This book is a work of fiction written in 1959 whose story spans the rise and fall of civilization on Earth over a thousand years or so. The crux of the story is, in the face of the self destructive nature of man with nuclear war, an order of Catholic monks isolates itself from society and devotes itself to preserving knowledge. So, over hundreds of years, monks of this order face challenges from heathens around outside the walls, while also religiously re-copying fragments of scientific papers to save them from decay. The apex of the story comes from what the society of later generations do with the knowledge carried forward by the monks.
Overall it was a very neat idea for a novel. It must have been very relevant in '59 during the Cold War. The writing style was easy to follow and had the interesting addition of being interspersed with Latin and a small bit of Hebrew, a bit of which I was able to make out without Google Translate ;)
I did feel the story could have used a bit more meat. It's a fairly short novel dealing with a wide span of time, which means the story has to either be written with gaps in time, or treat certain topics in only a shallow manner. Now I understand where Neil Stephenson was coming from with Anathem. Anathem is a giant beast of a book that starts with a similar plot, but without the slant toward Christianity. Stephenson really delivers in that book in terms of new ideas, amount of content, and playing out the story, and it continues to resonate for me a year and a half afterward. I've heard A Canticle for Leibowitz was heavily influential in the sci-fi realm, and even spoke with my son who says this book influenced the knowledge preservers of one of his favorite video games, Fallout 4.
Whenever I e-read a book worth talking about I'll buy it in hardcover and put it on my bookshelf. This one I'd purchased in hardcover from the start and I think it'll make a good conversational addition to my library.
Overall it was a very neat idea for a novel. It must have been very relevant in '59 during the Cold War. The writing style was easy to follow and had the interesting addition of being interspersed with Latin and a small bit of Hebrew, a bit of which I was able to make out without Google Translate ;)
I did feel the story could have used a bit more meat. It's a fairly short novel dealing with a wide span of time, which means the story has to either be written with gaps in time, or treat certain topics in only a shallow manner. Now I understand where Neil Stephenson was coming from with Anathem. Anathem is a giant beast of a book that starts with a similar plot, but without the slant toward Christianity. Stephenson really delivers in that book in terms of new ideas, amount of content, and playing out the story, and it continues to resonate for me a year and a half afterward. I've heard A Canticle for Leibowitz was heavily influential in the sci-fi realm, and even spoke with my son who says this book influenced the knowledge preservers of one of his favorite video games, Fallout 4.
Whenever I e-read a book worth talking about I'll buy it in hardcover and put it on my bookshelf. This one I'd purchased in hardcover from the start and I think it'll make a good conversational addition to my library.