Utopia

By: Sir Thomas More

Narrated by: James Adams

Length: 4 hrs and 10 mins

Publisher's summary

Utopia is the name given by Sir Thomas More to an imaginary island in this political work written in 1516. Book I of Utopia, a dialogue, presents a perceptive analysis of contemporary social, economic, and moral ills in England. Book II is a narrative describing a country run according to the ideals of the English humanists, where poverty, crime, injustice, and other ills do not exist. Locating his island in the New World, More bestowed it with everything to support a perfectly organized and happy people.

The name of this fictitious place, Utopia, coined by More, passed into general usage and has been applied to all such ideal fictions, fantasies, and blueprints for the future, including works by Rabelais, Francis Bacon, Samuel Butler, and several by H. G. Wells, including his A Modern Utopia.

Public Domain (P)2008 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Simply amazing.

the narrator was really good and the book was a very nice read. it sounds very serious but the idea of a place like this seems ridiculous however its supposed to be that way.

A profound work for our times

I can’t imagine reading this book on the printed page compared to this glorious spoken version, bringing out the significance of the content and the genius of its phrasing. Thank you Audible for this indelible experience.

Dry voice

While I beleive everyone should read Utopia as a baseline of critique for modern society, this recording was Booooring. I was a philosophy major and even I was lulled to sleep. It would not hurt the work itself to be read by someone with enthusiasm. The whole point of the letter is that the man who experienced the Utopians is excited about their ways.

didn't care for it, but I liked the structure of

at that time of political upheaval it must have been a best seller but now no

One of the truest works in all.

Stupified. That's how I felt after listening to this book. It reminds the reader of the crude and wrong reality and world we live in, but more than inducing a sentiment of despair, it highlights the very roots of misery and the unconventional--and surely publicly unacceptable upong hearing--resolution to the problems that so afflict the world and have done so since the very beginning of nature.
To human minds accustomed to such a material and monetary way of life , of course all of this sounds as the machinations of a lunatic, but it is true that humans are not able to mentally bear and resist the detrimental works that money and power exert upon the mind.
Hate this, scorn it as much as you want, but remember that Plato once said, "No one is more hated than he who speaks the truth."

With that being said, I'd like to commend the outstanding performance of this audio book, both from the author and the narrator, to any person looking for material worthy of their time and investment.

Just so so

Not whatever I was expecting. A narrative of this island would have been more interesting than a breifing

Stunningly provocative

Utopia, by Sir Thomas Moore (~4 hour audiobook), From the British Library: “Sir Thomas More (1477 - 1535) was the first person to write of a 'utopia', a word used to describe a perfect imaginary world. More's book imagines a complex, self-contained community set on an island, in which people share a common culture and way of life…So at the very heart of the word is a vital question: can a perfect world ever be realised? It is unclear as to whether the book is a serious projection of a better way of life, or a satire that gave More a platform from which to discuss the chaos of European politics.”

That said, the utopia Moore envisioned was not in any modern sense perfect, but there are many attractive elements to it. If nothing else, it reveals many flaws, cruelties, and absurdities of his era (some continued to this day), and is provocative in ways that remain relevant. Oddly enough, Moore’s Utopia retains slaves, death penalties, and other loathsome practices that one might think inimical to a perfect society. Am glad I picked up this valuable classic.

Impractical

Not sure what I expected but I found More's Utopia to be impractical and at times ridiculous. He presents an idealized country whose 2 dimensional inhabitants conveniently act according to his antiquated and somewhat sanctimonious value system without regard for the struggles of real human nature, a society of moral superhumans expressing every perfection of More's moral philosophy. Switch houses by lot every 10 years just to maintain common property? I don't believe it. I don't often stop a book partway thru but I did with this one. Undoubtedly a classic but not to my taste.

500 years old inspiration

No property, free healthcare for all, working days of only six hours; people having access to all resources they need, yet they are not inclined to steal or pile up resources, nor to lean towards luxury or unhealthy pleasures… all that sounds very appealing to me.
I couldn’t overlook that Sir Thomas More finds a place for slavery and prescribed gender roles in his imagined ideal life style…
Still, I find that Utopia remains a source of inspiration after more then 500 years of its writing.

Very good performance of James Adams in reading this boik.

A great classic that endures

Transcends time, well written by a philosophical author, and flawlessly delivered by a gifted narrator.