Has anyone read A Canticle For Leibowitz?

[Garibaldi]

Has anyone read the highly acclaimed scifi book A Canticle For Leibowitz? I’ve recently read it and IMO its a great book. For one thing I learned how to spell “Leibowitz” Drogar-Laugh(LBG).gif and also it had alot of symbols in it.

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[montefrazer]

I read it at least 10 years ago.

[Garibaldi]

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I read it at least 10 years ago.

What did you think about it?

[montefrazer]

I thought it was an interesting vision of the future but I never felt the urge to reread it and my memory is a bit hazy after all the years since I read it.

[Garibaldi]

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I thought it was an interesting vision of the future but I never felt the urge to reread it and my memory is a bit hazy after all the years since I read it.

I can understand why, its a complex book. Here’s a basic layout that might help revive your memory:

Book 1 Fiat Homo (let there be man):
Brother Francis of the Leibowitzian order of Christ (the Catholic Church) comes across a fallout shelter in the desert where he finds things belonging to the “great Leibowitz.” Also he’s afraid of “fallouts” which he thinks are monsters. Most scientific knowledge has been lost after the Flame Deluge, after the nuclear war.

Book 2 Fiat Lux (let there be light):
Dom Paulo at the Leibowitzian abby and another monk rediscover how to make electricity and subsequently an electric light. Also Leibowitz is officially proclaimed a saint after they found evidence that he tried to stop the nuclear attacks.

Book 3 Fiat Torvulas something:
Dom Zerchi and the rest of the order witness another nuclear war starting, and the Dom sends some monks on a spaceship and they escape, never to return. They are the only survivors, the rest of the human race annihilates themselves with nuclear war again.

This has been reconstructed from my not so perfect memory, I think these are all the major points though.

[montefrazer]

Thanks, now I remember the plot better. Mankind is doomed to reach a level of technical ability and then destroy itself, except for a small group that starts the cycle over again.

[Garibaldi]

Quote:

Thanks, now I remember the plot better. Mankind is doomed to reach a level of technical ability and then destroy itself, except for a small group that starts the cycle over again.

Yep, except at the end the monks escape and I don’t think they’ll be doing anything with nuclear weapons again, just my IMO though.

[montefrazer]

The monks were just the keepers of knowledge. They tried to change things after the first war, but just set the stage for it to happen again. Is this an unbreakable cycle? The next chapter of the human race is left up to the imagination.

[Garibaldi]

Quote:

The monks were just the keepers of knowledge. They tried to change things after the first war, but just set the stage for it to happen again. Is this an unbreakable cycle? The next chapter of the human race is left up to the imagination.

Have you read Saint Leibowitz and the Wild Horse Woman, the sequel? I haven’t I wonder what happens in it. It really is a debate about if the cycle is truely unbreakable, or if there is way to get out of the loop.

[montefrazer]

I didn’t know there was a sequel. I’ll try to find it the next time I’m in a book store. Do you know if it’s still in print or will I need to check used book stores?

[Garibaldi]

Quote:

I didn’t know there was a sequel. I’ll try to find it the next time I’m in a book store. Do you know if it’s still in print or will I need to check used book stores?

I’m not sure if its still in print, probably though. I would check a used book store, you can probably get it cheaper there anyway and you’d be sure they have it in stock.

[Author]

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