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literarycreature's review against another edition
funny
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.0
cemoses's review against another edition
3.0
Think of Gullivers Travels. It was enjoyable but a bit slow in parts. The best parts were where he makes fun of religion.
gingerliss's review against another edition
4.0
Although difficult to get through some parts, all in all a very good and interesting read. Would love to read it again at some point at my own pace and without reading a million other things at the same time.
uhambe_nami's review against another edition
4.0
Frequently compared to [b:Gulliver's Travels|7733|Gulliver's Travels|Jonathan Swift|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1344534942s/7733.jpg|2394716], Erewhon is a satire which holds various aspects of Victorian society under scrutiny. Quite like Lemuel Gulliver, the narrator stumbles upon a country where things are rather different from what he is used to. Among the Erewhonians, sickness is a crime and one can be persecuted for contracting measles, while acts like stealing and embezzling money are considered minor indispositions that can be treated by a "family straightener".
But the core of this satire is formed by an "extract" of The Book of the Machines, which occupies all of chapters XXIII to XXV. The Erewhonians have destroyed most of their machines for fear that they would develop consciousness and become the dominant species in Erewhon, and the considerations for this destruction are the subject of this Book of the Machines. I thought that these chapters had a surprisingly modern feel to it. The observations that machines are becoming ever smaller and more sophisticated, almost as if they were subject to natural selection; that machines that produce other machines can be thought of as having a reproductive system; that consciousness isn't restricted to human beings - these observations aren't that different from what modern followers of the "strong AI" hypothesis are saying. No wonder that [a:George Dyson|111356|George B. Dyson|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1286653062p2/111356.jpg] picked up on it and used Butler's arguments in his recent book [b:Darwin Among the Machines|191355|Darwin Among The Machines The Evolution Of Global Intelligence|George B. Dyson|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347315954s/191355.jpg|185003].
Erewhon is not without its flaws. As a story, it lacks something and the characters are rather flat. But it works as a book of philosophical ideas, I think. Butler was clearly influenced by Darwin's evolution theory and railed against the anthropocentric attitudes of Victorian England. With Erewhon, Samuel Butler turned Darwin's theory on the evolution of species into an evolution of intelligence and the realisation that we humans do not have a monopoly on it.
Even a potato in a dark cellar has a certain low cunning about him which serves him in excellent stead. He knows perfectly well what he wants and how to get it. He sees the light coming from the cellar window and sends his shoots crawling straight thereto: they will crawl along the floor and up the wall and out at the cellar window; if there be a little earth anywhere on the journey he will find it and use it for his own ends.
Go ahead, have a good laugh about it all. Reading Erewhon is good fun, and I think that even now, 140+ years after this was published, Samuel Butler's ideas are well worth paying attention to.
But the core of this satire is formed by an "extract" of The Book of the Machines, which occupies all of chapters XXIII to XXV. The Erewhonians have destroyed most of their machines for fear that they would develop consciousness and become the dominant species in Erewhon, and the considerations for this destruction are the subject of this Book of the Machines. I thought that these chapters had a surprisingly modern feel to it. The observations that machines are becoming ever smaller and more sophisticated, almost as if they were subject to natural selection; that machines that produce other machines can be thought of as having a reproductive system; that consciousness isn't restricted to human beings - these observations aren't that different from what modern followers of the "strong AI" hypothesis are saying. No wonder that [a:George Dyson|111356|George B. Dyson|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1286653062p2/111356.jpg] picked up on it and used Butler's arguments in his recent book [b:Darwin Among the Machines|191355|Darwin Among The Machines The Evolution Of Global Intelligence|George B. Dyson|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347315954s/191355.jpg|185003].
Erewhon is not without its flaws. As a story, it lacks something and the characters are rather flat. But it works as a book of philosophical ideas, I think. Butler was clearly influenced by Darwin's evolution theory and railed against the anthropocentric attitudes of Victorian England. With Erewhon, Samuel Butler turned Darwin's theory on the evolution of species into an evolution of intelligence and the realisation that we humans do not have a monopoly on it.
Even a potato in a dark cellar has a certain low cunning about him which serves him in excellent stead. He knows perfectly well what he wants and how to get it. He sees the light coming from the cellar window and sends his shoots crawling straight thereto: they will crawl along the floor and up the wall and out at the cellar window; if there be a little earth anywhere on the journey he will find it and use it for his own ends.
Go ahead, have a good laugh about it all. Reading Erewhon is good fun, and I think that even now, 140+ years after this was published, Samuel Butler's ideas are well worth paying attention to.
judelon's review against another edition
3.0
Some very interesting and prescient essays, strung together by a hair-thin plot.
seductivefox's review against another edition
1.0
I actually didn't finish it cuz it was so incredibly boring
smitchy's review against another edition
3.0
There is a lot that is still relevant and many point that will make you think. While it may have been written as a study / satire of Victorian life and morals there are may points that will make you think - eg. getting rid of the machines because they will eventually evolve to superceed us has echoes in Issac Asimov's works. The whole extreme vegetarian thing that a professor takes to extremes in order to bring to a head the stupid punishments for eating meat and the rationalisations that got the Erewhonians there in the first place - this would be a great book club or school essay book.
On the down side several chapters JUST DRAG!
On the down side several chapters JUST DRAG!
mimipolston's review against another edition
3.0
The best book from the 1840s about artificial intelligence and veganism that I've ever read.