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Gulliver's Travels

Satire at it’s 18th-century best! Phenomenal in scope, astonishingly poignant, and staggeringly applicable to today. Through the guise of Gulliver, a traveler who encounters lands still equally amazing now as they were when published a couple-hundred years a go, Swift diatribes academia, scientists, governments, religions, cultures, societies, etc… in an entertaining way that will make you openly laugh as you secretly question your own motivations. Easily one of my favorite books of all time!

by Jonathan Swift

5 Stars

HIGHLY Recommended

Sure, many of you have probably read excerpts of this seminal work in high-school or college… but have you experienced it in its entirety?

You most certainly should! There is so much more to Gulliver’s experiences with the miniscule Lilliputians or the gargantuan Brobdingnagians. There are the geometrically adept Laputians, the bizarre academics of Balnibarbi, the benevolent necromancers of Glubbdubdrib, and the noble Houyhnhnms. As mighty as the adventures, however, are the jabs at government, politicians, academics, religious leaders and zealots. In fact, the whole book appears to be one singularly amusing polemic on human nature, whilst simultaneously providing insight into the more magnanimous characteristics of humanity.

What amazes me most is not the degree of wit and acuity Swift regularly employed in his writing. What is truly wondrous is how acutely apt his descriptions of the various systems are still today! What does this say about what we’ve learned over the last couple hundred years? Technology and science have surely come a long way, but we’re still experiencing the same vices that have always plagued humanity.

Gulliver, the protagonist, although making the claim of presenting in an unbiased, journalistic approach to his exotic adventures, clearly bears the scars of altruism – his eventual abhorence of humanity. An altruist will always suffer because of failed expectations, but Gulliver had some high standards to adhere to after observing so many governments, principalities, kingdoms, cultures, and societies. His broad travels are ultimately punctuated by his visit, and conversion, to the Houyhnhnms (horses) and their way of life: the epitome of benevolence in living, based solely on reason.

Despite being published in 1726, there are still lessons to be learned from Gulliver’s Travels, and advice freely given on higher paths of reasoning and performance. Definitely one of my top five!