A Canticle for Leibowitz

Paperback, 368 pages

English language

Published April 28, 1959 by Bantam Dell.

ISBN:
978-0-553-27381-6
Copied ISBN!

View on OpenLibrary

4 stars (159 reviews)

Highly unusual After the Holocaust novel. In the far future, 20th century texts are preserved in a monastery, as "sacred books". The monks preserve for centuries what little science there is, and have saved the science texts and blueprints from destruction many times, also making beautifully illuminated copies. As the story opens to a world run on a basically fuedal lines, science is again becoming fashionable, as a hobby of rich men, at perhaps 18th or early 19th century level of comprehesion. A local lord, interested in science, comes to the monastery. What happens after that is an exquisitely told tale, stunning and extremely moving, totally different from any other After the Holocaust story

36 editions

A post-apocalyptic tale, as bleak or hopeful as you might want

5 stars

Wow. I feel like I need to pull up Google Calendar and set aside an hour or to so I can just think about this novel. As a lapsed Catholic, an approximate man of science, someone who peers at my own mortality quite closely every day, Canticle was grippingly relevant.

The 3-part story opens several centuries after a 20th century nuclear apocalypse, where monks in New Mexico are preserving Christianity, some science, and the mere written word. The plot spans out past the year 3000, but stays centered on the Abbey of St. Leibowitz.

The tightest rope binding me to Roman Catholicism, after family ties, was the sense of continuity in a human institution stretching back almost 2000 years. 3 out of my 4 grandparents were German Catholic so presumably I had ancestors saying the same prayers for a millenium or more.

In the book, the monks survive Flame Deluge …

Interesting, important, problematic

3 stars

This is a book whose premise is its most interesting contribution. In 1959, it was, as the reverse blurb says, "an extraordinary novel", but no longer. Anyone who is interested in the lineage of post-apocalyptic fiction should consider reading it, but it is both heavy and heavily outdated, both in social sensitivity and in technology. The latter is understandable, as the silicon integrated circuit was invented in the same year as the novel's publication; the former less so, and I caution anyone who is not willing to read extensively on such topics as the religious justifications for denying people euthanasia against reading much of the third act. By the time you get there, it is fairly clear what will happen.

The core argument of this novel is that the Catholic Church is the vehicle of humankind's material salvation in the face of Armageddon, which is certainly an uncomfortable notion. That …

A Canticle for Leibowitz

5 stars

An unexpected, positive surprise. Despite being written in 1959, the writing style is timeless and the book doesn't really drag as other works tend to.

Many punchy moments, dealing with miscommunication, discussing the role and ethics of science, and the always imminent nuclear threat. Very on brand in 2023. Surprisingly reflected view on dogma in religion from a Christian author, especially the discussion dealing with suicide.

Characters feel multi-dimensional, even the supporting ones. I enjoyed how the sections are connected - only by a thin gray thread instead of a fat black line.

Go read it.

Three interesting post-apocalyptic stories

5 stars

I originally read this just before Anathem was released as Neal Stephenson's book was going to have a similar idea. Which is sort of true, and sort of not. It's set in three eras after a nuclear war in the 1960s, the first in a barely-subsistence age, secondly in a medieval time, and thirdly with a tech level greater than our own..but still with nuclear weapons and tension.

The focus point of all three is the abbey, and none of the stories are cheerful. Re-reading it, the third one was a particularly hard read. The monks are Catholic and the third story deals a lot with the ethics of euthanasia. Speaking of Catholicism, there's more Latin in the book than you might originally expect.

The moral of the book is as unsurprising as it is heavy.

Review of 'A Canticle for Leibowitz' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

"Blasphemous old cactus."

I am neither religious enough nor science-y enough to get the most out of this book. I feel like the author was trying to be too coy at burying a message about mankind being doomed to repeat the past and morality and other dense topics, but forgot to include a cohesive story to tie it all together.

The book takes place in post-WWIII America, after a period of time when books, learning, and science was rejected. Monks in monasteries gather what's left of knowledge, painstakingly record it by hand in books, and quietly file it away in libraries to be recovered later. If this sounds familiar, it's because the author was trying to get you to see early on that history repeats itself. You'll see this theme again and again and again. The book follows one of these monasteries through the years, the Order of St. Leibowitz. …

Canticle for Leibowitz

4 stars

Content warning spoilers for the third act

Review of 'A Canticle for Leibowitz' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

I really liked this book, it is bleak, funny (and a bit slow). But it is also quite deep, as an observation on civilization and how humanity never learns.

spoilers ahead


A canticle for Leibowitz is divided into 3 sections, each ending rather abruptly and each next section continues hundreds of years later.

We start out a few hundreds of years after a nuclear apocalypse, and something called the 'simplification', the survivors blaming knowledge for the destruction of the world; we follow a novice of the monastic order of Leibowitz and how he discovers a schematic of some complete random and unimportant electrical circuit (which nobody can anyway understand or do anything with, because of the 'simplification'), and how it it leads to some seemingly not-so-important events regarding the church.

The next two sections of the book are set in a time when society starts developing again, and then later …

Review of 'A Canticle for Leibowitz' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

"A wind came across the ocean, sweeping with it a pall of fine white ash. The ash fell into the sea and into the breakers. The breakers washed dead shrimp ashore with the driftwood. Then they washed up the whiting. The shark swam out to his deepest waters and brooded in the old clean currents. He was very hungry that season."

This is a big novel grappling with big ideas. It probes and ponders and sets its characters in pursuit of intense contemplation. What flaws the novel has are an ironic blindspot to a project dedicated to finding meaning in a sweeping examination of humanity's intersections of science, faith, and self-destruction: no women. No intimate relationships. No parenthood. Seriously though, there are no women in this novel (excluding a single, mutant mother Mary figure).

Walter Miller, Jr. never healed from his own PTSD after WWII (he blew his brains out …

Review of 'A Canticle for Leibowitz' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

The last time read this novel, I was 'but a lad of 16'. Just as it was then, this study/ tale of man's inhumanity, foibles, and aspirations rings true. Sadly, it is even more relevant today than it was in the 1960s, but for much different reasons. If you have not read this 20th Century Classic by Walter Miller, I highly recommend it. It is not only a magnificently told tale but also one of the best exemplars of modern speculative fiction.

Review of 'A Canticle for Leibowitz' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

So you love classics, want to complete your must-have-read list, and really want to read every novel that ever won the Hugo? Even if it is dated, and preachy apocalyptic message-fic without plot? Go ahead read this. The basic premise that mankind moves in self-destructive cycles is well executed.

Sometimes I wonder why I keep going back to reading ancient SF books. This one is from the early 60s. But it won a Hugo and I was curious (and I remember liking [b: Stranger in a Strange Land|350|Stranger in a Strange Land|Robert A. Heinlein|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1156897088s/350.jpg|908211] which I read only a few years ago which is a year or two younger than this one). This one appears on so many must-have-read lists. And I guess that is true. But only because one must have read a book, it doesn't mean the process of getting there is necessarily enjoyable. More than anything this …

avatar for localstatic

rated it

3 stars
avatar for gwenprime

rated it

4 stars
avatar for tshannon

rated it

3 stars
avatar for alexalily

rated it

3 stars
avatar for jamid

rated it

4 stars
avatar for objelisks

rated it

4 stars
avatar for faited

rated it

4 stars
avatar for ckochx

rated it

5 stars
avatar for chris_st

rated it

3 stars
avatar for marcuslowx

rated it

1 star
avatar for DavidAmes

rated it

4 stars
avatar for kirkmoodey

rated it

3 stars
avatar for whohanley

rated it

5 stars
avatar for jdb

rated it

5 stars
avatar for masyukun

rated it

3 stars
avatar for spideyj

rated it

4 stars
avatar for Yogthos

rated it

5 stars
avatar for astroMD

rated it

5 stars
avatar for kimkarma66

rated it

3 stars
avatar for stim

rated it

4 stars
avatar for Core58

rated it

3 stars
avatar for Tamino

rated it

4 stars
avatar for strangefreeworld@bookrastinating.com

rated it

4 stars
avatar for ngs

rated it

4 stars
avatar for jumpinggrendel

rated it

4 stars
avatar for tmarsh1024

rated it

5 stars
avatar for Dunedinmouse

rated it

4 stars
avatar for Chigaze

rated it

5 stars
avatar for Jaytee

rated it

4 stars
avatar for jbeimler

rated it

4 stars
avatar for ceoln

rated it

4 stars
avatar for brlockwood

rated it

4 stars
avatar for chadkoh

rated it

5 stars
avatar for lukeg

rated it

3 stars
avatar for joeyh

rated it

4 stars
avatar for awboonstra

rated it

4 stars
avatar for Korenwolf

rated it

5 stars
avatar for Fireblend

rated it

3 stars
avatar for kwm

rated it

4 stars
avatar for stinkingpig

rated it

5 stars
avatar for MandolinDan

rated it

4 stars
avatar for cjhubbs

rated it

4 stars
avatar for abekonge

rated it

4 stars
avatar for sundaykofax

rated it

5 stars
avatar for lazcorp

rated it

3 stars
avatar for jfflak

rated it

5 stars
avatar for Ivia

rated it

1 star
avatar for Crepusculi

rated it

5 stars
avatar for JohSny

rated it

4 stars
avatar for wzhkevin

rated it

5 stars
avatar for sebastost

rated it

5 stars
avatar for scbarton

rated it

4 stars
avatar for johnke

rated it

3 stars
avatar for AnsgarFrej

rated it

4 stars
avatar for bondolo

rated it

4 stars
avatar for niclindh

rated it

3 stars
avatar for ieuan

rated it

4 stars
avatar for markodonohue

rated it

5 stars
avatar for Allenshull

rated it

5 stars
avatar for Kaslov

rated it

5 stars
avatar for krisrex

rated it

3 stars
avatar for timchi

rated it

3 stars
avatar for hammondj

rated it

5 stars
avatar for bonzo22

rated it

5 stars
avatar for TimmyMac

rated it

5 stars
avatar for Ghalidrim

rated it

5 stars
avatar for slowline

rated it

3 stars
avatar for astrodad

rated it

5 stars
avatar for rufzerg666

rated it

5 stars
avatar for AudientVoid

rated it

3 stars
avatar for Manzabar

rated it

4 stars
avatar for gtco

rated it

3 stars
avatar for nclack

rated it

5 stars
avatar for thursday

rated it

4 stars
avatar for indeed_distract

rated it

4 stars
avatar for Silent-Rob

rated it

2 stars
avatar for cherold

rated it

2 stars
avatar for carlbrown

rated it

4 stars
avatar for Jorn

rated it

3 stars
avatar for kevbot9000

rated it

5 stars
avatar for ixnu

rated it

3 stars
avatar for CaerBannog

rated it

2 stars
avatar for ChadGayle

rated it

5 stars
avatar for Kavring

rated it

5 stars
avatar for synthism

rated it

5 stars
avatar for feezus

rated it

2 stars
avatar for ToadyNerd

rated it

4 stars
avatar for EricLawton

rated it

4 stars
avatar for read_or_alive

rated it

4 stars
avatar for karlhungus

rated it

4 stars
avatar for gregorygandy

rated it

4 stars
avatar for ghostchaser

rated it

3 stars
avatar for HokieGeek

rated it

3 stars
avatar for Nikita

rated it

3 stars
avatar for tsukikage

rated it

4 stars
avatar for grislyeye

rated it

5 stars
avatar for Nachtfalke

rated it

5 stars
avatar for chaos_angel

rated it

4 stars
avatar for Psvensson

rated it

4 stars
avatar for tcgoetz

rated it

4 stars
avatar for Shtakser

rated it

4 stars
avatar for schmavery

rated it

3 stars
avatar for StereoSoda

rated it

5 stars
avatar for jolson

rated it

4 stars
avatar for rmdaley

rated it

4 stars
avatar for recri

rated it

4 stars
avatar for freezin4books

rated it

4 stars
avatar for technodad

rated it

4 stars
avatar for pcppcp

rated it

5 stars
avatar for flancian

rated it

5 stars
avatar for faceleg

rated it

3 stars
avatar for stalecooper

rated it

4 stars
avatar for tjrourke

rated it

5 stars
avatar for LuisVilla

rated it

4 stars

Subjects

  • Christian hymnals
  • Christianity
  • Fiction - Science Fiction
  • Science Fiction - General
  • Fiction / Science Fiction / General
  • Science Fiction

Lists