Gulliver's Travels (Signet Classics (Paperback))

Jonathan Swift

1 Houyhnhnms and Yahoos
Even though the Lilliputians part of the book is the most popular, I enjoyed part 4 the most. I liked how Swift placed another animal higher than humans, showing that we end up at the bottom in the end. I also like how he had Gulliver change due to his stay with the Houyhnhnms.

2 Gulliver's Travels review
Gulliver's Travels was a very well written book, complicated, but sewn with an interesting plot. The story is told first person in the view of an adventurer named Lemuel Gulliver. He goes on an adventure and visits all sorts of strange imaginary places, and learns about the cultures, while relating it to his home in England.
The book is written by Jonathan Swift, an author of the mid 1700's. This book was written a long time ago, and that effected the diction used. First, some of the words were complicated Old English and were difficult to understand. He was very careful about his word choice, and used it to express satire. Swift uses a large vocabulary especially when describing people, places, or events. Also, some of the words used were slang and made me stop reading to find the meaning. The book structure was organized chronologically, with the chapters separating important events. This book is filled with symbolism since it's a satire on English society.
An interesting theme in this book was the battle between physical strength and things morally right. One battle involves Gulliver with his strength verses the Blefuscudian miniature army. Another example of this is the Brobdingnag's strength verses Gulliver's enslavement. He also observes this confilict when the Houyhnhnms chain up the Yahoos.
I recommend this classic to a person 15 years old and up with a strong vocabulary, and a good understanding of English literature and culture around the 18th century. I would suggest reading this book if you are interested in fantasy adventures. I had some difficulty reading this book and couldn't enjoy it for the symbolism at first. After some thought I understand the symbolism and how Swift satires England's society. After studying the symbolism, I have a whole new perspective on the book, and now I can relate symbols in the book to English society around that time period.

3 Swift's Satire
Gulliver's Travels, by Jonathan Swift, is an adventurous story with deeper political meaning than many realize. Written to appear historical and realistic, by directly enforcing the reader as the audience, these fanciful stories become believable. Currently becoming more apparent as a children's story, this story holds a much deeper meaning. The political satire that this author portrays is evident throughout the story. I could relate events in Swift's novel very easily to outside events, which proves that he purposefully set his story up as a political satire, full of social commentary. He wanted to accent on the political confusion and corruption that occurs, and successfully delivers this through an interesting, twisted plot. Overall, I feel that this book can be appreciated by many age groups because it can be taken on several different levels. I think there is still more I can learn about this book, but truly took it to heart to understand the majority of political satire that the author developed, and I appreciate Swift's attention to the audience and presenting the book through the perspective of Dr. Gulliver.

4 Gulliver's Travels
Gulliver's Travels Grosset & Dunlap Publishers, 1947,306pp.,$5.99
Jonathan Swift ISBN number is 0-671-00174-4

Gulliver's Travels is a wonderful adventure by Jonathan Swift. At first I didn't want to read it, but once I reading, I just had to keep going! In the beginning, we find a young man named Lemuel Gulliver. Mr. Gulliver was sent to Emanuel to be an apprenticeship to Mr. Bates. By being an apprentice, Mr. Gulliver becomes a surgeon on a ship called the Swallow. But when Mr. Gulliver marries and settles down in London, Mr. Bates dies and his business begins to fail, so Gulliver goes back out to sea. On the Antelope, they leave Bristol with the voyage bound toward the South Sea. Due to a miscalculation by the crew, they are already tired and ill when a storm brews. The captain, crew and Gulliver are forced to abandon the ship. Because Gulliver knows how to swim, he reaches land. That's when the half a pint of brandy from the ship forces Gulliver to fall asleep. When he wakes up, he can't move and he finds strings on his upper body. When Gulliver breaks the strings he's showered with tiny arrows and spears from an army of small people. When Gulliver doesn't fight back, most of the miscommunication has ended with this "Man Mountain". Gulliver finds himself in a city, a country of little people that speak an odd language. When he knows enough, he asks the emperor for his freedom back every day. All the while, Gulliver mainly wonders how he will get back home once he gets his freedom, that is, if he ever gets his freedom.
Jonathan Swift, the author of this wonderful tale, was born on November 30,1667 in Dublin, Ireland. He died at the age of 78, and was known as a writer, satirist, and political writer. For 40 years, he had a political career and many were afraid of his political reviews. A political position which he was trying for was blocked by a Bishop and he was soon exiled from England to Ireland. The disillusioned Swift soon began writing Gulliver's Travels, which is a satire on the corrupt English government.
I would recommend Gulliver's Travels to anyone. I would give this book * * * *. This book is wonderful and even though it's been around for a long time, it's never `out of date'.

5 Gulliver's Travels Book Review
Gulliver's Travels is a good book, even if you just read it as an adventure story, but when you can understand the wit and satire of Jonathan Swift, the book is great. It is a fictional narrative, written anonymously by Swift under the pen name Lemuel Gulliver. It is about the voyages and mishaps of Gulliver as he travels to uncharted islands, which are slightly different then a normal trip. He meets six inch tall people, visits a flying island, entertains some sixty foot tall royalty, encounters people that never die, and lives with horses that talk, reason, and have men-like animals for slaves. Along with this imaginative epic, Swift adds ironic humor and lays out his ideas of politics, religion, and humanity. Even though it was written in the eighteenth century, it is easily understood and fun to read for all ages. Some of the more subtle references and satires are hard to connect with, but if your book has footnotes explaining certain things, it will make it more enjoyable. I really like this book and I think you will, too.

6 Gulliver's Travels
Gulliver's Travels is a wonderful adventure by Jonathan Swift. At first I didn't want to read it, but once I read the first chapter, I just had to keep going! In the biginning, we find a young man named Lemuel Gulliver. Mr. Gulliver was sent to Emanuel to be an apprenticeship to Mr. Bates, who is a surgeon. Gulliver becomes another surgeon along with Mr. Bates on the ship the swallow.

7 A worthwhile edition of a classic
I'm not going to get into the whole "Is this great literature" debate with this novel. If you don't think already this novel is a masterpiece, nothing I say is going to convince you otherwise. This edition, though, is well worth picking up. It preserves the orthography and other quirks of Swift's prose and includes an intriguing, though a bit abrupt (as though written on deadline) "introduction" by Jeanette Winterson, who puzzlingly preoccupies herself with the Houyhnhnms at the expense of the other parts of the novel.

8 Great books do not exist
While cultural pundits try to convince you that some literature is better than other literature, the truth is that all art is relative to individial tastes. Thus, it doesn't make any sense to think that a novel like this one is really any better than say, Michael Crichton or Stephen King. Aesthetic standards can't be grounded.

Thus, don't listen to anyone who tries to distinguish between "serious" works of literature like this one and allegedly "lesser" novels. The distinction is entirely illusory, because no novels are "better" than any others, and the concept of a "great novel" is an intellectual hoax.

9 Past it?
A dry old read that has not withstood the test of time. Wordy prose, redundant grammar and forced wit. Useful only as a study of 18th Century Literature.

10 Gulliver's travels
Who would have expected that I would come away from this book liking it so very much? Trying to read it on my own, I failed, but reading it in class helped me to see it in context, and appreciate it as a funny, thoughtful, and sometimes cruel work, a satire that can be real fun and thought-provoking once you get into the right mood for reading it.

Jonathan Swift was an Irish-born Tory who possessive of a famous aversion to humantiy in general. (Or so I am apt to classify him. There is something charming about misanthropes, one can really sympathize with them when one is cranky.) His Captain Lemuel Gulliver ends up stranded in various wondrous and edifying lands. I needn't tell you about Lilliput (six inch high people) and Brobdingnag (giants), but you might have forgotten Laputa, the floating island, and the land of the H----'s (don't bother me with the bloody spelling), those uber-intelligent horses. It's that last part, with the H----'s that is pretty shocking even today. You and me are both Yahoos of a kind, and Gulliver sails back to his people in raft with a sail made from Yahoo-skins. With Yahoo meat as provisions.

But there are lots of disturbing, warped things in this book. I remember passages in Brobdingnag with the most fondness. There Gulliver, reduced to the status of a plaything, is quite helpless, and delightfully so. He is dropped into a bowl of cream by a dwarf and embarrasingly discommoded by a pet monkey. The ladies at the court take a perverse delight in bouncing him up and down on their breasts. Gulliver, being tiny, is able to note the physical human imperfections of his captors magnified--cancerous lumps, blemishes of the skin, moles and wrinkles appear in all their sordidness. And what interesting things these are to read about, in retrospect. I think that we as modern human beings--I mean as Westerners, swamped in our materialism and complacency--need to sample the muck in our "entertainment" sometimes, just to get in touch with reality. Tear yourself away from MTV, from the supermodels and the actors, from semi-kiddie porn anime, and admit that the physicality of our human bodies can be pretty disgusting.

And also the psychology of Us, when we don't study ourselves and our values--

Gulliver himself is a little man, a contemptible nincompoop most of the time. I didn't notice it while I was reading the book, but afterwards, I thought about it, and decided so. When he recommends gunpowder to the King of Brobdingnag, he even comes across as significantly--stupid. (Is there logic in presenting a country of giants with the ability to make gunpowder, when you and the rest of your kind are 1/100th of their size? Derr. Not really. Even if you want to suck up to said king.)

But it's Swift on whom I can't quite place my finger... The more I think about him alongside his book, the more ambiguous he seems. Does he really mean to present the values of the H----'s as Good with a capital G in all particulars? (I was struck with their arrogant bitchiness, myself. Perhaps Swift would dislike me.) How about the Lilliuputian way of raising children, is that meant to be construed as desirable? (I do like it better than the cruel Puritanical strain of childraising, all that honor your mother & father ad nauseum beyond the bounds of compassion kind of crap--but the Lilliputian way doesn't seem to allow for that thing called love, either...)

I dunno. You tell me.

Ahh, but don't tell me Gulliver's Travels is outdated, or boring, 'cause I won't believe you.

11 The original satire
This book is probably the best known full-length satire of society. In it, Swift mocks what he feels to be the all the iniquities of the 18th century. And of course, it's far from being a children's book.

There are four voyages and only the first two are known in the popular imagination. In each voyage, Gulliver goes to a country/countries that are radically different from those known and stays with the court/government learning about the country and sometimes helping out.

Part 1 is a voyage to Lilliput. Here, the people are very very small. This is the most well-known part, containing famous satires such as that of the Big-Endians and Little-Endians. The small characters generally satirise the characteristic of pettiness.

Part 2 is a voyage to Brobdingnag. Here, the people are very large. As such, they satirise the opposite quality - that of being overbearing. Here, Gulliver is paraded as a pet.

Part 3 is a voyage to Laputa (and other islands including Japan). Here, Swift mocks scholarship and science. Each of the several islands has a peculiar trait to do with science. Here, you'll find such classics as the novel-writing machine and the country where the linguists decided that words are too indirect to communicate being signs of signs so everyone carries a large sack of objects to point to in direct communication - which sounds like something from a modern academic, except this is interesting.

Part 4 is a voyage to the country of the Huyhnhnms. Here, Swift departs from tongue-and-cheek and becomes biting. The country is a utopia populated by benevolent horses and the humanoids are wild and uncivilised so they're "looked after". As a result of the horses' brilliance, Gulliver becomes disgusted with the human race after seeing the difference. Obviously like all parts of the satire this is not to be taken literally - that Swift despised people.

That's the basic content but nothing can describe the joy, humour, wit and imagination used in the book. It has everything and is an absolute must for anyone who's ever saw something funny/wrong with society (ie. all).

12 The model to a whole literary genre in England
I am rather disappointed by the book that definitely is a classic. Lilliput is just another image of monarchy, but in no way different from what Swift knew. The criticism comes from the scale of the people who are extremely small. Brogdingnag does not change this approach, only the scale of the people who are extremely big, though in this case there is a direct criticism of the exploitation the �� grotesque �� Gulliver is the object of. Laputa, Balnibarbi and Luggnagg show a strange floating saucer in a kingdom dominated by unpractical scientists who try to do everything upside down. It is a satire of scientists in general who are so little concerned by the welfare of the community that they can ruin just for the sake of implementing their hypotheses. Glubbdubdrib is funnier because it enables Gulliver to meet all kinds of people from the past and this leads to remarks about philosophers or politicians or generals that show how small and little and even tiny they were. Japan only shows the extreme anti-christian policy that can be reached there and the extreme self-centeredness of the Dutch, which is probably a criticism of the crown in England. But the last voyage to the country of the Houyhnhnms is by far the best because here we reach both a severe criticism of the human race reduced to its animal instincts and behaviors, and a utopian society in which evil does not exist because it cannot even be conceived, because it is totally out of reach for these kind reasoning and reasonable horses. And yet Gulliver is expelled because he is a Yahoo, no matter what, and the natural reason of these dominant horses leads to rejection, after having found in Gulliver��?s explanations a solution to get rid of the Yahoo by sterilizing them into extinction, just the way men do with horses in European countries, just a little bit more systematically. This leads to the idea that genocide and ethnic cleansing is a natural attitude, an attitude that goes along with natural reason that says that the species standing in the way of reason have to be exterminated. But the book never reaches that level of thinking, since Swift could not know about such policies that will flourish in later centuries, and yet the Irish occupation should lead him to some idea of what such a principle can lead to. Thus at a second level of reading we find a criticism of �� natural reason �� though it is not fully expressed and developed. After all it is that �� natural reason �� that led, already in Swift��?s times, to the genocide of Indians in America : they were not human, they were attributed all kinds of shortcomings like aggressivity, the love of war, the lack of cleanliness, a strong stench, and many other elements of the type. We can even note that beyond the genocide, the sterilisation policy will be implemented, but not on males, rather on females, and this in some US states up to the 1950s and maybe the 1960s. And this policy initiated by the Scandinavians in the early 20th century (and it was to last at least fifty or sixty decades) was to be systematically used against physically or psychologically impaired people. Hitler will follow that model, pushing it one bit further. In a way the book becomes then some vision of the future. This book hence is a prefiguration of many other books on the subject, such as �� The time Machine ��, �� Brave New World ��, �� Animal Farm ��, etc. This book seems to be the archetype of a literary genre in English literature, and of course the archetype of many films dealing with the same subject, particularly extraterrestrials.To conclude I will say that such a book is definitely not for children even if it is often assigned to young children in some schools.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU

13 Is ethnic cleansing justified by natural reason?
I am rather disappointed by the book that definitely is a classic. Lilliput is just another image of monarchy, but in no way different from what Swift knew. The criticism comes from the scale of the people who are extremely small. Brogdingnag does not change this approach, only the scale of the people who are extremely big, though in this case there is a direct criticism of the exploitation the �� grotesque �� Gulliver is the object of. Laputa, Balnibarbi and Luggnagg show a strange floating saucer in a kingdom dominated by unpractical scientists who try to do everything upside down. It is a satire of scientists in general who are so little concerned by the welfare of the community that they can ruin just for the sake of implementing their hypotheses. Glubbdubdrib is funnier because it enables Gulliver to meet all kinds of people from the past and this leads to remarks about philosophers or politicians or generals that show how small and little and even tiny they were. Japan only shows the extreme anti-christian policy that can be reached there and the extreme self-centeredness of the Dutch, which is probably a criticism of the crown in England. But the last voyage to the country of the Houyhnhnms is by far the best because here we reach both a severe criticism of the human race reduced to its animal instincts and behaviors, and a utopian society in which evil does not exist because it cannot even be conceived, because it is totally out of reach for these kind reasoning and reasonable horses. And yet Gulliver is expelled because he is a Yahoo, no matter what, and the natural reason of these dominant horses leads to rejection, after having found in Gulliver��?s explanations a solution to get rid of the Yahoo by sterilizing them into extinction, just the way men do with horses in European countries, just a little bit more systematically. This leads to the idea that genocide and ethnic cleansing is a natural attitude, an attitude that goes along with natural reason that says that the species standing in the way of reason have to be exterminated. But the book never reaches that level of thinking, since Swift could not know about such policies that will flourish in later centuries, and yet the Irish occupation should lead him to some idea of what such a principle can lead to. Thus at a second level of reading we find a criticism of �� natural reason �� though it is not fully expressed and developed. After all it is that �� natural reason �� that led, already in Swift��?s times, to the genocide of Indians in America : they were not human, they were attributed all kinds of shortcomings like aggressivity, the love of war, the lack of cleanliness, a strong stench, and many other elements of the type. We can even note that beyond the genocide, the sterilisation policy will be implemented, but not on males, rather on females, and this in some US states up to the 1950s and maybe the 1960s. And this policy initiated by the Scandinavians in the early 20th century (and it was to last at least fifty or sixty decades) was to be systematically used against physically or psychologically impaired people. Hitler will follow that model, pushing it one bit further. In a way the book becomes then some vision of the future. This book hence is a prefiguration of many other books on the subject, such as �� The time Machine ��, �� Brave New World ��, �� Animal Farm ��, etc. This book seems to be the archetype of a literary genre in English literature, and of course the archetype of many films dealing with the same subject, particularly extraterrestrials.To conclude I will say that such a book is definitely not for children even if it is often assigned to young children in some schools.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU

14 Great book, a lot of satire on the way people act.
Gulliver's Travels was a book that was the required reading in my high school senior english class. At first, you think of Gulliver's Travels as a kid's book due to the cartoons that were put out. But as you read it, you discover it is full of satire for adults.
Jonathan swift writes about how people act or fail to act. Such as in the case where Gulliver finds himself in the land of Giants. Many people there are huge, larger than life- sports stars, models, movie stars, politicians of today- but they fail to see their own faults, acme, blemeishes as Gulliver describes them. Then you have the land of Lilliputians, who represent small people in society trying to be something there not, and always trying to push others around. Their election for mayor is funny in that the official who jumps the highest wins! Sorta like our elections today, the canidate who puts the biggest show wins.
Jonathan then writes about the way he feels society should be in the land of the horses, noble, honorable, loving.HHMMM And he takes a shot at humans calling them "Yahoo's", stating they are dirty, filthy, self-centered and how they throw their dung around like monkeys.
Some say Jonthan Swift was an eccentric and crazy, others say he was a genius. Read the book and you be the judge.

15 Ummm. . . yeah, so sure.
Well, I tried to read this book because I had to read a 12th grade reading level book because thats the level I read at, but I was bored from the start. It starts in words, but by the third page all I was seeing was "Bla bla bla bla bla bla bla. . ."

Then the little house blew up in flames and my interest was rekindled. But, disgustingly, I was turned off by this book because he peed on the flames to put them out. That is just totally gross. I immediately put down the book and honestly wished I could burn it.

If you want an actual GOOD book, try Lord of the Rings or The Count of Monte Christo. Don't bother with this rubbish that somehow was published.

16 i was'nt too sure
i think this book was a bit too old for me to really say wether i liked it or not. my standards are pretty much based on novels from the last one hundred or so years. with that said the only really problem i had is that it was tooslow. the ideas behind the work were great but it was pretty dificult to keep up with the pace of the novel and all of the tiny nuances of the history.

17 Reply to the Member 'crazyophelia'
Did you know the monster in 'Frankenstein', which was written in 1816, is compared to the 'Id' in Freudian theory and that he too was created as a character long before Freud was born?

18 Satirical Travel Journal
In this story, Lemuel Guilliver, a career ship surgeon, writes a travel journal about his fantastic voyages on the high seas. His commercial ventures never worked out as planned, either a storm or mutiny ending them before returning to England, but each time he had the good fortune of landing on an island unexplored by Europeans. On these islands he runs into a variety of natives--giants, 6" tall people, people who reside on a flying island, and horses that take human-like Yahoos as pets. Each is an interesting and entertaining story in its own right and without reading any deeper into the story, but that is not why this book is a classic.

The author, Jonathan Swift, was a master of satire. As an Irishman he despised British rule and resisted it through his writing. Because criticism of the crown and Parliament was a punishable offense, Swift projected the personalities and social events of the day into fictional characters in imaginary circumstances with wonderful effect. While telling a terrific fictional story, he was able to rail against the system and really make a name for himself as a satirist.

The one problem with reading a satire that is dated, is that many of the characters and social events about which the author wrote are obscured by the passage of time. I consider myself to be fairly well acquainted with British history and its major players, but without the assistance for excellent footnotes, I would have missed a tremendous amount in this story. It still would have been great without the footnotes, but would not have provided the same historical lesson, which is why I would recommend a version with a good introduction and footnotes regardless of why you are reading the story and how well you feel you know the history of Swift's era.

I liked this book quite a bit, though I agree with many other reviewers who think it might by a little much for younger readers. In cartoons, picture books, or movies, it can be dumbed down to a cutesy fairy tale, which is fine and will hopefully encourage children to read the real story later in life, but an unabridged version will be boring and go right over their heads. I think it is an excellent book for adults who like fantasy fiction or readers who usually like historical or political non-fiction, as it is an excellent review of Swift's times.

19 anti-anti-everything:
Considering the topic of this book, I feel it necessary to discuss some of the stated perceptions regarding it:

--Apparently some people believe this a children's book, sort of like the cutesy, toned down puppet shows that have passed for adaptations. A question of no doubt: This book was intended as an attack.

I see in Swift something like an anarchistic mind--a man so revolted by every tribal persuation that passes for religion or for politics (often equally consumed, the two supposedly seperate ideas fused and bunched together, every contradiction in tact--!) and yet so disillusioned with every so-called 'independent movement', (be they political, social, or that stale haven of the two of them: Someone's brand new church--)that really all the poor man could see left was No hope--

Whether this is a lesson for children, whether it's appropriate to allow them to see all of the horrors and the insanity of our secualarized community filled with warring faiths and the greed and the snivelling of a competitive open party system, this is for the parent(s) to judge. If nothing else Gulliver's travels is a shattering portrait of a wide-ranging variety of communities all against both each other and themselves, all living together in a community defined by dicisiveness.

Other comments I saw were purely academic: the charts and the lists, the textbook schemata of some condescending mind seeming to boast that they 'get it', when all that they really come across as having gotten is someone else's rather passionless point of view. The quoting of others, the application of philosophies that have today become so common place towards human understanding that these cyrpto-psycholo-intellectualticians undermine Mr. Swift (not to meant pre-date themselves in guess of who represents whom) in their praise, giving the man no credit for intuitive insight. Certain people rank this book as the 'best ever', or--worse yet!--as the compartmentilized 'best SATIRE ever'. Now surely this book is a work of the satiric art. To put it a better way: the whole present concept of satiric intent would not exist without the pulsing heart of Jonathan Swift's works. But to apply a ranking to something that can only be taken subjectively is meaningless.

Swift was a man truly without fear. In an age when people could be excommunicated and possibly executed for making fun of those in power, this angry monk scribbled out bitter complaints about the self-serving absurdity of nearly everyone in power. Then, to judge in all fairness, he turns the blame on the victims, telling them that they don't have to take it, that after a while there is no one left to blame for their suffering but themselves. This satire is all-inclusive and can therefore not be conceived with an agenda. It is poking fun. It is the narrative of progressive exaggeration. It is a masterpiece--

Now of course we all need to justify our opinions by naming and accepting who or what we represent, but Swift acknowledges that this is just opinion, the one sacred thing to all of mankind. We create our own reality by applying our beliefs to our surroundings And if the whole world is out to get you, ultimately, you must be doing something terribly wrong to be so hated.

I urge you--all of you, even those who much prefer an outlook able to provide for happy endings--read Gulliver's Travels. Take your time. And see who you are, taken to the logical extremes relating to your religious, political and community affiliations. And then laugh at the folly of the individual trapped in this world.

20 A delightfully humorous satire
Lemuel Gulliver is a surgeon/ship??s captain who embarks on several intriguing adventures. His first endeavor takes him to Lilliput, where all inhabitants are six inches tall, but resemble normal humans in every other respect. His next voyage lands him on Brobdingnag, where a grown man is sixty feet tall, and even the shortest dwarf stands thirty feet tall. On his third trip, he travels to several locations, including a floating island. During Gulliver??s final voyage, he is abandoned by his mutinous crew on the island of the Houyhnhnms, which are extremely intelligent horses. No evil or concept of lying exists among these creatures. The island is also inhabited by Yahoos, savage, irrational human-like creatures who are kept as pets by the Houyhnhnms. Gulliver wishes to spend the rest of his life on this peaceful island, but he is banished and forced to return to England.
I really enjoyed this book, and I would recommend it to people 14 or older. Since the novel was written in the 1700??s, the words, grammar and usage are a little confusing. The reader also must have prior knowledge of 18th-century politics to get a full image of what Swift is trying to convey. At some points, the author goes into detail about nautical terms and happenings, and that tends to drag. Overall, the book is well-written, slightly humorous, if not a little confusing.

21 Swift's famous satire
Jonathan Swift???s 18th century satire, Gulliver???s Travels, is an extraordinary tale of the adventures of an English ship surgeon. The ship surgeon, Gulliver, by a series of unfortunate events on each of his four voyages at sea, receives the chance to explore the cultures of the countries of Lilliput, Brobdingnag, Laputa, Balnibarbi, Glubbdubdrib, Luggnagg and the land of the Houyhnhnms. Each land is considerably different from the others, and creates quite an entertaining read.

While the story itself is particularly unusual, the satirical element which Swift applied to it adds another level of comprehension. If understood, one could have a nice chuckle at the way Swift mockingly portrays ideas and people through the various cultures which Gulliver encounters. Some similes, however, are intended to get a more serious meaning across. For example, in his first journey of the book, Gulliver finds himself in the country of Lilliput where the people are only six inches tall, save the king who is seven. In this land there are two groups which were distinguished by which side a person breaks their eggs on. One king published an edict commanding all his subjects to break their eggs on the small side, but many would???ve picked death over breaking their eggs on the ???wrong??? side, so many did. By this, Swift meant to throw contempt on the exaggerated importance that people place on their differences, as on which side one breaks an egg is a very trivial thing. The two groups mentioned represent the Catholic and Protestant religions, between which were many wars and massacres during the 1500???s when the Protestants first appeared.

Gulliver???s Travels takes the reader to many lands, all different and unique ??? each adding another perspective on traditional beliefs and ways of thinking. Gulliver changes as much as the scenery around him, and after each voyage he has changed dramatically. At the end he has transformed so much that I feel really sorry for his family ??? although it???s only love that could allow them to put up with his strange behaviors.

I would recommend this book to anyone with an appetite for literature, as Gulliver???s Travels is an excellent satire of the ways of the thinking in the early 1700???s. Also, the author does a good job in describing the lands which Gulliver visits in great detail. Although Swift may not have written this book with intense action scenes and steamy romance, it is definitely a work worthy of the people of today.

22 A Fantasy World Brought To Life in a Book
Gulliver is a surgeon whose adventures begin when he decides to go out to sea. He travels from island to island where he discovers a variety of strange new people and creatures. He meets people who are six inches tall to people who are sixty feet tall to horses that act like humans. Each place has something new and different that Gulliver has never layed eyes on. He comes across many customs and ways of living thats he finds to be bizarre and peculiar. When Gulliver encounters the Houyhnhnms he thinks to himself how intelligent they are. He finds them to be the greatest creatures on Earth and can't believe he is a disgraceful so called "Yahoo". I think Johnathan Swift is a very talented writer. To have a book published so many years ago and to have it still be a classic is amazing. To me this book doesn't seem to be a book that a teenager would enjoy. Although I would recomend it to anyone that enjoys the unexplainable fantasy world.

23 Gulliver's Adventures
In Gulliver's Travels, Gulliver explores many fantasy islands where he landed on by accident; he keeps on wanting to explore more far away places. On Gulliver's first voyage, he gets shipwrecked on the land of Lilliput, where he meets people only six inches tall. These people are very curious at first, but then get used to Gulliver being around and helping where needed. On his second voyage, Gulliver lands on an island where people are sixty feet tall. Gulliver then gets treated like a circus animal when a man shows him off for money without feeding him well. Gulliver then finds a way home, back to England and sets off for more adventures that bring him to an island that floats in the sky and also to a land where beasts look like men.
One of the most emotional situations in Gulliver's Travels was when Gulliver was in Brobdingnag (his second voyage) and was used as a way to get money by being showed to many people who were curious. I felt bad that Gulliver had to live like a circus animal and on top of that, he was not being fed well. He was traveling with his owner to many places a day getting no respect what so ever by his owner who happened to be a farmer. A quote that I liked that shows how Gulliver felt was, "I was so tired with my first journey, and with entertaining company for eight hours together, that I could hardly stand upon my legs or speak a word." This quote clearly states that the farmer was over working Gulliver and how Gulliver felt about being showed to people. That is why this is a good quote that explains the main characters feelings.
Jonathan Swift is a very good writer because he gives good details in this novel about the lands in which Gulliver landed on. He also gives detailed descriptions on the government of each land. Jonathan Swift has a very creative mind that shows as you read through Gulliver's many voyages that are like fairy tales.
I would recommend Gulliver's Travels because it has a lot of creativity with all of the voyages that Gulliver goes on. It also gives detailed descriptions on the lands visited. The type of audience that I think would really enjoy this novel are the people who are interested in government and also culture. Even though these lands are made up places, it is still fun to see how Jonathan Swift expresses his creative mind through the lands visited and the people made up.

24 To the reviewer Amanda:
I really appreciated your review, as it helped me get the gist of sections I had not yet read. I would only like to say, however, that while Gulliver may have had some progressive ideas about human psychology, his intention with the Houyhnhnms and the Yahoos could not possibly have been Freudian, as Freud's work did not exist until over a century and a half after Swift wrote his book. I do like your interpretation, though, since as 21st century readers we can apply Freud's theories backwards to Swift's writing, and look at what marvelous results we get!

25 "When bending my eyes downward..."
"...I cannot but conclude the bulk of your natives to be the most pernicious race of little odious vermin that nature ever suffered to crawl upon the surface of the earth."

There are many things "Gulliver's Travels": funny, comedic, satirical, depressing, inspiring, etc. But there is one thing it is not: a book for children. If Swift knew this he would laugh and telll us to boil our children and eat them! ;)

Swift is most likely the greatest satirist that ever lived and his intellect is very prominent in "Gulliver's Travels". He creates his own fool, Lemuel Gulliver, a man of great book intellect but too much wind in the ears. Swift sends him on little voyages to other countries not to give the reader something interesting to read but to shine a light of everyone's eyes. That's why Gulliver is so flat. Swift does not want the reader to understand Gulliver or even like Gulliver because "Gulliver's Travels" is NOT a novel and Gulliver is not a character, he's the human race surrounded by the human race.

Gulliver leaves his wife, who does not question him, and ends up on the isle of the Lilliputians, near Madagascar. There he is bound up and taken as prisoner of tiny people, only six inches in height. He proves these people that he is not only a genteel servant but he is quite a disgusting pig, seeing nothing wrong on urinating all over. What's so wrong with that? But Gulliver's disgusting ways are not the mind grabber. Look at the Lilliputians: they are petty little buggers making their govermental officials do tricks to get elected. Are we not the same?

Gulliver arrives at home only to leave his wife anbd family for the Brobdingnagians, the isle of the giants near the Cape of Good Hope. Now, it is reversed. Gulliver must endure the putrid stinche of these iodious animals and be used as a sex toy for the ladies. Obviously not for children. Swift takes from his poems to show how people may look beautiful on the outside, but we're really disgusting creatures underneath all the perfume. It's quite comical when he describes the farmer's wife's breasts. It made me think how men idiolize a woman for her breasts when they're really giants lump of flesh for nursing.

Part III is quick, Gulliver returns home, leaves and encounters four different people all near Japan. The Laputa's are hilarious, like some of our masterminds today, focusing on the higher level of thinking and rejecting the fundamental steps to these levels. Lagado is very similar except that these people extract sunbeams from cucumbers and do all sorts of ridiculous things that mean nothing at all. The Glubbdubdribs really caught my eye in that they are really intellectual but take pride in their sodomy, raping, incest, theft and other immoral acts. People seem to think genius equals insanity and insanity equals immorality. These people feel they can easily get away with whatever they deem well because they are intellectual.

Gulliver returns home, but I think he finally realizes he is deprived because he gets his older wife pregnant. He leaves her and encounters the Yahoos, the Id in Freudian theory and the Houyhnhnms, the super ego. This is my favourite Part and probably the saddest because we see what a lot of religious people do: reject the ego for the super ego (I do not mean manly ego, I am talking about Freud). I will not further discuss this part since this is the best part.

All throughout this satire, Swift throws a wet blanket on politics, religion (hypocritical religion) and the human race in general. We need to be ego, be human, but no petty, shiftless, disgusting or ignorant. I think Swift truly understands the complexities and simplicities of human nature.

26 dry and boring
I don't even see how kids could be interested in this book, let alone adults. I guess it's a snapshot of the time in which it was written, but it does not stand the test of time. There is no suspense, no character development, too many insignificant details, and it's all told in the most dry, boring tone. I expected it to be enchanting and spark the imagination like "Alice in Wonderland" or like just about any fairy tale I've ever read, but it was not. The "political irony" was hackneyed and there was nothing in the story or the descriptions to trigger my imagination. I couldn't read past the first adventure.

27 Overrated
I missed reading Gulliver's Travels as a child, only to read it as an adult and discover that I hadn't deprived myself of much at all. As a children's tale, Gulliver's Travels is moderately interesting, with a few brief moments of humor. It is neither riveting nor drab, but simply - average.

Despite the preface of the Baronet Books edition, which claims that Gulliver's Travels is a "masterpiece of satire", I found the irony to be blatant and trite, and, as a result, predictable and boring.

While certainly not a great read, it was worth the half hour I invested in it (barely).

tpm
March 18, 2002

28 The Be-All and End-All
Swift is by far the most effective satirist I have ever read. Voltaire restrains himself with logic, Rableais occupies too long a space, H.L. Mencken and Bierce wallow in bitterness. But it is Swift that has woven a wonderful tapestry that fully diagrams the human condition and his takes on it. The book is very contradictory because of the fact that he pairs one vice with one virtue in every chapter. His overall theme is that moderation is the only way that we can avoid being so ridiculous as these people.
This book has been berated by some as despondent or dated, but Swift was not thinking four hundred years into the future. However, it still packs a punch if you are willing to inform yourself on the times. Part one is a superlative criticism of George I, II, and Anne Stuart of England. All of these leaders were naive and at the disposal of their advisers (like Walpole). Brobdignag is an attack on the pursuit of vanity by people. TO read the description of the mother suckling her baby, will make any person cringe. Laputa, the highlight of the book, is an adequate criticism of science. He charges that they are pure theorists and not pragmatists. I think that this chapter is heavily dedicated to Isaac Newton, who was involved in political committees left and right and was known for being a bitter, ponderous person. After criticizing history, the novel ends with "Hyounhymns" and "Yahoos". I guess that "Yahoo" derives from the biblical "Jehu". The end of this one is devoted to mocking the absolute extremes of the human condition-- dystopia and utopia. He comes to the conclusion that both are ridiculous and divorces himself from his family.
The key is to read between the lines of his tone and his facts.
To end, the book has been berated by scholars as simplistic, but that is the trap, to convince the reader of being absurd and playful, when there are really layers of thought behind them.
Finally, he does criticize religion; notice the passages that say "we {debate} whether bread be flesh, flesh bread, blood grape juice, and grape juice blood" Nothing was too sacred for Swift, and that is why I recommend the most penetrating analysis of the human condition to come out of Europe, or most of literature.

29 Review On Gulliver's Travels
I enjoyed Gulliver's Travels because it is not just an adventure story but a book of criticms and opinions by the author, Johnathan Swift. For instance,in the lst country Gulliver visits is ruled by horses. He does not want to go back to England because tgher is politcians, lawyers, theives, and drunks there. Horses do not have those things. I think what Swift was trying to say was thatif humans had the minds of horses then life would be a whole lot better. Throught the whole story Gulliver meets many interesting people. He meets tiny people, large people, and magicians. The only thing I did not like about this book was that it was a little hard to understand in some parts.

30 Insightful satire masquerading as fantasy
This is, along with "A Modest Proposal", one of Jonathan Swift's infamous understated, biting satires. At the very least edgy, and often outright misanthropic, Swift's writing is not for the optimist. However, his writing here is both brutally honest and imaginative, always delivered with a straight face. It's a clever book, and his adventures are always interesting. As simply fantasy, the book also succeeds - it raises many points about the situations Gulliver gets himself into that a lesser writer would never have thought of.

The only real disadvantage of "Gulliver's Travels" (and the reason it only gets four stars) is the occasionally excessive prose. One section in particular during Gulliver's stay at the Floating Island is almost a sedative, and these parts show up often enough to make the reading an occasional chore. Nevertheless, this is still one of the best satirical novels around, and the story is entertaining on its own. It could have used some editing, but it's very good regardless.

31 Must Be Read
Gulliver's Travels details a sailor's journey to four very different fantastical societies. The first, Lilliput, is populated by miniature people who fight wars over the proper way to break an egg. The second, Brobdingnag, is inhabited by giants who put Gulliver on display as a curiosity. The third consists of a kingdom governed by a king who lives on a floating island; the kingdom also contains an academy of scientists performing ineffective experiments, such as trying to extract sunbeams from cucumbers. The fourth is a society in which human-like creatures are made to serve their horse-like superiors, the Houyhnhnms.

32 The Hidden Meaning of Gulliver's Travels
Gulliver is portrayed by Swift as an average man of average courage, honesty, compassion, and intellect, a typical Englishmen. But there is nothing typical about Gulliver's travels. What Swift has accomplished by making Gulliver the embodiment of common English values and beliefs and then having him visist far away lands that are really the mirrors of English society is an interesting satirical device. He forces the English reader to unknowingly judge English society, not according to some higher law or pristine observer, but through the lens of their own cherished values. This effectively turns English beliefs and values in on themselves as a test of their merit. Swift echoes this structure by first having Gulliver visit a land of little people, which causes one to ovserve them with scrutiny of Gulliver, who is now the little one. After a series of defferent looks at society throug the first three voyages, Gulliver travels to Houyhnhnmland where the narure of people themselves are given the strongest censure, by being directly paralleled with the loathsome Yahoos. Here Swift bluntly attacks almost every aspect of society, which is then compared to the Yahoos point by point by the Grey Mare. Gulliver and the reader finally identify themselves completely with the Yahoos, and Gulliver decides to abandon Yahooism forever. But, he is then immediately banished brom the island by the Houyhnhnm assembly. This poses an interesting question: What is Swift's final message then about man or his future? The fact that Gulliver is unable to stay with the Houyhnhnms or adher to their principles after leaving the island, does not mean to me that man is doomed. I think Swift is saying man will always be Yahoo, but at the same time I think he is advocating an awareness of our Yahoo nature. And, if we can see ourselves through unmuddied reflecting glass and be honest about our Yahoo nature then we can strive honestly for Houyhnhnm values and abandon saying, or believing in ourselves, "the thing which is not."

33 A Timeless Classic
Swift's novel is a timeless classic that resonates as clearly with contemporary readers as those in his own time. I did not care for the introduction of this version of Gulliver's Travels, as it did not provide enough historical, social, and political background for novice readers and students.

Also recommended: GULLIVER'S TRAVELS: A WITNESS EXPLORATION OF HUMANITY IN SEARCH OF THE ANSWER TO THE QUESTION 'WHO AM I?' by John Murray Also for students: REDEFINING THE SELF: SELECTED ESSAYS ON SWIFT, POE, PINTER, AND JOYCE

34 The least known are the best
Gulliver's Travels are broken up into four parts. The first two parts are the most famous, where Gulliver visits a land in which he is a giant and another in which it is filled with giants. Although they are very good, I found them somewhat boring. This is probably due tot he fact that I had heard these stories in so many variations already, they no longer had that originality to them. The next two parts however I found to be excellent. Several authors have expounded upon these stories or have continued them in one form of another of them. It is good to finally find the source of such great insight. For example the world in the clouds is quite humorous, and Douglas Adams makes a similar use of this satire in one of his Hitchhiker's Guide to the Universe series. The island of wizard's where you can call up any of the dead to have them tell their part in history can be seen in "To Your Scattered Bodies Go" by Philip Jose Farmer (a Hugo award winner.) The final part about humans being nothing but Yahoos, and inferior to Horses is brilliant. A reversal of roles with other animals to give us a new perspective of ourselves is imitated in other such classics as "The Time Machine" by H.G. Wells, "The Island of Dr. Monreau" also by H.G. Wells, "Planet of the Apes", "Animal Farm" by George Orwell, plus several Star Trek and Twilight Zone episodes.

35 One of the best summer reading books ever!
Time may not have been on my side with this book, as summer was closing and I was frantically reading this book as well as two others. I feel as though this novel caught me in a way that none other has yet. It seemed to teach more about myself than any novel ever could. It showed me more about foolish pride than any person could ever advise me. I own the Cliffs notes, however I did not need them. This is an easily-read novel, and the Penguin Classics version shows the two-fold meaning of the political and fantasy novel. Because of the footnotes, I learned more about the novel than any teacher could ever even attempt to achieve. If you are required to read this novel, or would just like to give it a try, I strongly recommend it, and I also recommend that the reader tries to purchase a copy of the Penguin Classics version.

36 Hidden Beauty
The book Gulliver's Travels, by Jonathan Swift, is a very interesting and well thought out book. It is about the travels of an Englishman named Gulliver and the lands that he visits during his travels. Most books could not hold together without some underlying plot or scheme, but the way that Jonathan Swift wrote Gulliver's Travels, it isn't totally necessary. Throughout the entire book, Gulliver goes about describing in detail how eight different societies work and function as he observed them during his travels.

The true beauty of the book is not completely appreciated until a little more is known about the author, Jonathan Swift, and the time period he wrote in. The events and people in this book do not follow the famous clause: "The following story and characters are completely fictional. Any resemblance to real-life people and events is purely coincidental." Swift, as a matter of fact, takes great pride in using real-life people to base his characters on. Many of the rulers and lands in the book exaggerate the faults and likenesses of the current rulers and lands of the time period.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone who can take the time to sit down and read it.

37 The greatest satirist of all time
Jonathan Swift, - satirist, churchman, reformer, - is perhaps one of the greatest satirists of all time. "Gulliver's Travels", his masterpiece, demonstrates the full breadth of his ingenious and far-sighted critique of almost the entire social order of his time, which included the Enlightenment belief in progress, reason and science, as well as the system of government. Critics have gone so far as to interpret him as a libertarian, an anarchist, even a nihilist, as he tended to see how even the highest ideals of civilisation, its most august institutions, were actually the products of barabarism. Like many men of his generation, including Alexander Pope, Swift believed in the "retournons du nature", though nature was not seen as equivalent to the unchaining of passion and the blind gratification of appetite, but as something that was achieved through effort and discipline. The humour is bawdy and sometimes coarse, no less than that of Rabelais, such as the scene in Lilliput in which the giant Gulliver puts out the fire in the queen's tiny palace by urinating on it. Altogether, the book is an amusing and marvellous satire. Religion, however, is the one topic that Swift, being an ecclesiastic, refrains from subjecting to criticism.

38 Humor and social satire that is still relevant and enjoyable
A common misconception about this famous book is that it is just a kid's story about some guy's adventures with tiny people in Lilliput. I guess you can blame that on popular movies and TV (although a recent telemovie with Ted Danson was not so far off the mark).

The reality is much richer. This is one of the greatest pieces of satire and social commentary ever written. Lilliput is just one of the places visited by Gulliver. Other societies visited by Gulliver help illustrate the failings perceived by Swift in his own culture of the early 1700s.

Cruelty to animals, bureaucracy, government and human injustices are just a few of the issues targeted.

Don't let the social commentary I've outlined put you off. Although this book was published in 1726, "to vex the world rather than divert it", Swift is very readable today. The book is full of humor, and can be read as a simple adventure fantasy.

Even without footnotes the book is very accessible, but an edition with footnotes will make some of the more obscure references and humor easier to appreciate.

As for the social commentary, sadly much of it is as relevant today as it was when the book was written.

39 Humor and social satire that is still relevant and enjoyable
A common misconception about this famous book is that it is just a kid's story about some guy's adventures with tiny people in Lilliput. I guess you can blame that on popular movies and TV (although a recent telemovie with Ted Danson was not so far off the mark).

Cruelty to animals, bureaucracy, government and human injustices are just a few of the issues targeted.

Even without footnotes the book is very accessible, but an edition with footnotes will make some of the more obscure references and humor easier to appreciate.

As for the social commentary, sadly much of it is as relevant today as it was when the book was written.

40 Travels into strange worlds...
Gulliver's Travels is a classic novel written by Jonathan Swift. It involves a ships surgeons, Gulliver, travels into unknown lands, where people are little, small, or a country ruled by horses and filled with odd creatures known as Yahoos. The book is filled with humor, some which would be still funny today, I got a few chuckles. Its a great book, for young and old. It definently will never be forgotten and is a true classic.

41 There is nothing new under the sun
If you feel that the modern era is the worst that man has experienced....if you think that the physical and moral crises we face today are unique and know no parallel in human history....then you must read "Gulliver's Travels". Written in 1726, this is much more than the story of some clod who falls into the hands of big people and little people. It is a savage social satire, and it takes on just about every aspect of contemporary society, including the decline of physical and moral character from the earlier "good" eras; the malice and intransigence of bureaucracy and government; the obfuscation of law and justice by lawyers and the legal clique; the rampant advance of science and the resulting misery and pollution and general future shock, man's love of war and cruelty, etc., etc. This may sound strange, but it makes me feel better to know that the intellectuals of every age have perceived their cultures as being in decline and inferior to the grand works of those who came before.

Jonathan Swift was a man of great passion and great frustation, and this comes through in his works. The epitaph he wrote for himself reads as follows: "He has gone where savage indignation can lacerate his heart no more."

"Gulliver's Travels" is very readable; however an edition with a few footnotes is helpful.

42 A classic, but still a good read.
I have trouble reading classic literature. I am an avid reader and I want to enjoy the classics, but just find it difficult to understand the meaning in some of the writing.

This, however, was a pleasant surprise. Although written in the early 1700s, the story itself was fairly easy to follow. Even towards the end, I began to see the underlying theme of the satire that Swift has been praised for in this work.

Being someone who reads primarily science fiction and fantasy novels, I thought this might be an opportunity to culture myself while also enjoying a good story. I was correct in my thinking. Even if you can't pick up on the satire, there is still a good classic fantasy story.

Essentially, the book details the travels of Lemuel Gulliver, who by several misfortunes, visits remote and unheard of lands. In each, Gulliver spends enough time to understand the language and culture of each of these land's inhabitants. He also details the difference in culture of his native England to the highest rulers of the visted nations. In his writing of these differences, he is able to show his dislike with the system of government of England. He does this by simply stating how things are in England and then uses the reaction of the strangers as outsiders looking in, showing their lack of respect for what Gulliver describes.

I found it very interesting to see that even as early as the 1700s there was a general dislike of government as well as lawyers.

I would recommend this book to anyone who reads the fantasy genre. Obviously, it's not an epic saga like so many most fantasy readers enjoy, but it's a nice break. I would also recommend this to high school students who are asked to pick a classic piece for a book report. It reads relatively quick and isn't as difficult to read as some of the others that I've tried to read.

43 The Problem with Pride
Recently, in my 11th grade english class, we studied the novel Gulliver's Travels. A brilliant writer named Jonathan swift, who knew how to satirize exceptionally well, wrote Gulliver's Travels. When he wrote the novel his intent was not to vex the world, but to train the mind. Gulliver's Travels trains your mind through the knowledge of human sin. The number one sin is pride, and swift defines pride as a failure to realize your own limitations. Pride and the training of the mind are pointed out through all four books of this novel....

I enjoyed this book because it points out that pride is good, yet you have got to be careful because too much pride can send you down the wrong path. The book also shows our complex, human vices. Through pointing out our complex vices swift is trying to alert us about the direction that we are headed in. By doing so, he is trying to show correct direction to take, which would help to improve our lives.

44 Great Book
The book Gulliver's Travels, written by Johnathan Swift is a very good book for people of all ages from children to adults. This novel consists of four books, which tell of Gulliver's adventures he go on. In the first book, he goes to the town of the little people. Gulliver is the "big man" in this town, which gives him a lot of pride. He soon finds out that no matter how small the Liliputians are they can commit human sized vices. In book two Gulliver travels to the land of the giants. In this book, he knows sees what it's like to be little and everything is turned around for him. He is picked on and looses all his pride, which he tries his hardest to regain, but fails. In book three, he finds himself on the "floating" island of Laputa. This book is not a very great book but it still is interesting in some ways. In the last and final book, book four, Gulliver travels to the Island of the Houyhnhum's and Yahoo's. In this book, Gulliver begins to fall in love with the Houyhnum way of life. However, they consider Gulliver a Yahoo and will not let him interact with the Houyhnhum's. This novel was very good and entertaining. I would suggest this book to every reader.

45 great book
Gulliver's Travels is a great book with many adventures. Gulliver, the main character, takes many trips to different islands, where he learns the viewpoints of other people, on him and his country. He goes to a country of people that are only six inches tall. He begins to think that they can do no wrong. He soon learns that they are very corrupt individuals. He tells them about how his government works and they compare each other's. Gulliver thinks that his is the ideal government after this. The next stop for him is on an island of giants where he finds a better government than his. He is actually kind of embarrassed of his government. This occurs in book two. In book three Gulliver is brought to a floating island. He does not really interact with people like he did in the other books. He is really just Swift's mouthpiece. In book four Gulliver meets the horse like Houyhnhms. He starts to want to be a Houyhnhm. All in all this is a pretty good book and everyone should read it sometime.

46 "Gigantic" Fun!
In Jonathan Swift's masterpiece, Gulliver's Travels, he calls in to question the very aspects of human nature, and how he views our character in general. Swift leads the reader on numerous journeys with the protagonist, Gulliver. The way in which he changes our perspective of our lives causes the reader to ask the question, "What is my nature?" Swift is a satirist whose strong points are made apparent through his excellent writing style. This novel was very enjoyable and caused me to think about what we, as humans, are capable of, whether it be good or bad. This novel takes the reader to four completely different worlds where we begin an investigation into human nature, and all its capabilities. However, Swift does tend to mull over human nature and its weaknesses more than it's strong points. We begin to see a pattern in Swift's tale that leads us to believe that he does not put too much trust in us. Swift makes apparent the corruption that is strong within our government and every day lives. Although we do begin to see our flaws, we realize at the end of the tale that we are also given the precious gift of free will that allows us to make the right decisions. It is a very pleasurable reading experience that allows room to think and analyze the book. I would recommend this book to anyone age fifteen or above. It is truly enjoyable with plot twists and surprises to keep the reader interested to the end!

47 Gulliver's Travels
I recently read Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels. It is an interesting and different kind of novel. Gulliver is a ship's surgeon who journeys to several different places around the world. Gulliver first adventures to Lilliput, which is inhabited with six-inch humans who are characterized as "odious vermin". In Book two, he is in Brobdingnag, the land of the physical and moral giants. Thirdly, he lands on Laputa where science and reason live. Gulliver's final voyage leads him to the land of the Houyhnhnms and Yahoos. Here he discovers the use of perfect reasoning from the horse-like Houyhnhnms and the crude and undesired manner of the human-like Yahoos. Gulliver is a simple, objective character that we can easily trust. As his name would reveal, he is very gullible. Through each of his travels Gulliver reports to us as if we were as gullible as he is. He is incapable of reasoning unlike the Houyhnhnms whom he admires greatly. Swift uses satire a great deal in order to point out human weaknesses. Swift wrote this book during the Age of Reason in which science and technology were used to solve all problems. Throughout much of this book, especially while Gulliver is in Laputa, Swift uses satire to point out that scientific pursuits can not morally save us.

48 .......
In my opinion, Gulliver's Travels is one of the best stories of all time. Jonathan Swift is a very talented writer who knows how to connect with the reader like no other writer does. He, in a way, resembles Andy Kaufman with his humorous criticism and sarcasm. Swift, in many ways, is a comic himself. He uses satire and sarcasm at the right times and always has a quick solution to everything. He is also a ventriloquist by using Gulliver as a puppet to talk through. Swift writes and talks about political immorality and satirization of all governmental aspects of mostly England and the United States. Swift calls on the governmental members to look upon him or her self and review him or her self to think whether he or she got their job as a result not concerning ability. I think Swift makes a great point in including this in his novel. Overall, I believe this book calls for great respect and a slap to the face of any individual who doesn't appreciate it's core memorandum. I strongly urge anyone remotely interested in literature to pick this book up.

49 Politics, science, and the like
_Gulliver's Travels_ is Jonathan Swift's biting satire of just about everything he thought was wrong with society. Lemuel Gulliver, the main character and narrator, begins his strange and fantastic journey naive and overly praising of his society, and as he continues his travels, becomes increasingly disillusioned to the point of absurdity(as he rejects the company of his wife and children in favor of horses, who are naturally wise and good and better than human beings in every possible way). A witty satire with an interesting plot.

50 Wonderful Introduction for Children to this Classic
My daughter and I have been reading (and re-reading!) the DK Classics (of which "Gulliver's Travels" is part of) for several years, since she was 5. These books are very colorful, with lots of illustrations and photos of genuine artifacts, maps, and people from the era in which the story is set. Side panel text gives background information about the author, pictures and story. These "additions" (which do not detract from, but only enhance the story) help the young reader (and the adult too!) put the story into context. It is like getting both a classic and a pictorial history book rolled into one! The text is easy to read. My daughter is now 9, and reading the books on her own. Not only has she developed an appreciation for classic literature, but for history as well. These are great books for parents to read with their children. I highly recommend them!

51 HUMANS: BIG AND LITTLE; UNWISE AND UNCOUTH
GULLIVER'S TRAVELS can be looked at from at least two different viewpoints. Traditionally, it is critiqued on a stand alone basis as a satire written by a misanthrope. If taken within his overall body of work, however, it can still be perceived as a satire, but one written by a man with a deep concern for mankind.

Parts I and II take a look at the foolish side of Englishmen, their religion, their politics, and their government. Parts III and IV satirize humanity on a much broader scale.

In Part I, we find Lemuel Gulliver shipwrecked on the Island of Lilliput where the average inhabitant is about six inches tall. The Lilliputians are actually small in both body and mind. English politics and religion are here taken to task by descriptions of the doctrinal differences between those who wear high heels and those who wear low heels and by the dispute between those who break their eggs at the large end and those who prefer the small end. Like England, through much of history, the Lilliputians are constantly at war with their traditional enemies from across the chanel.

In Part II, Gulliver is again stranded, this time in Brobdingnag, where the size proportions are just the opposite as in Lilliput. Here, Gulliver is tiny in comparison to the inhabitants. Here, too, Swift takes England and, for that matter, most of mankind, to task for being petty and contentious. After Gulliver has described European manners, customs, and behaviour to the king, the king observes that, "I cannot but conclude (that) the bulk of your natives (are) the most pernicious race of odious vermin . . . . to crawl on the face of the earth."

Part III takes on the world of scientists, philosophers, and all of their ilk. On the flying Island of Laputa, the Continent of Lagado, and the Islands of Sorcerors and Immortals, Gulliver meets wise men who spend their lives in speculation but are incapable of dealing with the simplest practical problem, professors who spend their lives attempting to extract sunlight from cucumbers, and immortals who reveal history to be nothing more than a series of deceptions.

Finally, in Part IV, he finds himself in the country of the Houyhnhnms, who are horses with the power to reason. These reasoning horses lead clean and simple lives in contrast to the beastlike humans, known as Yahoos, who are filthy, brutal, and uncouth. In the Yahoos, Gulliver recognizes the human race, and, after finally returning home, he can never again be comfortable in the company of other humans.

Read by itself, GULLIVER'S TRAVELS is a satire on the foibles, weaknesses, and petty corruptions of the human species in general, and Englishmen in specific, as written by a rather embittered misanthrope. That is a correct reading, but not the only one. Read in the context of many of Swift's other works, particularly his many political pamphlets, I think that a case can be made that GULLIVER'S TRAVELS is a satirically inventive work written by a man who really cares about the future of humankind, and, using Gulliver as his example, that it is never too late to see the light.

As an aside, Gulliver's visit to Lilliput has, through the years, enchanted countless numbers of children. It is in this section that we get a peek at Swift's humorous side.

52 HUMANS: BIG AND LITTLE, UNWISE AND UNCOUTH
GULLIVER'S TRAVELS can be looked at in at least two different ways. On a stand alone basis, it is a satire written by a misanthrope, but if taken within the context of his overall body of work, it can also be perceived as a satire written by a man with a deep concern for mankind.

Part I and Part II satirize Englishmen, their religion, politics, and their government. Parts III and IV satirize humanity on a much broader scale.

In Part I, we find Lemuel Gulliver shipwrecked on the Island of Lilliput where the average inhabitant is about six inches tall. They are actually small in both body and mind. English religion and politics are satirized by descriptions of those who wear high heels and those who wear low heels, and by the dispute between those who feel their eggs should be broken at the big end and those whose preference is the small end. Like England, through much of history, the Lilliputians are constantly at war with their traditional enemies from across the chanel.

In Part II, Gulliver is again stranded, this time on Brobdingnag, where the size proportions are just the opposite as in Part I. Here, Gulliver is tiny in relation to the inhabitants. Here, too, England, and to some extent all of humankind, are taken to task. After Gulliver has described European manners, customs, and behaviour to the king, the king comments that "I cannot but conclude (that) the bulk of your natives (are) the most pernicious race of odious vermin . . . . to crawl on the face of the earth."

Part III takes on the world of scientists, philosophers, historians, and "projectors." On the flying Island of Laputa, the continent of Lagado, and the Islands of the Sorcerers and Immortals, He meets wise men who spend their lives in speculation but can't handle the practical necessities of life, professors who dedicate their lives to extracting sunlight from cucumbers, and immortals who reveal history to be nothing more than a series of deceptions.

Finally, in Part IV, he finds himself in the country of the Houyhnhnms, who are horses with the power to reason. These horses lead clean and simple lives in contrast to the humans, known as Yahoos, who are filthy, brutal, and uncouth. In the Yahoos, Gulliver recognizes the human race, and after finally returning home, he can never again be comfortable in the company of other humans.

Read by itself, GULLIVER'S TRAVELS is a satire on the foibles, weaknesses, and petty corruptions of the human race in general, and English politicians in specific, as written by a rather bitter misanthrope. That is a correct reading, but not necessarily the only one. Read in the context of many of Swift's other works, particularly his many political pamphlets, I think that it can be perceived as a satirically inventive work written by a man who really cares about the future of the human race.

As an aside, Gulliver's visit to Lilliput has, through the years, enchanted countless numbers of children. It is in this section that we get a peek at Swift's humorous side.

53 Gullivers Travels
In Gulliver's travels book 1 Gulliver is shiped recked and while he is asleep he floats to the shore of the Liliaput. While he is asleep on the shore a liliapution finds him and goes back and tells the king. The king gets all of his men so that they can move him into the city. When they get Gulliver into the city they tie him up by his ankle to a old temple. The temple is no longer in use because there was a murder in the temple and they say that there is a curse in it. At first the liliaputions are nice to Gulliver but they begin to start doing cruel things to him. They started to demand task that Gulliver was not up to doing. They would tell him that he has to go to there rivaling enemies and capture all of them and turn them into slaves. Gulliver begins to get annoyed with the little guys. So he leaves the island of liliput and goes to the rivaling island Bleufuscu and makes friends with them. While Guliver is there he decides that he wants to go home. While he is sitting on the beach he sees a piece of wood out in the sea. He swims out there to get it. When he brings it back he does some touching up on it and turn it into a boat. He gets some of the Blefuscians to help him build some sails and he puts them on his boat and sails away.

54 A classic
Orwell was a big fan of this book and you can see that reflected in his style. Swifts prose is clear and concise. It is a book which contains something for everyone, on the surface the stories are enjoyable simple tales, yet underneath Swift's satire bites very hard. I recommend it to everyone. Buy it.

55 Gulliver -an ironic book?
Gulliver`s Travels is esentially a book about human nature , its capacities and its limitations . The first voyage to Liliput is the most charming as it is used the play of proportions .Gulliver is a giant among the people so small that they look like"tiny animals ". The liliputans represent the weak creature who yet has much courage , inventedness and curiosity in the face of the danger . Their moral smalness suggest that nomatter the size , man is a political animal and at the same time the emptiness of public grandour of which swift laughs ironically.As an examle , the qualities required for officers in the state to obtain a social position:ballancing on the rope ; the desire of getting as many titles as possible . Gulliver became an embarassment because of his good consumption of food . His enemies wanted to put him to death . His punishment is changed to blinding . Their thinking is selfish . His carcasses will be smaller at his death and less likely to produce infections in the country ; by starving him he will be smaller . the idea is that where political action is in question , morality has nothing to do with the matter . - Lilliput shows the smallness in man , his pride in money , his political uselessness .

THE SECOND VOYAGE -Gulliver himself makes in his comments some links between the first and the second voyage . They are linked on the very device they are based: the relative size . The device is a satiric one . - the brobdingnags are large men and as a result of this we see clearly our phisical graceness . - Gulliver has to face different degrating physical adventures . - He is put in a cage like an animal . - Swift let us understand that physical size means moral largeness . Giants are generous , warm and human . The Brobningnag will remanin an ideal in this respect , as they are reffered to in the last chapter of the book . - B. is not a perfect state ; it has beggars and men who exploit others . The B. visited by Gulliver is fortunate in its monarch , who unlike the emperor in Liliput , is very good with his subjects . He refuses to accept Gulliver`s offer of the secret of the gunpowder ; he is an enlighted king who loves his people and wants to do his best for his subjects moral and physical state .

THE 3RD BOOK - it was in fact the last book to be written by swift . It is not so closely connected with the other two and thus it is less satisfactory . - presents the flying island of Laputa . - the island has a politcal reference . what is satirized is the abstract thinking . People are normal in size , but distorted in physical appearance . - they have no eye for the outworld ,for reality . - their human shape is distorted by their loss of human quality ; they live in a world of phantasy . - the capital prooduce a certain atmosphere in which man`s activity is replaced by the chance of a machine . - the excessive intellectualism of the flying island led to separation from the real world .

THE 4TH BOOK

- Guliver is in relation with the Yakoo`s bodies on one side and horses rational mind on the other side . The 4th voyage with its theme differing creatures is a synthesis of both reason and passion . Gulliver stresses strongly on the physical unpleasantness of the Yahoos and their habits , which are a version of all passion for jewel and gold . They are the corrupt passion entirely divorced from the reason . -

56 Gulliver's Travels
"Gulliver's Travels" is a window to alien worlds. Through Lemuel Gulliver's eyes, you will view strange lands, and meet foreign people. It's fun to see through Gulliver's eyes, and to experience everything that he goes through on his voyages. "Gulliver's Travels" is classic literature at its peak. The book is extremely discriptive about the people and places that Gulliver experiences. This book alows the reader to learn to say, "What if..." I encourage readers from age 10-137 to read this book, you will be glad that you did. You will see strange worlds and different ways of lifestyle. This book lets the imagination run wild, and it dares you to think for yourself. Will you take the challenge?

57 cool book!
The Great Illustrated classics are great (no pun intended) I like Gulliver's travels. On a scale from 1 to 10 I give it a 8. It's a good book I liked the pic's thay where made very nice. I liked how the story was toled. it's fun to read. READ IT!

58 Interesting Yes, Captivating No.
I think to appreciate this novel as much as possible, you must understand that Swift was not writing this for the sake of a story. The Land of Lilliput represents a paranoid military society. Brobdingnag represents a pompous culture. The island of Laputa where everyone has high intelligence and no common sense reflects politicians. The Houyhnhnms represent the most educated class who are the closest to an ideal society. Now Swift certainly deserves credit for putting this concept together and this book does deserve a place in the classic museum of literature. Unfortunately this book has a sluggish pace. It also lacks the captivating qualities that Marlowe, Shakespeare, Milton, and Dickens had down to a science. Now if someone were doing a study of literature throughout the ages, I would say this book is an important study. On the other hand, this is not a book I would buy someone as a gift.

59 Good Story!
I just completed this book, and this reviewer found it to be very enjoyable. As I know little English or French history, the intended satire was completely missed by me. However, the story alone, on its merits, was enjoyable, readable, and satisfying. I recommend this book to children as well as adults.

60 Gulliver's Travels
I thought the book was decent. This story is about a man named Lemuel Gulliver, a doctor who loves adventure. When Gulliver signed aboard a ship he got more than he bargained for. A shipwreck leaves Gulliver ashore on an island. All the people inhabiting the island are no bigger than his finger. One of my favorite parts of the book was when Gulliver capture the enemies fleet and brought them to the emperor. These are just the beginning of Gullivers travels. I enjoyed this book although some parts were dull. I would recomend this book to young readers who have a good imagination.

61 Gulliver's Travels
Gulliver's Travels by Michael West "That a weak diseased body, a meagre countenance, and sallow complexion are the true marks of noble blood; and a healthy robust appearance is so disgraceful quality in a man of quality, that the world concludes his father to be a groom, or a coachman." This quotation is an excellent example of how much Swift loathed the nobility and monarchies, which existed during his life. Throughout the book he uses parodies, analogies, or satire to demonstrate his beliefs making for a wonderful novel that is difficult to stop reading. Gulliver's Travels is without a doubt a book not intended to be a children's story, but since Swift wrote the story with a child-like plot, people miss Swift's intent to satirize the time in which he lived. Only once one reads this novel as an adult does one realize the scornful satire on man. The unfortunate protagonist of the story is named Gulliver whom goes on four adventures to uncharted and mystical lands. The first story starts out in a place called Lilliput, a country of people one-twelfth the size of Gulliver. These people resemble the British, and his enemies there are his enemies in real life. Also, there is an empire called Blefuscu that is the French, the mortal enemies of the British. One of the best parts of this book is his analogy to the history of religious controversy in England that made Catholicism illegal. This is shown with the Big Endian and Little Endian controversy of which a former emperor (Henry VIII) cut his finger while cutting an egg on the big end, therefore making cutting the big end of the egg illegal. Part one is filed with classic satire and is immensely entertaining to read, all the while Swift added pieces that were anti-nobility. In part two, one of the major themes is avarice, and people are willing to become affluent at the expense of someone else's life. Swift implies that Gulliver is shown around as if he were part of a freak show. This is because the giants at Brobdingnag are twelve times the size of Gulliver, enabling Swift to continue the child-like appearance of the book. After the monarchs buy him, he tells them of England and the king is horrified by the boorish behavior of Europeans, and especially the nobility constantly promoting killing to further their own ends. Evidently, Swift is insulting the vulgar nature of man in seventeenth century Europe. Part three is basically a general insult to Europeans, whom at this time were only concerned with music and math. He was attempting to point out the blindness of Europe, and to show them there are other interesting things in life. When there was a mathematical mistake in the making of his clothes by the Laputians, this may have been aimed at Newton, because Swift was severely disenchanted with Newton for making a positive report on William Wood's coinage in Ireland of halfpence. (The halfpence had been constructed of poor quality copper). Obviously, Swift maintains the hilarious, vitriolic satire making the novel an instant classic. Lastly, Swift writes about the Houyhnhnms, horses, which act as people do, but are far superior. Here he insults humanity in general through the superior Houyhnhnms, calling Yahoos (humans) boorish, vile, despicable, and cruel, especially lawyers. Part four is probably the most caustic attack upon humans and the nobility, therefore making it the most entertaining piece of the book. However, the book throughout is entertaining and will keep anyone's attention, regardless if they see through the satire or not. Even though Gulliver's Travels is a magnificent novel, it can be hard to read, due to Swift having used his colossal vocabulary to a maximum. However, Swift also has context clues in the sentences allowing the reader to understand what he means some of the time, but on occasion a dictionary is incredibly useful. For example, Gulliver stated, "I lay in a profound sleep, by the force of that soporiferous medicine infused into my liquor." The words, "into my liquor," help the reader understand infused means to pour into. On the plus side, reading the novel enhanced my vocabulary astronomically with words such as declivity, draught, intrepidity, victuals, infused, and many more. Another potential problem is that Swift's satire can be obscure, and the audience may not understand what the characters are truly speaking about. However, those of us who know the history of Great Britain unequivocally will have no problem reading the novel. Fortunately, to counteract this difficulty, most copies of Gulliver's Travels have notes on specific parts of the novel because the publishers felt obliged to make it more readable. Another realistic problem is the reader may become infuriated by the repeated insults on human nature. Although Swift was correct, some people might stop reading, and this would be a disastrous mistake. One must realize that he is attempting to help civilization through caustic satire, because the whole point of satire is to expose, attack, or deride vices. If the reader can get past these three problems, it will be clear sailing, and the reading will be enjoyable and insightful. Jonathan Swift was remarkable in his ability to see the misgivings of human nature and offer insights on how to correct these definitive problems. Swift also made the novel amazingly readable and enthusiastically interesting to read. Plus, while keeping the reader enthused, he broadened the horizons of the reader's vocabulary. That is important not only for everyday life, but for national exams also. While Swift gave an important message that there are things wrong with the world in the eighteenth century, these problems still exist today. He informs the reader that war is evil and only brings about the deaths of many of our own kind for very few, if any important reasons. Also, he explained the malicious, avarice type nature of yahoos (humans) which inevitably bring about the demise of great civilizations. Finally, a problem that is very rare today, is the existence of monarchies. An absolute monarchy will have a propensity to be corrupt bringing evil and harm to all. Everything he says is true, and Swift deserves the utmost respect for writing this wonderful novel. Anyone who reads this book will surely be amazed at Swift's insight, and it should be required reading for years to come.

62 Brilliant and Engaging
Although not enrolled in the satire class at my high school, I had become fascinated by Gulliver's Travells when I heard some of my friends discuss it. I was not disappointed. It is animated and easy to read, with some moments hysterically funny. Engaging and thought-provoking, I often found myself reconsidering my notions of our society in the light of Swift's portrayal of man as absurd, irrational, & cruel. Nevertheless, I don't believe Swift had an intense distaste for the idea or ideals of humanity per se, rather a repulsion at what state humanity had let itself regress into. I thought this was the best English example of the genre (my favorite satire is Candide). This book is a "must-read" for anyone seriously thinking about his or her identity as a human being.

63 Great Book of Adventure and Satire
This book remains one of my favorites since eighth grade. It has a fine story line with some fantastic adventures of fantastic lands where Gulliver uses diplomacy to earn respect of those lands and incorporated in the book is some satire of the corruption and evils of England and the world during his time

64 Satirical Classic
I haven't read this book since I read it as a child, and it was amazing how much of it had stuck with me, and how vividly. There were sections (particularly in Brobdingnag) where I could almost recite word-for-word what was going to happen next.

Happily, like Alice in Wonderland, this is a book that ages very well. There was still the element of being just a plain old good travel story with strong images (particularly in the Lilliput and Brobdingnag sections) but there was also a wicked sense of satire that continues to be relevant and funny now more than three hundred years after the book was originally written.

The latter two sections of the book-- Laputa and the land of the Houyhnhnms-- are perhaps a little less vivid for being more pointed in their satirical content (interestingly I have no memory of these sections from my childhood reading) but that in no way detracts from the value of the book.

A must-read.

65 Sign of the times
This is an excellent book for all. The satire in this novel still rings true. Its cross-section of what it means to be human is hard to swallow at times. Not because it seems unreal but because it is extremely clear. We journey to the worlds of the simple-minded and ignorant, to the more sentient, and to the compassionate and intelligent. Which of these worlds are present to Swift all but one. Where do we Stand today?

66 The greatest satirical novel ever
Gulliver's Travels is an excellent book. In it Swift satirizes what he thought were the foibles of his time, in politics, religion, science, and society. In Part One Lemuel Gulliver is shipwrecked on Lilliput where the inhabitants are only 6 inches tall. The rivalry between Britain and France is there satirized. In Part Two he is marooned on the subcontinent of Brobdingnag where the inhabitants are giants. The insignificance of many of mankind's achievements are there satirized. Next in Part Three Gulliver is taken aboard the floating island of Laputa, where Swift takes the opportunity to satirize medicine and science altogether - incredibly Swift did not make up the crazy experiments he describes; all were sponsored at one time or another by the Royal Society. Finally in Part Four Gulliver is marooned by mutineers on the island of the Houyhnhynms, in which Swift takes his parting shot at human society - presenting them in degraded form as the Yahoos. Most people read no further in the book than Brobdingnag - I urge you to read the rest.

67 the satiric comedy adds a different perspective of English g
Gulliver simply tells us of a satiric view of sixteenth centyury England

68 A Classic story describing ourselves
I think that this book was wonderful. I understand the book tothe last words. I think that Swift was giving a hint to the world ofhow we, as humans, truly are. For example, Gulliver first was shipwrecked on an Island inhabited by short beings. He felt all magestic, like he was the leader. He felt as if he was better then all of them, number one, superior in all ways. But when he came to be at the next land, HE was the small one and he finnaly relized that he wasn't the best, the most superior. He was in the middle, like most people. Then, He came to be on a land of super advanced people and learned what humans were tyring to be, only to come to the next land and find the human races true side. I think that this was one of the best books in the world, and I think that it should be required that kids in allschools read it by at least the fifth grade. The book could give kids better moral values, and they would understand how things realy are. END

69 Ok , but not as great as I thought it would be better
I had to read Gullives Travels for a book report and I thought it was very boring

70 I liked this book
I liked Gullivers Travle's because he took a trip to the land of Talking Horses and Hunyums. The only thing I didn't like was when the Liluputiens tried to starve him.

71 The finest satirical novel written.
Swift's classic satire of English and European governments, societies, and cultures should be required reading of every college student. (Except for those who appear to be in law school as is the earlier reviewer who referred to Swift as being an "18th century Unabomber." Swift may have been conservative in his beliefs and not cared much for individuals such as Robert Boyle, who is satirized in the book, but he was not violent. Perhaps our "law student/reviewer" is offended by Swift's biting satire of lawyers and politicians in part four.) The version I read was an annotated edition by Isaac Asimov and contained many passages that had been deleted by previous publishers. Asimov's comments enable the reader to more fully appreciate Swift's satire. In part one of the novel, a ship's surgeon, Lemuel Gulliver, is shipwreaked and finds himself on the island of Lilliput, the inhabitants all being only six inches high. This section is great satire of English politics and wars. Royal ponp, feuds amongst the populace, and wars are made to look rediculous. In the second part, Gulliver finds himself in Brobdingnag in which he is only six "inches" tall (relatively speaking). This part forms another satire of European governments. In part three, Gulliver visits the flying island of Laputa where shades of ancient scholars can be called up. This section is a satire on philosophers and scientists. Scientists are portrayed as men so wrapped up intheir speculations as to be totally useless in practical affairs. Absurd experiments are described (for example, extracting sunlight from cucumbers (but, extracting energy from cucumbers and other plants is no longer so absurd Jonathan)). Also described in this third part are the Struldbergs, men and women who are immortal but who turn out to be miserable and pitiable. In part four, Gulliver travels to the Land of the Houyhnhnms, horses with intelligence but who have no passion or emotion. The word "Yahoo" originates in this part. READ IT!

72 Nihilism ain't always comforting, kids.
If one could accurately characterize Swift as similar to Hobbes, Rousseau, and Nietzsche, they would ultimately be incoherent; the three have about as much in common as, well, Lilliputians and Brobdingnabians. Jokes aside, however, I would not necessarily take such a comparison negatively. After all, human nature may be fairly base, as Hobbes would posit, and his discussion is sound if his premises hold- whether or not they do, however, is difficult to ascertain, and another issue. As far as Swift is concerned, the same holds for him: his arguments about human ability and understanding seem to me to be valid. If the goal of philosophy is truth, well, then that truth may not always be comforting... but it maintains its value. I am not saying that Swift is correct, so much as coherent... and that alone, is reason to consider his ideas. As far as eighteenth century history goes: I don't think it is necessary to understand the specifics of Swift's criticisms so much as understand the types of things he is criticizing. Someone, and I think aptly, once compared his references to Monica Lewinsky jokes. You can understand this book without fully comprehending the references, so DON'T let this put you off to a wonderfully pessimistic view of human nature.

73 Gulliver's Travels was a fun book!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I like this book because Gulliver was a nice man and longs for adventure.He signed up on a ship and crashed on an island where the people were no bigger than his finger.Before he returned home he crashed on another island where he was no bigger then the people on the island!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

74 Gulliver's Travel is the Best.
This novel is one of the few that I have ever read, but it is so far the best I ever read. This is not just for young adults but also for kids. I liked Jonathan Swift use of his imagenation to come with all the great stuff that came up with for this novel. I also like his usage of satire to mock the politics, religion, and society of his time. I always like to read thing that is making fun or moking some thing, and novel does just that. The one thing that I did't like was that it was tough to read, I had to use Masterplots to help me understand it. But it is still a good novel to read, I think it is so good that someone should make it into a cartoon, and also make a sequeal.

75 A "darn" good book
Hi my name is robin and i'm doing a school work at gullivers travels if you find a good page mail it to me

76 A Still Relevant Satire of Humanity's Bloated Pretentions
For starters, ignore the ignorant diatribe of the Dec. 31 reviewer. The whole concept of historical context must be way too complicated for some readers to understand. What kind of person comes up with an anacronistic oxymoron like "18th century Unabomber"? What kind finds fault with Swift for using a literary "formula" he perfected, simply because some later writers, like Orwell in "Animal Farm," imitated the technique to the point that it has become a modern cliche? (Swift didn't invent the technique, but he certainly was one of the first to use it so effectively) What kind of human being is capable of such questionable judgment? One who is an obnoxious, dense, unrealistic, dimwitted, pretentious, shallow bore--exactly the kind of person Swift scathingly satirizes in Gulliver's Travels.

Swift plays with perspective throughout this book, and the mirror he holds up for us cuts through such arrogant pretentions, showing all of our blemishes rather than flattering our egos. Some egos today are so frail that Swift easily infuriates them, just as he did his own contemporaries. Such vehement responses are a tribute to Swift's powers as a writer and they show that his satire is still every bit as relevant today.

This is a book that appeals to children, but it is not at all a children's book. Some adults who think like children might possibly be offended by Gulliver's Travels. Nevertheless, its status as a classic is well deserved.

77 Maybe not a "Classic"
Gulliver's Travels was all in all not a bad book. It was good entertainment at the beginning, but after Part I and II it got old. It read slow and it seemed as if the author was just trying to use up the pages. I would recommend you read it, but not as a first choice.

78 Swift was an 18th century Unabomber
This book is definitely not the fuzzy, adorable story of big people, little people, and talking horses that currently rests in the popular perception. Sure, it has some interesting scenes and sharp satire. But the Houyhnhnm section of the book (roughly the last fourth) is an unending, unrelenting, anti-human, anti-technology diatribe worthy of Hobbes, Rosseau or Nietzsche. Swift's philosophy apparently is that we should all know our place in the world and never try to improve it; we should live close to the land and shun technology; we should live in simple huts and contemplate good, pure thoughts while communing with nature. If Swift were alive today he'd be living in Montana, sending mailbombs to college professors.

Swift's manner of exposition on human shortcomings is also particularly blunt, cheap, and crude. It's a formula repeated by many authors: first, create mythological creatures (talking horses in this case). Second, bestow them with superhuman qualities. Third, compare human beings to the creatures. Fourth, rant on and on about how humans come up short. The technique is boring, unsatisfying, underhanded, unilluminating, unrealistic, unhelpful, and obnoxious.

So if you do decide to read this book, my recommendation is to read the first two voyages only, and leave the rest in your bathroom in case you run out of toilet paper.

79 Surprisingly heavyhanded and bawdy--but still excellent
I must agree with the previous reviewer that I found Swift's satire to be very heavyhanded at times (e.g., a codeword for "the Administration" is "a running sore"; a professor's cure for colic is to ram bellows up the patient's butt). I suppose that this is because some of the topical and local humor is lost on readers, who, reading 300 years later, do not always understand some of the subtler jabs and double meanings.

I also found the book to be surprisingly risqu? (e.g., a 16-year-old giant using Captain Gulliver as her sex toy), not exactly the image the book has in the current public perception. But that does not diminish the book in any way; it is still an outstanding adventure that can be read on at least two levels, and can be enjoyed by all. In this respect it is similar to the Chronicles of Narnia.

80 Satiric travels into several remote nations of the world.
As a result of an astounding run of bad luck, Lemuel Gulliver, first a ship's surgeon and later a ship's captain, is washed ashore in one strange place after another.

First he meets the Lilliputians, tiny people about six inches tall. Next he visits the Brobdingnaggians, giants as large compared to Gulliver as he was to the Lilliputians. His third voyage takes him to Laputa, Balnibarbi, Luggnagg, Glubbdubdrib, and Japan.

His last voyage is to the country of the Houyhnhnms. On his first three voyages, he sees the foibles and pettiness of humanity by observing the strange humans he meets. But he observes them from his own human perspective. In the country of the Houyhnhnms, he meets the degenerate and repulsive human-like Yahoos and the almost perfect horse-like Houyhnhnms. Viewing humanity (as represented by the Yahoos) from the Houyhnhnm perspective so sickens Gulliver that upon his return to England, he is loathe to associate himself with his fellow humans and requires a lenghty period of adjustment before he can look at himself in the mirror or even eat with his wife and children.

Gulliver's Travels is satire. Almost nothing in 18th century England is safe from attack by Swift's pen. Although much of the book is dated, the same sort of humans that Swift wrote about are still around today.

81 good authorative edition with informative notes
I like that this edition preserves the original 18th Century spelling, punctuation and grammar. Too many editions modernize or Americanize the text. The notes at the back are helpful but not intrusive. And it has an overall feel of quality, even though a paperback.

I own upwards of 30 editions of Gulliver and this is the one I refer to most often when I need to check a citation or another point of information. I also recommend it immediately to anyone asking for an informative edition. It helps that it is inexpensive and in-print, but it would be my recommendation even if it was harder to come by.

82 Swift's sattire can be considered cynical:
Although Swift's novel is often read by children, its rough handling of social topics has gained him a reputation for cynicism. In some circles, the book is considered to represent the frustrations of a twisted misanthrope. However, The way Swift paints his angry sattire into a child's fantasy shows his dexterity as a writer. This amusing little fairytale is not to be taken lightly.

83 My favorite all-time classic
In addition to being a marvelous fantasy, this book has much to say about government and human beings.

84 Are you kidding me?
Who ever said this book was not just for kids is crazy. This book isn't for kids period. It was too long, too confusing, and too boring.It was enough that he traveled to a place with tiny people and another one with giant, but the land with the talking horses was too much. Like someone is going to learn a language(spoken by horses) in less than a year,or at all. This book was Awful!

85 Not just for kids!
It's amazing how our perspective changes as we age. What we thought was important as children may now seem completely insignificant, replaced by entirely new priorities, priorities children wouldn't even understand. At the same time, things we used to take for granted, like having dinner on the table, being taken care of when we're ill, or getting toys fixed when they are broken, have become items on adult worry lists.

Your perspective on literature can change, too. Reading a story for a second time can give you a completely different view of it. "Huckleberry Finn" by Mark Twain, which I enjoyed as a sort of an adventure story when I was a kid, now reads as a harsh criticism of society in general and the institution of slavery in particular.

The same thing is true of "Gulliver's Travels" by Jonathan Swift. The first thing I realized upon opening the cover of this book as a college student was that I probably had never really read it before.

I knew the basic plot of Lemuel Gulliver's first two voyages to Lilliput and Brobdingnag, home of the tiny and giant people, respectively, but he had two other voyages of which I was not even aware: to a land of philosophers who are so lost in thought they can't see the simplest practical details, Laputa, and to a land ruled by wise and gentle horses or Houyhnhnms and peopled by wild, beastly human-like creatures called Yahoos.

While this book has become famous and even beloved by children, Jonathan Swift was certainly not trying to write a children's book.

Swift was well known for his sharp, biting wit, and his bitter criticism of 18th century England and all her ills. This is the man who, to point out how ridiculous English prejudices had become, wrote "A Modest Proposal" which suggested that the Irish raise their children as cattle, to be eaten as meat, and thereby solve the problems of poverty and starvation faced in that country. As horrible as that proposal is, it was only an extension of the kinds of solutions being proposed at the time.

So, although "Gulliver's Travels" is entertaining, entertainment was not Swift's primary purpose. Swift used this tale of a guillable traveler exploring strange lands to point out some of the inane and ridiculous elements of his own society.

For example, in describing the government of Lilliput, Swift explains that officials are selected based on how well they can play two games, Rope-Dancing and Leaping and Creeping. These two games required great skill in balance, entertained the watching public, and placed the politicians in rather ridiculous positions, perhaps not so differently from elections of leaders in the 18th century and even in modern times.

Give this book a look again, or for the first time. Even in cases in which the exact object of Swift's satire has been forgotten, his sweeping social commentary still rings true. Sometimes it really does seem that we are all a bunch of Yahoos.

86 Perfect for desert island!
Many would bring some escapist fiction like Robinson Crusoe or Swiss Family Robinson which tell of ways to deal with such a situation. I choose Gulliver's Travels. Gulliver, thanks to the inventiveness and satire of Swift, manages to escape numerous times from many uncharted locales. While I may never run into Lilliputians or the like, at least I'll have optimism and the knowledge that I leave my impression wherever I go.