Gulliver’s Travels

By Jonathan Swift and Mint Editions

Gulliver’s strange adventures in some of the most unusual lands ever imagined have made this one of the rare classics with an enduring and wide-ranging appeal to all ages.

Gulliver’s bad luck at sea not only gets him shipwrecked and castaway, but repeatedly throws him into strange societies of even stranger people. Readers are likely aware of Gulliver’s experiences in Lilliput, where he meets a kingdom of six-inch-tall people with a set of prejudices that are as rigid as they are ridiculous. They may be less familiar with Gulliver’s time among the giants of Brobdingnag, the science-obsessed residents of the flying island of Laputa or the horse-like and thoughtful Houyhnhnms, all of which are much less well known despite being every bit as inventive and thought-provoking. Swift’s straightforward narrative style adds both realism and a kind of deadpan humor to his outrageous flights of the imagination. The fantastical nature of Gulliver’s adventures have led the book, especially the section taking place in Lilliput, to be seen by some as a story for children, but the tale’s political and philosophical underpinnings are not hidden and cast a decidedly skeptical eye on humanity. Seen as a collection of delightful fairy tales or as fables that probe the nature of society, Gulliver’s Travels occupies a unique position in the canon of English literature and will undoubtedly be reinterpreted, and enjoyed, as long as books are read. Included in this Mint Edition is Swift’s fierce satirical essay, A Modest Proposal.

With an eye-catching new cover, and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Gulliver’s Travels is both modern and readable.

Since our inception in 2020, Mint Editions has kept sustainability and innovation at the forefront of our mission. Each and every Mint Edition title gets a fresh, professionally typeset manuscript and a dazzling new cover, all while maintaining the integrity of the original book.

With thousands of titles in our collection, we aim to spotlight diverse public domain works to help them find modern audiences. Mint Editions celebrates a breadth of literary works, curated from both canonical and overlooked classics from writers around the globe.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Mint Editions
• Release date: Nov 22, 2020
• ISBN: 9781513266299

Jonathan Swift

Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) was an Irish poet and satirical writer. When the spread of Catholicism in Ireland became prevalent, Swift moved to England, where he lived and worked as a writer. Due to the controversial nature of his work, Swift often wrote under pseudonyms. In addition to his poetry and satirical prose, Swift also wrote for political pamphlets and since many of his works provided political commentary this was a fitting career stop for Swift. When he returned to Ireland, he was ordained as a priest in the Anglican church. Despite this, his writings stirred controversy about religion and prevented him from advancing in the clergy.

Book preview

PART 1

A VOYAGE TO LILLIPUT

Chapter 1

The author gives some account of himself and family. His first inducements to travel. He is shipwrecked, and swims for his life, gets safe on shore in the country of Lilliput; is made a prisoner, and carried up the country.

My father had a small estate in Nottinghamshire; I was the third of five sons. He sent me to Emanuel College in Cambridge at fourteen years old, where I resided three years, and applied myself close to my studies; but the charge of maintaining me, although I had a very scanty allowance, being too great for a narrow fortune, I was bound apprentice to Mr. James Bates, an eminent surgeon in London, with whom I continued four years. My father now and then sending me small sums of money, I laid them out in learning navigation, and other parts of the mathematics, useful to those who intend to travel, as I always believed it would be, some time or other, my fortune to do. When I left Mr. Bates, I went down to my father: where, by the assistance of him and my uncle John, and some other relations, I got forty pounds, and a promise of thirty pounds a year to maintain me at Leyden: there I studied physic two years and seven months, knowing it would be useful in long voyages.

Soon after my return from Leyden, I was recommended by my good master, Mr. Bates, to be surgeon to the Swallow, Captain Abraham Pannel, commander; with whom I continued three years and a half, making a voyage or two into the Levant, and some other parts. When I came back I resolved to settle in London; to which Mr. Bates, my master, encouraged me, and by him I was recommended to several patients. I took part of a small house in the Old Jewry; and being advised to alter my condition, I married Mrs. Mary Burton, second daughter to Mr. Edmund Burton, hosier, in Newgate-street, with whom I received four hundred pounds for a portion.

But my good master Bates dying in two years after, and I having few friends, my business began to fail; for my conscience would not suffer me to imitate the bad practice of too many among my brethren. Having therefore consulted with my wife, and some of my acquaintance, I determined to go again to sea. I was surgeon successively in two ships, and made several voyages, for six years, to the East and West Indies, by which I got some addition to my fortune. My hours of leisure I spent in reading the best authors, ancient and modern, being always provided with a good number of books; and when I was ashore, in observing the manners and dispositions of the people, as well as learning their language; wherein I had a great facility, by the strength of my memory.

The last of these voyages not proving very fortunate, I grew weary of the sea, and intended to stay at home with my wife and family. I removed from the Old Jewry to Fetter Lane, and from thence to Wapping, hoping to get business among the sailors; but it would not turn to account. After three years expectation that things would mend, I accepted an advantageous offer from Captain William Prichard, master of the Antelope, who was making a voyage to the South Sea. We set sail from Bristol, May 4, 1699, and our voyage was at first very prosperous.

It would not be proper, for some reasons, to trouble the reader with the particulars of our adventures in those seas; let it suffice to inform him, that in our passage from thence to the East Indies, we were driven by a violent storm to the north-west of Van Diemen’s Land. By an observation, we found ourselves in the latitude of 30 degrees 2 minutes south. Twelve of our crew were dead by immoderate labour and ill food; the rest were in a very weak condition. On the 5th of November, which was the beginning of summer in those parts, the weather being very hazy, the seamen spied a rock within half a cable’s length of the ship; but the wind was so strong, that we were driven directly upon it, and immediately split. Six of the crew, of whom I was one, having let down the boat into the sea, made a shift to get clear of the ship and the rock. We rowed, by my computation, about three leagues, till we were able to work no longer, being already spent with labour while we were in the ship. We therefore trusted ourselves to the mercy of the waves, and in about half an hour the boat was overset by a sudden flurry from the north. What became of my companions in the boat, as well as of those who escaped on the rock, or were left in the vessel, I cannot tell; but conclude they were all lost. For my own part, I swam as fortune directed me, and was pushed forward by wind and tide. I often let my legs drop, and could feel no bottom; but when I was almost gone, and able to struggle no longer, I found myself within my depth; and by this time the storm was much abated. The declivity was so small, that I walked near a mile before I got to the shore, which I conjectured was about eight o’clock in the evening. I then advanced forward near half a mile, but could not discover any sign of houses or inhabitants; at least I was in so weak a condition, that I did not observe them. I was extremely tired, and with that, and the heat of the weather, and about half a pint of brandy that I drank as I left the ship, I found myself much inclined to sleep. I lay down on the grass, which was very short and soft, where I slept sounder than ever I remembered to have done in my life, and, as I reckoned, about nine hours; for when I awaked, it was just day-light. I attempted to rise, but was not able to stir: for, as I happened to lie on my back, I found my arms and legs were strongly fastened on each side to the ground; and my hair, which was long and thick, tied down in the same manner. I likewise felt several slender ligatures across my body, from my arm-pits to my thighs. I could only look upwards; the sun began to grow hot, and the light offended my eyes. I heard a confused noise about me; but in the posture I lay, could see nothing except the sky. In a little time I felt something alive moving on my left leg, which advancing gently forward over my breast, came almost up to my chin; when, bending my eyes downwards as much as I could, I perceived it to be a human creature not six inches high, with a bow and arrow in his hands, and a quiver at his back. In the mean time, I felt at least forty more of the same kind (as I conjectured) following the first. I was in the utmost astonishment, and roared so loud, that they all ran back in a fright; and some of them, as I was afterwards told, were hurt with the falls they got by leaping from my sides upon the ground. However, they soon returned, and one of them, who ventured so far as to get a full sight of my face, lifting up his hands and eyes by way of admiration, cried out in a shrill but distinct voice, Hekinah degul: the others repeated the same words several times, but then I knew not what they meant. I lay all this while, as the reader may believe, in great uneasiness. At length, struggling to get loose, I had the fortune to break the strings, and wrench out the pegs that fastened my left arm to the ground; for, by lifting it up to my face, I discovered the methods they had taken to bind me, and at the same time with a violent pull, which gave me excessive pain, I a little loosened the strings that tied down my hair on the left side, so that I was just able to turn my head about two inches. But the creatures ran off a second time, before I could seize them; whereupon there was a great shout in a very shrill accent, and after it ceased I heard one of them cry aloud Tolgo phonac; when in an instant I felt above a hundred arrows discharged on my left hand, which, pricked me like so many needles; and besides, they shot another flight into the air, as we do bombs in Europe, whereof many, I suppose, fell on my body, (though I felt them not), and some on my face, which I immediately covered with my left hand. When this shower of arrows was over, I fell a groaning with grief and pain; and then striving again to get loose, they discharged another volley larger than the first, and some of them attempted with spears to stick me in the sides; but by good luck I had on a buff jerkin, which they could not pierce. I thought it the most prudent method to lie still, and my design was to continue so till night, when, my left hand being already loose, I could easily free myself: and as for the inhabitants, I had reason to believe I might be a match for the greatest army they could bring against me, if they were all of the same size with him that I saw. But fortune disposed otherwise of me. When the people observed I was quiet, they discharged no more arrows; but, by the noise I heard, I knew their numbers increased; and about four yards from me, over against my right ear, I heard a knocking for above an hour, like that of people at work; when turning my head that way, as well as the pegs and strings would permit me, I saw a stage erected about a foot and a half from the ground, capable of holding four of the inhabitants, with two or three ladders to mount it: from whence one of them, who seemed to be a person of quality, made me a long speech, whereof I understood not one syllable. But I should have mentioned, that before the principal person began his oration, he cried out three times, Langro dehul san (these words and the former were afterwards repeated and explained to me); whereupon, immediately, about fifty of the inhabitants came and cut the strings that fastened the left side of my head, which gave me the liberty of turning it to the right, and of observing the person and gesture of him that was to speak. He appeared to be of a middle age, and taller than any of the other three who attended him, whereof one was a page that held up his train, and seemed to be somewhat longer than my middle finger; the other two stood one on each side to support him. He acted every part of an orator, and I could observe many periods of threatenings, and others of promises, pity, and kindness. I answered in a few words, but in the most submissive manner, lifting up my left hand, and both my eyes to the sun, as calling him for a witness; and being almost famished with hunger, having not eaten a morsel for some hours before I left the ship, I found the demands of nature so strong upon me, that I could not forbear showing my impatience (perhaps against the strict rules of decency) by putting my finger frequently to my mouth, to signify that I wanted food. The hurgo (for so they call a great lord, as I afterwards learnt) understood me very well. He descended from the stage, and commanded that several ladders should be applied to my sides, on which above a hundred of the inhabitants mounted and walked towards my mouth, laden with baskets full of meat, which had been provided and sent thither by the king’s orders, upon the first intelligence he received of me. I observed there was the flesh of several animals, but could not distinguish them by the taste. There were shoulders, legs, and loins, shaped like those of mutton, and very well dressed, but smaller than the wings of a lark. I ate them by two or three at a mouthful, and took three loaves at a time, about the bigness of musket bullets. They supplied me as fast as they could, showing a thousand marks of wonder and astonishment at my bulk and appetite. I then made another sign, that I wanted drink. They found by my eating that a small quantity would not suffice me; and being a most ingenious people, they slung up, with great dexterity, one of their largest hogsheads, then rolled it towards my hand, and beat out the top; I drank it off at a draught, which I might well do, for it did not hold half a pint, and tasted like a small wine of Burgundy, but much more delicious. They brought me a second hogshead, which I drank in the same manner, and made signs for more; but they had none to give me. When I had performed these wonders, they shouted for joy, and danced upon my breast, repeating several times as they did at first, Hekinah degul. They made me a sign that I should throw down the two hogsheads, but first warning the people below to stand out of the way, crying aloud, Borach mevolah; and when they saw the vessels in the air, there was a universal shout of Hekinah degul. I confess I was often tempted, while they were passing backwards and forwards on my body, to seize forty or fifty of the first that came in my reach, and dash them against the ground. But the remembrance of what I had felt, which probably might not be the worst they could do, and the promise of honour I made them—for so I interpreted my submissive behaviour—soon drove out these imaginations. Besides, I now considered myself as bound by the laws of hospitality, to a people who had treated me with so much expense and magnificence. However, in my thoughts I could not sufficiently wonder at the intrepidity of these diminutive mortals, who durst venture to mount and walk upon my body, while one of my hands was at liberty, without trembling at the very sight of so prodigious a creature as I must appear to them. After some time, when they observed that I made no more demands for meat, there appeared before me a person of high rank from his imperial majesty. His excellency, having mounted on the small of my right leg, advanced forwards up to my face, with about a dozen of his retinue; and producing his credentials under the signet royal, which he applied close to my eyes, spoke about ten minutes without any signs of anger, but with a kind of determinate resolution, often pointing forwards, which, as I afterwards found, was towards the capital city, about half a mile distant; whither it was agreed by his majesty in council that I must be conveyed. I answered in few words, but to no purpose, and made a sign with my hand that was loose, putting it to the other (but over his excellency’s head for fear of hurting him or his train) and then to my own head and body, to signify that I desired my liberty. It appeared that he understood me well enough, for he shook his head by way of disapprobation, and held his hand in a posture to show that I must be carried as a prisoner. However, he made other signs to let me understand that I should have meat and drink enough, and very good treatment. Whereupon I once more thought of attempting to break my bonds; but again, when I felt the smart of their arrows upon my face and hands, which were all in blisters, and many of the darts still sticking in them, and observing likewise that the number of my enemies increased, I gave tokens to let them know that they might do with me what they pleased. Upon this, the hurgo and his train withdrew, with much civility and cheerful countenances. Soon after I heard a general shout, with frequent repetitions of the words Peplom selan; and I felt great numbers of people on my left side relaxing the cords to such a degree, that I was able to turn upon my right, and to ease myself with making water; which I very plentifully did, to the great astonishment of the people; who, conjecturing by my motion what I was going to do, immediately opened to the right and left on that side, to avoid the torrent, which fell with such noise and violence from me. But before this, they had daubed my face and both my hands with a sort of ointment, very pleasant to the smell, which, in a few minutes, removed all the smart of their arrows. These circumstances, added to the refreshment I had received by their victuals and drink, which were very nourishing, disposed me to sleep. I slept about eight hours, as I was afterwards assured; and it was no wonder, for the physicians, by the emperor’s order, had mingled a sleepy potion in the hogsheads of wine.

It seems, that upon the first moment I was discovered sleeping on the ground, after my landing, the emperor had early notice of it by an express; and determined in council, that I should be tied in the manner I have related, (which was done in the night while I slept;) that plenty of meat and drink should be sent to me, and a machine prepared to carry me to the capital city.

This resolution perhaps may appear very bold and dangerous, and I am confident would not be imitated by any prince in Europe on the like occasion. However, in my opinion, it was extremely prudent, as well as generous: for, supposing these people had endeavoured to kill me with their spears and arrows, while I was asleep, I should certainly have awaked with the first sense of smart, which might so far have roused my rage and strength, as to have enabled me to break the strings wherewith I was tied; after which, as they were not able to make resistance, so they could expect no mercy.

These people are most excellent mathematicians, and arrived to a great perfection in mechanics, by the countenance and encouragement of the emperor, who is a renowned patron of learning. This prince has several machines fixed on wheels, for the carriage of trees and other great weights. He often builds his largest men of war, whereof some are nine feet long, in the woods where the timber grows, and has them carried on these engines three or four hundred yards to the sea. Five hundred carpenters and engineers were immediately set at work to prepare the greatest engine they had. It was a frame of wood raised three inches from the ground, about seven feet long, and four wide, moving upon twenty-two wheels. The shout I heard was upon the arrival of this engine, which, it seems, set out in four hours after my landing. It was brought parallel to me, as I lay. But the principal difficulty was to raise and place me in this vehicle. Eighty poles, each of one foot high, were erected for this purpose, and very strong cords, of the bigness of packthread, were fastened by hooks to many bandages, which the workmen had girt round my neck, my hands, my body, and my legs. Nine hundred of the strongest men were employed to draw up these cords, by many pulleys fastened on the poles; and thus, in less than three hours, I was raised and slung into the engine, and there tied fast. All this I was told; for, while the operation was performing, I lay in a profound sleep, by the force of that soporiferous medicine infused into my liquor. Fifteen hundred of the emperor’s largest horses, each about four inches and a half high, were employed to draw me towards the metropolis, which, as I said, was half a mile distant.

About four hours after we began our journey, I awaked by a very ridiculous accident; for the carriage being stopped a while, to adjust something that was out of order, two or three of the young natives had the curiosity to see how I looked when I was asleep; they climbed up into the engine, and advancing very softly to my face, one of them, an officer in the guards, put the sharp end of his half-pike a good way up into my left nostril, which tickled my nose like a straw, and made me sneeze violently; whereupon they stole off unperceived, and it was three weeks before I knew the cause of my waking so suddenly. We made a long march the remaining part of the day, and, rested at night with five hundred guards on each side of me, half with torches, and half with bows and arrows, ready to shoot me if I should offer to stir. The next morning at sunrise we continued our march, and arrived within two hundred yards of the city gates about noon. The emperor, and all his court, came out to meet us; but his great officers would by no means suffer his majesty to endanger his person by mounting on my body.

At the place where the carriage stopped there stood an ancient temple, esteemed to be the largest in the whole kingdom; which, having been polluted some years before by an unnatural murder, was, according to the zeal of those people, looked upon as profane, and therefore had been applied to common use, and all the ornaments and furniture carried away. In this edifice it was determined I should lodge. The great gate fronting to the north was about four feet high, and almost two feet wide, through which I could easily creep. On each side of the gate was a small window, not above six inches from the ground: into that on the left side, the king’s smith conveyed fourscore and eleven chains, like those that hang to a lady’s watch in Europe, and almost as large, which were locked to my left leg with six-and-thirty padlocks. Over against this temple, on the other side of the great highway, at twenty feet distance, there was a turret at least five feet high. Here the emperor ascended, with many principal lords of his court, to have an opportunity of viewing me, as I was told, for I could not see them. It was reckoned that above a hundred thousand inhabitants came out of the town upon the same errand; and, in spite of my guards, I believe there could not be fewer than ten thousand at several times, who mounted my body by the help of ladders. But a proclamation was soon issued, to forbid it upon pain of death. When the workmen found it was impossible for me to break loose, they cut all the strings that bound me; whereupon I rose up, with as melancholy a disposition as ever I had in my life. But the noise and astonishment of the people, at seeing me rise and walk, are not to be expressed. The chains that held my left leg were about two yards long, and gave me not only the liberty of walking backwards and forwards in a semicircle, but, being fixed within four inches of the gate, allowed me to creep in, and lie at my full length in the temple.

Chapter 2

The emperor of Lilliput, attended by several of the nobility, comes to see the author in his confinement. The emperor’s person and habit described. Learned men appointed to teach the author their language. He gains favour by his mild disposition. His pockets are searched, and his sword and pistols taken from him.

When I found myself on my feet, I looked about me, and must confess I never beheld a more entertaining prospect. The country around appeared like a continued garden, and the enclosed fields, which were generally forty feet square, resembled so many beds of flowers. These fields were intermingled with woods of half a stang,¹ and the tallest trees, as I could judge, appeared to be seven feet high. I viewed the town on my left hand, which looked like the painted scene of a city in a theatre.

I had been for some hours extremely pressed by the necessities of nature; which was no wonder, it being almost two days since I had last disburdened myself. I was under great difficulties between urgency and shame. The best expedient I could think of, was to creep into my house, which I accordingly did; and shutting the gate after me, I went as far as the length of my chain would suffer, and discharged my body of that uneasy load. But this was the only time I was ever guilty of so uncleanly an action; for which I cannot but hope the candid reader will give some allowance, after he has maturely and impartially considered my case, and the distress I was in. From this time my constant practice was, as soon as I rose, to perform that business in open air, at the full extent of my chain; and due care was taken every morning before company came, that the offensive matter should be carried off in wheel-barrows, by two servants appointed for that purpose. I would not have dwelt so long upon a circumstance that, perhaps, at first sight, may appear not very momentous, if I had not thought it necessary to justify my character, in point of cleanliness, to the world; which, I am told, some of my maligners have been pleased, upon this and other occasions, to call in question.

When this adventure was at an end, I came back out of my house, having occasion for fresh air. The emperor was already descended from the tower, and advancing on horseback towards me, which had like to have cost him dear; for the beast, though very well trained, yet wholly unused to such a sight, which appeared as if a mountain moved before him, reared up on its hinder feet: but that prince, who is an excellent horseman, kept his seat, till his attendants ran in, and held the bridle, while his majesty had time to dismount. When he alighted, he surveyed me round with great admiration; but kept beyond the length of my chain. He ordered his cooks and butlers, who were already prepared, to give me victuals and drink, which they pushed forward in a sort of vehicles upon wheels, till I could reach them. I took these vehicles and soon emptied them all; twenty of them were filled with meat, and ten with liquor; each of the former afforded me two or three good mouthfuls; and I emptied the liquor of ten vessels, which was contained in earthen vials, into one vehicle, drinking it off at a draught; and so I did with the rest. The empress, and young princes of the blood of both sexes, attended by many ladies, sat at some distance in their chairs; but upon the accident that happened to the emperor’s horse, they alighted, and came near his person, which I am now going to describe. He is taller by almost the breadth of my nail, than any of his court; which alone is enough to strike an awe into the beholders. His features are strong and masculine, with an Austrian lip and arched nose, his complexion olive, his countenance erect, his body and limbs well proportioned, all his motions graceful, and his deportment majestic. He was then past his prime, being twenty-eight years and three quarters old, of which he had reigned about seven in great felicity, and generally victorious. For the better convenience of beholding him, I lay on my side, so that my face was parallel to his, and he stood but three yards off: however, I have had him since many times in my hand, and therefore cannot be deceived in the description. His dress was very plain and simple, and the fashion of it between the Asiatic and the European; but he had on his head a light helmet of gold, adorned with jewels, and a plume on the crest. He held his sword drawn in his hand to defend himself, if I should happen to break loose; it was almost three inches long; the hilt and scabbard were gold enriched with diamonds. His voice was shrill, but very clear and articulate; and I could distinctly hear it when I stood up. The ladies and courtiers were all most magnificently clad; so that the spot they stood upon seemed to resemble a petticoat spread upon the ground, embroidered with figures of gold and silver. His imperial majesty spoke often to me, and I returned answers: but neither of us could understand a syllable. There were several of his priests and lawyers present (as I conjectured by their habits), who were commanded to address themselves to me; and I spoke to them in as many languages as I had the least smattering of, which were High and Low Dutch, Latin, French, Spanish, Italian, and Lingua Franca, but all to no purpose. After about two hours the court retired, and I was left with a strong guard, to prevent the impertinence, and probably the malice of the rabble, who were very impatient to crowd about me as near as they durst; and some of them had the impudence to shoot their arrows at me, as I sat on the ground by the door of my house, whereof one very narrowly missed my left eye. But the colonel ordered six of the ringleaders to be seized, and thought no punishment so proper as to deliver them bound into my hands; which some of his soldiers accordingly did, pushing them forward with the butt-ends of their pikes into my reach. I took them all in my right hand, put five of them into my coat-pocket; and as to the sixth, I made a countenance as if I would eat him alive. The poor man squalled terribly, and the colonel and his officers were in much pain, especially when they saw me take out my penknife: but I soon put them out of fear; for, looking mildly, and immediately cutting the strings he was bound with, I set him gently on the ground, and away he ran. I treated the rest in the same manner, taking them one by one out of my pocket; and I observed both the soldiers and people were highly delighted at this mark of my clemency, which was represented very much to my advantage at court.

Towards night I got with some difficulty into my house, where I lay on the ground, and continued to do so about a fortnight; during which time, the emperor gave orders to have a bed prepared for me.

Reviews for Gulliver’s Travels

[pgchuis · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This initially had some good moments - it was interesting thinking about the differences in scale between Gulliver, the Lilliputians and the Brobdingnagians - but it grew more and more tedious and the misogyny more and more apparent. The points about human shortcomings and political corruption and so on were made, and then made again, and then made a third time. Glad it's over.

[juva_3 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Gulliver is an extremely unlucky sailor who keeps getting marooned on odd islands undiscovered by European society. Each native culture takes him in as a curiosity and proceeds to teach him their language and ways. He meets a nation of tiny people, a nation of giants, a nation of talking horses and several others. Ultimately, each nation will find him unfit company and either banish him or allow him to escape back to sea and be reunited with his own kind.This is a silly book full of fantastical tales that each have critiques to make of current European culture.

[jscape2000 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Far more interesting than I'd hoped, given how old it is. I see both why it has historically been praised, and why I'm glad to say I've read it and now never pick it up again.

[ashishg_50 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Got around to read this classic. Book is essentially a collection of author's imaginations on what people will do and act in different strange societies. Author imagines well on social culture and actions based on people but doesn't think through a lot on social and technological environment. All socieities - small people, monsterous people, floating people, horse people - have pretty much that distinction but rest of world - animals, plants, things and inventions - are similar to rest of normal world. Transition from one society to another, through multiple sea voyages, is fast and not dwelt much upon. Lots of people found this work of Swift to be satire on modern world, and it kind of is, but very peripheral one. For instance religion and politicians can be arbitary and foolish and that's mentioned as such without really understanding depth of things. In the end, excitement of new world goes away from readers and long monologues of narrator's experiences and discourse within those society becomes boring. It's readable but forgettable book.

[untraveller · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Absolutely fun read. first time to read the book since college....40 years ago! Bought the book in Myanmar, but read it in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand, finishing it on the Thai train up the Malay Peninsula to Bangkok. Had forgotten that Gulliver's islands seem to be in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. For a traveller, this is a necessary and a fun read....

[cyderry · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I was extremely surprised by the story told in this book mainly because of the presupposition that I had because of a very old movie that I had seen. Yes, there were the little people and the giants but then the story goes on to further travels. The "adventures" show mankind in a very poor way with the satirical exposures of bad governments and prejudices that we would find nonsensical today. However, I wonder if 300 years from now if mankind would feel the same about our prejudices.Maybe we can still learn from the past.

[stef7sa-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The last book of the four, about the utopian society of the horses I liked the best by far. In the first two the author is obsessed with the sizes of all things, these being extremely small (Lilliput) or extremely large (land of the giants). The third book is a bit chaotic with all the different countries visited by Gulliver. The last book is a real and complete satirical story with a melancholy undertone.

[mhanover10 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Jonathan Swift must have been smoking opium when he wrote this because it is wackadoodle. It is also weird to have a female read the book when the main character is a man. I don't think I would have read the physical book.

[bagpuss-3 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I must admit that this book wasn’t on my ‘radar’ and I don’t suppose I’d have read it if it wasn’t for reading T H White’s Mistress Masham’s Repose, which features the Lilliputians. This book has been popular from the time it was first published. I think that originally it was considered to be a children’s book but like Mistress Masham’s Repose, I can’t see it appealing to huge numbers of today’s children, but of course, I could be wrong.

I enjoyed the first two sections but for me the book went downhill after then. I wouldn’t say I hated the last two sections but I was rather glad to get to the end of the book! I was amused that there was quite a lot of ‘toilet humour’ in the book, considering when it was first published. Overall quite an enjoyable read but it didn’t really live up to expectations.

[martinbodek · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

For those of you who be all, like, "What? You never read Gulliver's Travels?", the answer is yes, and that's exactly why I've embarked on reading the 1,001 Books I Need to Read Before I die. It will help me catch up on much of what was not mandatory on my poor educational track. Besides, I get to experience so much with fresh eyes, that I actually feel I prefer it, in a way. I found the book thoroughly interesting, and it appealed to my peripatetic nature and my natural curiosity for differences and similarities between cultures. As for what exactly Swift was satirizing, I have no idea. I don't know the politics of his time and region. The book was good enough without pondering all that.

[bookworm12_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Most people have at least heard of Gulliver’s Travels and it’s hard not to have a few preconceived notions pop into your head for a book like that. I knew the general idea before I read it, but I was surprised by the specific observations Gulliver shares about each race he visits. A shipwreck strands Gulliver with the Lilliputs and a series of adventures follow. Originally published as a satire, the book is now read by all ages. He travels all over and meets the strangest people. He makes observations about their ways of life and in doing so often tells more about himself and his prejudices than he means to. Each new group teaches him something about the way he sees the world. The Lilliputs are a tiny people, so small they can fit in his hand. They have to make 100 meals just to feed him. The very next group he discovers are giants and he is now the tiny figure that can fit in their hand. His observations of both of these groups were not always what you would expect. Sometimes he remarks on the texture of their skin. He even makes some hilarious comments about watching one of the giants nurse and being terrified by her enormous breast. The woman who takes care of him in the giants’ land sews him shirts lets him to use items from her dollhouse. There’s a lot of humor worked into the stories. At one point he gets in a fight with the queen’s dwarf and is dropped into a giant bowl of cream and then stuck into a marrow bone. There are houseflies that constantly plague him because they're the size of birds. He can see when the flies lay eggs in the giants’ food because they look so large to him. Gulliver also discovers the Houyhnhnms, a race of horses that are superior to all the other races he describes. The thing I loved about it was that it made you look at your own world a little differently. It makes you notice things that you normally take for granted. The whole book is a fascinating exercise in how our situation and surroundings affect the way we see the world. Swift manages to do this in a humorous way, never taking himself too seriously. It broke my heart a little that Gulliver kept leaving his family to travel and then when he finally returns he never quite gets over leaving the Houyhnhnms.BOTTOM LINE: At times clever, at others dry, this classic gives the reader a lot to think about when they view their own society. It’s a reminder that so much of what we believe is based on what we already know. The more we learn about other cultures, the more we can understand them and appreciate their strengths.

[aliceanna-1 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Aargh. Really tedious. The tale of being in Lilliput was fairly humorous, but the rest were just tedious to the point of beating a dead horse (or a Honyhnhnm, as the case may be).The Lilliput saga worked as a story, but none of the others did and I didn't think any of it worked as allegory either. Instead of learning from the civilizations he encountered, he became an unhappy shell of a person who couldn't even stand being in the same room with his wife and children. If there was no hope for the human race, why didn't he just off himself and put the reader out of his/her misery?!

[mnicol_11 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Written in 1727, a critique of our industrial policy in 2014: In these colleges the professors contrive new... tools for all trades and manufactures; whereby, as they undertake, one man shall do the work of ten; a palace may be built in a week, of materials so durable as to last for ever without repairing. .... The only inconvenience is, that none of these projects are yet brought to perfection; and in the mean time, the whole country lies miserably waste, the houses in ruins, and the people without food or clothes. By all which, instead of being discouraged, they are fifty times more violently bent upon prosecuting their schemes, driven equally on by hope and despair.

[stephenbarkley · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

In the second half of the 17th century, Robert Hooke and Antony von Leeuwenhoek refined and used the microscope to view, for the first time, the microbiotic world around them. In a generation, people's conception of large and small shifted. "It is no exaggeration," says Henri Hitchins, "to say that without the development of microscopy Swift's book would not have been written" (376).Most of us know that Swift wrote a tale about a seafarer named Gulliver who washed up on a beach in Lilliput only to be pinned to the ground by little people. Some know that Gulliver's next voyage was to Brobdingnag where he encountered people as large from his perspective as he was to the Lilliputans. This is only half the book.In the second half he traveled to the floating island of Laputa where he met people who are so enraptured by philosophy and abstractions that they hire a "flappers" to attend to them on walks. The sole purpose of the flapper is to "gently to strike with his bladder the mouth of him who is to speak, and the right ear of him or them to whom the speaker addresses himself" (192). You could say the Laputans are so heavenly minded they're no earthly good.The final journey puts Gulliver in the land of the Houyhnhnms, a place where proto-humans have degenerated into disgusting "Yahoos" who are disdained by utterly rational (and virtually passionless) horses.If the microscope inspired the shift in optical perspective in Gulliver's first two journeys, it is a metaphor used to peer into the core of human nature during the second two trips. On the last journey, Gulliver's conversation with the Houyhnhnms reveal the depth of humanity's depravity—bordering on horror. He describes the reality of life in England in a richly ironic way that exposes dark truths about his society. Take his description of lawyers, for example:"I said there was a society of men among us bred up from their youth in the art of proving by words multiplied for the purpose that white is black and black is white, according as they are paid. To this society all the rest of the people are slaves" (304).While it's easy to spot the sarcasm in Swift's voice, I can't help but think that a better understanding of the history of 18th century England would help me to catch more of the specific references. Still, Gulliver's Travels, despite having been written three centuries ago, was quite a page-turner. This is no mere children's book!

[briannad84 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A local librarian told me this wasn't like reading a modern fictional novel. I know older books can be difficult, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be and was quite funny in parts!

[srboone · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I put of reading this book for so long, I had begun to believe I had actually read it! It is quite biting in it's satire and very funny, but there are parts where it gets tedious.

[alcracka · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Pretty good stuff. Book 3 isn't as great, and book 4 gets a little preachy at times, but fun to read. Makes me wonder about Yahoo's decision to name themselves after it; Yahoos represent a pretty cynical, misanthropic view of humanity.

[jwhenderson_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a fantastical satire that uses the ancient method of a journey (in this case multiple journeys) to foreign lands in the service of social satire and cultural commentary. The motivating force behind Gulliver's Travels is the author's apparent disgust with human folly and pretension; the ideas are embodied in grotesques and fantastic creatures, in the six-inch high Lilliputians, the gigantic Brobdingnagians, the horse-like Houyhnhnms and the disgusting Yahoos. These characters are so memorable that their names have become part of our culture. The journeys provide lessons for Lemuel Gulliver who is an honest if gullible narrator. Whether he learned the right lessons or ones that have value for others is for each reader to decided. However, concluding, he confesses that he could be reconciled to the English Yahoos "if they would be content with those Vices and Follies only which Nature hath entitled them to. I am not in the least provoked at the sight of a Lawyer, a Pick-pocket, a Colonel, a Fool, a Lord, a Gamster, a Politician, a Whoremunger, a Physician, . . . or the like: This is all according to the due Course of Things: but, when I behold a Lump of Deformity, and Diseases both in Body and Mind, smitten with Pride, it immediately breaks all the Measures of my patience."

[pilgrimjess · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Most people have seen a cinematic version of this book, right? Most already know the story without actually bothering with reading the book? The book was written nearly 300 years old so some of the little of the language will be a little archaic but it's only a kids book so will be an easy read. Given the age of the story it will have very little relevance with events of today.Well at least that is what I thought beforehand. How very wrong I was!For those of you who do not know the story Gulliver basically visits four islands, one populated by a lot of little people, the next by some giants, then moving on to a flying island before finally landing on one ruled by horses where humens are the savages, something akin to the films Planet of the Apes but with horses rather than chimpanzees. Firstly the title is something of a misnomer. Rather than describing happenings in far off fanciful lands Swift is really only interested in taking a satirical swipe at events and in particular the politics an awful lot closer to home,namely London. Swift's family was originally from England but had backed the losing side in the English Civil War whereupon having lost their lands there were forced to take up residence Ireland. Swift was born and educated in Dublin but moved from his birthplace to London as a young man and there he became very active in the politics of the day,firstly as a Whig sympathiser then as a Tory. However, when the hoped for preferments failed to materialize Swift was virtually exiled back to Ireland making him rather bitter towards the political elite back in London.Some of the satire is fairly obvious, liking peeing on the palace in Lilliput to extinguish a fire there (in fact bodily functions seem to play a large part of the first two sections) but some other referances were I admit quite lost on me. Rather than travel broadening the mind it seemed to make Gulliver's more inward looking, so much so in the end he cannot bear the sight or touch of fellow humans, and this is probably where the book lost me as a fan. Personally I found the part on Laputa rather dull and very long-winded which was followed by the stay with the Houyhnhms which felt merely like the ramblings of a very bitter and disappointed in life man.On the whole I found the book interesting but ultimately a little disappointing and I certainy enjoyed Lilliput the most.

[john257hopper · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This nearly 300 year old classic deserves its reputation, but it is a novel of two halves. The first two books of the four, in which Gulliver visits respectively Lilliput (very small people) and Brobdingnag (giants) are very good, funny, adventurous, imaginative and bawdy and would be worth 5/5 by themselves. However, I found the latter two books when he visits the flying island of Laputa and other lands; then in the final book, the land of the Houyhnhnms (intelligent horses subjugating primates who resemble degraded humans) duller and a lot harder to get through. They contain a lot of quite clever satire on the human condition and on civic life in Europe, but are rather overegged and over long, with little plot so rather a slog. 2/5 for the latter half, so overall 3.5/5.

[ashryan_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Gulliver's Travels has some amusing and even a few insightful bits, but Swift was no Voltaire. A satire not so much on some particular human follies as on man as such, this book is basically a monument to misanthropy---as is made painfully clear in the heavy-handed fourth part. Not that satire has to be subtle, but it should at least be accurate, at most an exaggeration of the truth rather than a projection of one's own bitter prejudices. Swift's portrayal of human society, even as imperfect as it was (and even more so in his time than now), is at best one-sided. It ends with the narrator repulsed by the smell of his wife, and disgusted with himself for ever having couple with her and brought children into the world. If you can sympathize with that sentiment, then you might find Swift's satire to be penetrating and clever. If, on the other hand, you see any value in human life and hold it to be more important than the vice and suffering that necessarily characterize some part of it, then you might be better off reading something else.

[yogiabb_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I have been reading "Gulliver's Travels" by Jonathan Swift on my Ipod Touch for the last several months during the odd moments of time like waiting in line. The book is a novel in four parts about the travels of Lemuel Gulliver to various parts of the world. The book was a real surprise for me. I had always thought of it as a children's book. The classic scene is Gulliver tied up by the Lilliputian's until they figure out that he doesn't mean to harm them.There is this vague sense that things are all great at the end. Wrong! The Lilliptutan's are a bunch of small minded people and Gulliver soon ends up in trouble. First he puts out a fire in the Queen's castle by urinating on it, drenching the Queen. That makes her mad. Second, he helps the Lilliputan's in their long standing war against the island of Blefusco but refuses to help make Blefusco totally subservient to Lilliput. He is sentenced to be blinded as punishment for this treason so he escapes.Next he winds up in the Kingdom of Brobdingnag where instead of being twelve times bigger than the inhabitants as he was in Lilliput,he is twelve times smaller. He is found by a farmer who displays him for money. Gulliver ends up in the royal court and then the story gets kind of kinky. He is used as a kind of a sexual plaything and is molested by the women of the court, including a sixteen your old girl. Gulliver writes about how disgusting the giant naked women are. This part was a hoot. I wouldn't read it as a bedtime story to your kids.Gulliver leaves Brobdingnag and has several other adventures. His final destination is the Country of the Houyhnhnm. The Houyhnhnm are a kind of a horse shaped beings. Their are human's there called Yahoo who are looked down upon by the Houyhnhnm as being base and menial and not good for much. The Houyhnhnm are very advanced and rational and listen with dismay as Gulliver tells them about Europe and how governments are run.Eventually Gulliver has to leave Houyhnhnm and return to England. At this point he has been transformed from the happy go lucky adventurer to a recluse, disgusted by all contact with humans, even with his wife, whom can hardly stand.The book is a great read. Swift is very imaginative and has a great writing style. I give it four stars out of five. It''s a classic. I'm going to miss it.Does anybody have a recommendation for another classic for me to read?

[mdtwilighter · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book is one of the best examples of satire. Swift takes on a trip around the world to show us the problems right at home. Though some have criticized the end of the book, I found it to be the best part. We see the human race totally flipped upside down and it was the most eye-opening section of the book. I picked the book up because I thought it would be about an adventure, but it is so much more than that.

[tjsjohanna_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I can't help but wonder what a conversation with Mr. Swift might have been like. He is so overwhelmingly conscious of all the faults of human kind that it is almost depressing to come to the end of "Gulliver's Travels" and feel condemned to be such a Yahoo! Still, it must be admitted that his observations are truthful. One thing I found particularly interesting about the book was the bluntness with which Mr. Swift addresses such things as bodily functions - and the chapters about the Yahoos are quite distasteful if the reader stops to consider that Gulliver makes a boat using the skin and fat of humans, as well as articles of clothing and sails. Somehow, by assigning another name, and continually referring to Yahoos as brutes, Mr. Swift leads the reader to skim right past these details.

[brittlandess · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Gulliver’s Travels is a recount by Lumeul Gulliver of how he travels to different islands that are by no means ordinary. He begins by telling about himself. Gulliver is actually a man who, after losing his business on the mainland, becomes a surgeon for different ships, sometimes even being the captain of some ships. The first adventure takes place in Lilliput, an island inhabited by tiny human-like creatures. Gulliver arrives on the island through a shipwreck and wakes up bound to the ground. This is due to the people of Lilliput binding him to the ground. At first, they attack him when Gulliver seems to threaten them. After realizing that Gulliver won’t cause them harm, the Lilliput people bring food and drink to Gulliver. Taken to the capital city, he is introduced to the emperor, while Gulliver is flattered, who is entertained by Gulliver. As time follows, Gulliver is used as someone to help the Lilliput people fight against the Blefuscu people. The two have gone into a war due to the way the Blefuscu crack their eggs. While the Lilliput people were nice to Gulliver at first, he is convicted for treason after he puts out a fire in the royal palace. This leads to his punishments being shot in the eyes and then starved. Luckily, Gulliver is able to escape to Blefuscu and repair a boat, therefore being able to sail to the mainland. Gulliver arrives home and stays with his family for a bit before leaving again. This time he arrives on the island of Brobdingnag, a place where giants rule. At first kept as a pet, Gulliver is eventually taken to the queen. This results in Gulliver being an entertainer for the court and, though social life is easy, disgust for how large the people of Brobdingnag are. This enlarges pores and other physical flaws. With ignorance ruling the Brobdingnag people, Gulliver eventually leaves the island after a bird picks up his cage before dropping him into the ocean. This leads Gulliver to be picked up by pirates and staying on the floating island, Laputa. The people, though, are too out of touch with reality. With a small trip to places which have people such as Julius Caesar and immortals that prove that wisdom does not come with age, Gulliver ends up back in England. The final journey that Gulliver tells about is one in which he meets a group of intelligent horse people who, while beings friends with Gulliver, served by the human Yahoos. Unintelligent and causing distortions of humans for Gulliver, the Yahoos are a group of people that Gulliver would rather not be with. Though he wishes to stay on the island, Gulliver is forced to leave after the Houyhnhnms realize how Yahoo like he is. Regretful to leave, Gulliver is picked up by a Portuguese ship and taken back to the mainland. I believe that the book was quite a good one. I think that though it had some good points and some bad points, it was overall a good book. I love the first person perspective that Jonathan Swift used. I think that the book would not be as good if it weren’t for this. I love how the book gives a good time perspective and has great description. The way the Gulliver is describing what is around him is very realistic and gives me a good idea of what it would be like to be there myself. The book is something I would certainly recommend to other people. Gulliver’s Travels is definitely a five star book.

[the7ken7petersen · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The last time that I read this book, I must have been about nine years old. I would be fascinated to turn up that copy because it must have been heavily edited. This book is full of biting criticism of the failings of the human race and much too grown up for the average child.A further point of interest is that whilst most people will know of Gulliver, they will talk of his trip to Lilliput and, just possibly to a land of giants: very few people speak of the other two lands visited - a city in the sky and a land where horse-like creatures rule. It is, however, to these two that I would imagine Swift would attribute the kernel of his tale. The horse people are very close to being the first si-fi book because it is clear that Swift is creating a race totally at variance with human beings.Considering its age, the book has some remarkably prescient forecasts of modern living. I was struck by Laputa where Swift talks of language being cut and mauled in much the way that 'Text speak' does. I was also surprised by his decision to laud the Houyhnhnms to the extent whereby Gulliver is unable to settle back amongst his own kind: even today, I find myself bridling at such an attitude.If your child has some bastardised version of this tale upon his or her bookshelf, then rip it away and wait until they reach maturity: it is a crime that this book has been reduced to kiddie fodder.

[drt_4 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Swift's Gulliver's Travels was next. This book was a self narrated account of various travels by a man named Gulliver. Whether it be his first voyage and being ship wrecked to wake up in the world of tiny people (Lilliput) where the people had to give up a LOT of food to feed him, or how some of them wanted to kill him but didn't know what to do with his body if they did, to the world of GIANTS in the land of Brobdingnag where he was carried about in a box, how eagles fought to take him for food, how his owner, the farmer initially used him to make money by showing him off then he was owned by the queen, or when he was attacked by pirates and ending up in Laputa and Balnibarbi, or when he talked to all the historical figures in Glubbdubdrib just to find out they had lied to build themselves up, or when he went to Luggnaggians and Struldbrugs or Japan it was interesting how he used social commentary in this book. I guess that was the best part and the faciful ideas of other cultures, languages, and magnifying various aspects and governmental and occupational characteristics of people and character flaws that he saw in life. It was also interesting how he was driven to continue to travel and not stay with his family/wife so he continued to travel. He often worked as a doc aboard ship since his business failed. Overall, I would not rate this book very highly. I'd like to hear your ideas about it though and find out the things you found interesting in it. I’m sorry for being unclear in my last reply. I reread it and am embarrassed at the laziness in my writing. Basically what I was referring to was Swift’s juxtaposition of the two people groups, the Yahoos and the Houyhnhnms. The Houyhnhnms were obviously Gulliver preferred people. He seemed, at least to me, to be content with their way of life, the stability and way of going about things. He put them on a pedestal for their intelligence, ability to reason, “ethics,” etc in spite of their problems. It was clear that Gulliver did not like the Yahoo’s way of life even though he resembled them most. He was repulsed by their characteristics and behaviors even though he was criticizing humanity. I did like the concept of “Not being a people that tell things that are not” and being truthful. I really took that whole section as Swift’s own self-deception of finding a group of people being above reproach. I too think that we are smart enough to not do horrible things yet we still do. I rated it lower because it was not the childhood book I thought it was but it was fun nontheless (as an adult).

[satsche · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Well, to make it short: I was disappointed. Somehow I expected some kind of "great literature". But it's definitively not. The writing style is much too simple, when the story starts to get "deeper" it mostly says something like "I don't want to talk about this anymore, because the reader could be bored". What the...? I'm not enjoying this one. 2,5 stars just because the story itself is interesting - but could be better written.I know it's world literature, but I really don't know why. Maybe this is because of my edition (or translation).

[erica524 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Gulliver’s Travels written by Jonathan Swift is definitely one of the most interesting yet adventurous books I have ever read. The main character, Gulliver, voyages to different places such as Lilliput, Brobdingnag, etc. Gulliver is just a normal character who enjoys and experiences many different adventures. Gulliver gets to be an enormous creature, a minuscule person, a genius among primitive beasts, and on a floating island. Here is just a brief description of the different parts of this book. In the first part of his journey, Gulliver is taken captive by Lilliputians on the land of Lilliput; he is considered a giant to the Lilliputians. This part is personally my favorite part because it is a very well-known tale to me and probably the most humorous, entertaining part of the whole book. In the second part of his journey, Gulliver lands on the land of Brobdinghag where the people are roughly twelve times bigger than Gulliver (everything in Brobdingnag is twelve times larger). The third part of the journey introduces the reader to the flying island of Laputa. In the last part of the book, Gulliver travels to the country of the Houyhnhnms (Houyhnhnms are horses who rule the country). Though this is a great book I suggest having a dictionary by your side when reading this book because the text can be very challenging and sometimes confusing. Swift’s creativity and imagination is quite remarkable in this novel and a one of a kind novel filled with a variety adventures. I recommended this book to readers who enjoy adventures, classic novels and literatures.

[larrysouders · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book receive five stars for its wonderful illustrations. Printed in 1947 with 24 prints and 160 drawings by Luis Quintanilla. I hold this copy very high in my personal collection. I will be adding the correct picture to my library thing soon.