Utopia, by Sir Saint Thomas More. I read this work in collage and that was over 40 years ago. Like many such works I was required to read at that time, I must admit that I was not overly enthusiastic about it; simply another of the endless chores I ‘had’ to accomplish if I wanted to complete a particular course which of course I needed in order to graduate. The work seems to be an endless bookshelf filled with works that were...well, boring.
Time passes, things change.
Over the past several years I have taken a trip back in time, so to speak, and revisited many, many works; novels, histories, essays, et al, that I was ‘forced’ to read in school. As an individual who can now be classified as a geezer and well on my way into my dotage, I started wondering just what I had missed due to attitude, immaturity and a vast void of background knowledge. I still lack much of the knowledge I now covet but do feel that I have gained somewhat in maturity and have undergone quite a number of attitude changes.
Ego I added Utopia to my list of books to reread, rethink and reconsider. And I am glad I did and glad I have stared my reread project. I must say I was delighted to find that many to most of the old books I wanted to reread are now available on Kindle and the price of these old classics is most certainly attractive. I have also found that the Kindle is ideal for reading these books as I make much use of the built in dictionaries and I can read these books in doable amounts without having hundreds of other books stacked around my....i.e. they, this one included, has very easy access.
I was rather surprised as to how much of this work has stuck with me throughout the years. I realize that you can have any given 100 people read this work and come up with 100 different opinions of its value. I of course, like many, have now found that many of the opinions and observations of More are just as valid today as they were 400 years ago and find that just as many people disagree or agree with his philosophy as they did when it was written.
Now I am most certainly not going to summarize or comment on More’s teachings...good grief, people have been doing that since the work was published and my ideas; agreements and/or disagreements are of little moment, but I will say that this is one of those books that everyone should read at least once in their lives. I am saddened by the fact that so often students (I was sort of one of them at one time) look upon works such as this as a form of punishment rather than an opportunity to learn and learn to think. On the other hand, for the modern reader, I must admit that the writing style can be a bit of a burden at times. When you have sentences that run an entire page...well, we are not talking Harry Potter here folks.
This was enjoyable for me on several levels and it has helped keep the thinking juices flowing. I am glad it is available to just about everyone now.
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Good Story, Bad Book.
This is a fantastic story but the design and quality of this book is similar to a comic book. The size is 6 x 9 with a thickness of 1/ 4 inch so it fits in the trade category. I noticed there was no identifying print on the book's spine. This is a disappointment as I like to display my favorite books for friends to peruse. I posted a photo of the cover after I, gently, read the introduction. This book will not survive a full reading.
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- Ken HubleyReviewed in Canada on June 19, 2023
Origin of the word "Utopia" attributed to Saint Thomas More.
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D.G.Reviewed in Germany on February 16, 2016
Ein Klassiker, den man gelesen haben muss
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Luis Felipe sotoReviewed in Mexico on November 20, 2019
Siempre es bueno aprender algo
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