Gulliver's Travels (Penguin Classics) Paperback – February 25, 2003

I collect this brand of classic books. This one arrived from a used book seller. The book was in good condition. It did have some smudges from what looked like food on the slip cover, but I was able to wipe it off with a damp cloth. Otherwise really good condition for what I was wanting.

Gulliver's Travels is such a great classic that it is difficult to write any sort of regular review. So instead I have compiled a list of observations.Isaac Asimov, the distinguished writer, scientist, and Sci-fi buff, speculates that the made-up languages in Gulliver's Travels are basically nonsense; then he turns around and speculates that Lilliput is a corruption of "little bit". Good guess! - but maybe it's "little part" or "little pint"? Asimov also gives a other cases where highly plausible decipherments can be made.Interestingly, Swift's made-up languages often have a definite Italian ring. Swift himself says so much when commenting on the language of Laputa. Did Swift have a particularly admiration for Italian? Did he study it?It is usually assumed that most events and characters in Gulliver are veiled satires on England, and its misrule of Ireland. Perhaps. But maybe Swift was also poking fun at the Italian states. The "good old days" for which Swift pined may then be those of the Roman empire.It is often claimed that the fourth book is the best, and the third book the weakest. I disagree! Possibly from a purely stylistic standpoint the fourth book, on the horse-people, IS the best. But this is not enough to make it the most interesting. The Houyhnhnms represent Swift's idea of purely rational, benign beings. They don't lie, and have virtually no crime. But frankly, they are boring! They appear to have neither dreams nor aspirations, and little imagination. They spend much of their time in busy-work - apparently so as to stay out of trouble, in the manner of certain monastic orders. Perhaps the real trouble is that humans have a limited capacity for imagining perfect goodness. Look at the divine comedy triptych painted by Bosch. Which is the most interesting panel? The one on heaven? I don't think so!The third book (the one about the flying island of Laputa) contains a wealth of ideas - even if hastily written. Asimov points out that, unlike the other books, in the third book Swift takes considerable pains to explain "the marvelous" in scientific terms -- at least to the extent such explanations are possible. This is a hallmark of science fiction, as opposed to fantasy. A strong case can be made for Swift as the first true sci-fi writer. Consider, for example, his amazingly prophetic description of the two moons of Mars.Here is another example of Swifts amazing prescience. It is from Laputa, and illustrates the major concerns of Laputa's scientists:"These people are under continual Disquietudes, never enjoying a minutes Peace of Mind; and their disturbances proceed from causes which very little effect the rest of Mortals. ... That, the Earth very narrowly escaped a Brush from the last Comet, which would have infallibly reduced it to Ashes; and that the next, which they have calculated for One and Thirty years hence, will probably destroy us."Don't we incessantly hear about the grave dangers comets and asteroids pose to us?

I did not realize it was such a small book in dimension. I should have looked closer before purchasing. I'm getting older and my eyes aen't what they were.

Gulliver takes upon several voyages to sea as a ship’s surgeon and each time finds himself stranded on islands previously unexplored by the human race. Each island provides him with a new race of sentient beings with which to converse and engage. Some of these races give him cause to beggar in disbelief while others cause him to question the value of the human race as a species. In the end he finds the human race to be utterly repulsive and does his utmost to isolate himself within his own home.

Gulliver's Travels: my first book ever on the Kindle(tm). Well, first about the mechanics of it all. I know, based on some reviews I have read, some versions of stories are poorly formatted or the font is bad or unadjustable or what have you--thankfully none of those issues was present here. It was a joy to be able to glide through the pages, looking words up at the speed of thought, never losing my place, and not having to stare at a backlit display for a change.None of this concerning Mr. Swift, though, who wrote this novel without even knowing of a typewriter or electricity. The book begins with Gulliver, an English gentleman of the early eighteenth century, talking of his love for travel at sea; I was beginning to feel as though I were reading Robinson Crusoe again. Things change quickly though as Gulliver lands on the land of Lilliput where the inhabitants are a mere half of a foot in height.Here begins Swift's parody of human culture that continues throughout Mr. Gulliver's three other tours of duty in the novel. Swift takes a characteristic or two of human nature and satirizes it with each civilization Gulliver encounters. The Lilliputians allow him to poke fun at politics and underhandedness, with every cutting each other's throat to win the king's favor. The Brobdingnagians give note to mankind's frailty, with poor Gulliver fearing for his life at every turn while the giants around him tiptoe to assure his safety.The third voyage lands Gulliver on an island in the middle of nowhere. He is rescued by the flying island of the Laputians, who are stuck with their heads in the clouds. I should say that Swift has a disdain for those who live lives in the stratosphere of philosophy and mathematics; the Laputians seem to be unable to function at all since their thoughts are always elsewhere.The forth, final, and most important voyage made by the narrator is to the land of the Houyhnhnms. The Houyhnhnms are hyperevolved horses who live their lives and run their society by rational means only. In that land there, there is a race of humans called Yahoos who live like wild animals. Swift's uses these two species to dichotomize our conflicting natures: the Houyhnhnms are our cognitive, rational faculties--our divinity--, while the Yahoos are the basal, animal-like natural side of us. Neither of these two polar opposites can be reproved for being what it is. However, it is our rational and refined halves that we wish to see have the upper hand. Unable to reconcile these two, the narrator goes a bit mad, and when he returns to England, becomes reclusive.I was thrilled with this book. Though I found some parts to be a bit slow-moving, the narrator dwelling in picayune details at times, the book truly is a work of art. This definitely opens the doors for Swift as an author to me.

I have to give this a 5, because as parents we had to find this book for our Son's senior year reading list. The 5 I'm sure wouldn't come from hm. But we were delighted that there was a place to go and find this book. When the whole city that is 840 square miles has ALL their High Schools assign this as a reading project, the book becomes VERY hard to find. Glad we found it, and the assignment was completed. Now it's in the "Classics" section of our library.

Such an absorbing story teller. Takes your mind to another realm.

A historia te faz refletir sobre sua posição na sociedade/natureza abordando diferentes óticas.Não é tão emocionante, mas reflexiva.Livro em ótimo estado.

Gulliver's travelsGulliver's travels is about a man called Gulliver, who was a surgeon in England but became a sailor. His adventures and voyages were to 4 different islands, encountering different species and people very different to humankind.His first voyage was to Lilliput, where the book starts. It was an island where everyone was tiny and he was a giant. He spent a while there and learnt the language whilst being accommodated by the king and visiting him regularly. The tiny people (Lilliputians) thought to use him as a weapon to fight off their enemies, the Blefuscu army. He was given a set of rules to follow. Eventually, Gulliver left this island.His second voyage was to Brobdingnag when he was pushed off-course trying to return to England. This island was a land of giants, where he was tiny. He was taken in by a family of farmers and looked after and once again visited the king and queen as he was something they had never seen before. The farmer's daughter, who he called Glumdalclitch - little nurse - looked after him and put him in a box as his home. One day an eagle picked up his box and flew him to the sea, then dropped him in the sea inside his box, left to float.He then is picked up by an English ship who found his floating box in the sea. He goes back to his wife and children for a while then sets out for sea again. Whilst out at sea, he is approached by a pirate ship and is forced off his boat by himself on a rowboat to an island.In the third voyage, he goes to a floating island called Laputa. In this island, the people there excelled in astronomy, and based all things off of shapes, maths and music. The people here have tails and an odd appearance. He then through Glubbdubdrib, a place of sorcerers on his way to Japan, to return back home to England.In the fourth and final voyage, he goes to an island of horses, called Houyhnhnms, and human-like apes - called Yahoos. These Houyhnhnms are very different to humans, they are kind and lack evil and have wisdom that humans do not. They live very differently with no lying or arguments. The Yahoos are very violent and savage beasts with claws who they stay away from and despise. Even Yahoos despise other Yahoos, they are a very weird race. The Houyhnhnms think Gulliver is a Yahoo, from a similar appearance but realise he is different in nature. He stays at this island for years, learning to live like them and talk like them, and grows a hatred for humans/yahoos. He wants to stay but one day he is forced to leave as he is similar to a yahoo but he tries hard to stay there. He leaves and goes to a small island near it where there are a portuguese-speaking tribe, who take him back to England, even though he hates them and doesn’t want to go back.He returns to his wife and children after 5 years, who are happy to see him. Gulliver, on the other hand, is disgusted by them and sees them as Yahoos, not being able to stand their smell. He takes years to get back to living with humans and distances himself from his family and friends, and bought horses to take care of and spend most of his time with, as they were like Houyhnhnms. He seems to have learnt some wisdom and a valuable lesson from this wiser species and closes the book by hoping the yahoos (humans) around him would go to different virtue lands like him.

Bon livre!