The final, deeply-felt summing-up of the author's experience and his philosophy of life. Choosing a desert prince as his protagonist and narrator, he presents the timeless problems of humanity against the austere background of the wilderness. The book abounds in vivid pictures of desert life, forays and sandstorms, mirage-born madness, beleaguered cities, caravans going their perilous ways. It may be read just for the sake of these scenes, so incomparably described, or read as an allegory of man and his grandeur, of his ends and the means that may lead to them and, most clearly of all, of the moral and spiritual vaues that unite the individual to God.
--This text refers to an alternate
Hardcover
edition.
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65 of 65 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Saint-Exupery's greatest book,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Wisdom of the Sands (Hardcover)
"The Wisdom of the Sands" is a collection of Saint-Exupery's very personal reflections published posthumously as a series of parables. The rhythm of his lonely, compassionate, and mystical voice in this work enraptured me. The work concludes with the most profound and moving essay on friendship that I have ever read, one that far transcends his well-known fable "The Little Prince." His reflections on loneliness will resonate with anyone who has struggled with not succumbing to despair, and who has instead found God and love and compassion at the far end of this struggle. Saint-Exupery weaves his great love for the vast, lonely, and empty Saharan desert of his youth that he crossed many times in the 1920s pioneering airmail routes for Air France with personal reflections and understandings of the Biblical mysteries that transpired in this same corner of the earth thousands of years ago. He returned to the African desert in the last days of his life, where he was based as a P-38 reconnaisance pilot in a world that had turned ugly and that ultimately, I believe, broke his heart, based on the sad voice that resonates from these pages, one trying to make peace with the earth and with life before he dies. This collection, along with Dag Hammarskjold's "Markings," are my two favorite books, and both are very similar in nature though distinguished by their authors' personal voices and souls and writing style. Both document the spiritual journeys of two lonely European men in this century in a very personal way. Saint-Exupery's soulful reflections on the nature of love, friendship, loneliness, community, and duty are words I turn to again and again and that have grown with me through the years and acquired new meaning as I have matured.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A book for all seasons of life and for all leaders,
This review is from: Wisdom of the Sands (Hardcover)
This is an inspiring, life changing book for all wanna-be leaders. Like Pascal's pensées, it is a collection of thoughts slowly matured through Saint-Exupery's extraordinary life. The English translation has 123 selected thoughts, the French (more redundant version) has 219. The main character of the book is a king who governs the people of a city in the Sahara desert. He rules harshly (by today's diluted democratic standards) but in sincere and deep love for his people. His sense of duty is a model to all leaders. There is no story line as in the Little Prince story. The thoughts are profound and fertile. You will find yourself constantly using a highlighter, as do people reading the Bible. Some thoughts may even permanently change the way you view things. Like waves hammering the rocky shore, they are constantly rephrased, rebuilt around different images, repeatedly knocking you out of your comfort zone - and forcing you to reconsider what you have always found acceptable (read St-Ex's views on liberty). Saint-Exupery celebrates labour, movement, force in motion, regenerative and creative struggles. Like Pascal, he harshly critiques"l'esprit de divertissement", this anaesthetic leisure which leads to death. My only regret is that the English version of the book does not include an index (Phoenix book published by the university of Chicago press - translation by Stuart Gilbert).
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Should not be missed!,
By John Humble (Washington D.C.) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Wisdom of the Sands (Hardcover)
Excellent book. You don't have to agree with all what is said there, but it can make you think differently. One of the books where if you do not read between the lines, you are loosing a lot of the content. The story is secondary. And definitely, this is not the book you would read or even want to read in one day.Overall, it's an extraordinary accomplishment. Together with Nietzsche's Thus Spoke Zarathustra, one of the best books out there.
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