Seven Pillars Of Wisdom

By: TE Lawrence

Narrated by: James Wilby

Seven Pillars of Wisdom is an account written by T.E. Lawrence, or Lawrence of Arabia as he became known, regarding the Arab revolt against the Turks and his own part in those events, transcribed from extensive notes which he kept at the time. Like Wilfred Owen and Robert Graves, Lawrence is a stunning example of a military man as a literary genius. Insightful and candid, raw and emotive, Seven Pillars of Wisdom is an epic and important accomplishment, perfectly suited to audio.
The narrator James Wilby is a wonderful British actor on both stage and screen, and is well-known for roles in The Merchant Ivory movies Maurice and A Handful of Dust as well as Robert Altman's Gosford Park.

Critic reviews

"...skilfully narrated by British actor James Wilby...Strongly recommended for listeners of military history, autobiography, travel narrative, or Arab history."

Stop the music

While the story was interesting and the reading wonderful theistic between each chapter was maddening.

I would suggest the written format for this story.

A Classic story

Where does Seven Pillars of Wisdom rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I would say that this story ranks high but the music insertions at the end of every chapter were a pain!

Which character – as performed by James Wilby – was your favorite?

James Wilby did a fine job reading this.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No. It was a good car companion though

Any additional comments?

Whoever published this inserted a long music que (I think it is from Massenet -Thais?) Anyway, the chapters of this book are very short (5 -10 min at most) and at every chapter there is this minutes long music que!! And you can't get past it. It REALLY took away from the experience. I can see one at the beginning and end, but EVERY chapter? Sometimes the music would do a long fade in under the last words of a chapter and was totally incongruous with what was being said. If they publish this again, please take the music out between chapters. Other than that, it was a great true story of one of the most intriguing historical figures of the 20th century.

Beautiful Book

The Film "Lawrence of Arabia" was clearly based on this memoir. There were some gratuitous departures of the film from the book. They were all mistakes, the book's account is better. Lawrence had a unique experience and was a brilliant storyteller. He was clearly a bit racist, but it was a different time. He was enthralled with the Arabs, but largely contemptuous of the Turks.

First hand account of the Arab Revolt

The incessant interruptions by inappropriate music - the same piece over and over and over and over was maddening. The spacing of the interruptions seems to have little bearing on the narrative

Excellent

I enjoyed this book and recommend this purchase. Anyone with an interest in history or who is working / living in the Middle East should consider buying it.

The narration was first class and takes you to the wadi's, the heat and the horror of the war in the middle east during WW1. The book itself is touching and fascinating and gives you an insight into male Arab ways, I only wish I had read this before I lived in the Middle east.