constantly as I tried to read this. When there was dialogue, I was into it and could follow where it was going. When there were long blocks of prose, I was a goner. I got bored and my mind roamed constantly, and I didn't follow any of what was happening. I skimmed the last third of this because I couldn't sit with it anymore.

This is the second month in a row that my random number generator pick has come up with a mid-20th century book that I have failed to connect ...more

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Sep 24, 2024 Will Waller rated it really liked it

What a fascinating prompt: an apocalyptic renewal of knowledge and wisdom and the cyclical nature of human evil set in an abbey at the edge of the world. And that may be about as "science fiction-y" this book gets. It's more of a treatise on human nature than it is on science fiction, perhaps why it was so commercially successful. There are many hidden gems within this book like the Wanderer, the poet's glass eye, and the vultures. Really enjoyed it, and finished it on audio on a windswept Nevad ...more

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