A Canticle for Leibowitz

By: Walter M. Miller Jr.

Narrated by: Tom Weiner

Length: 10 hrs and 55 mins

Publisher's summary

Hugo Award Winner, Best Novel, 1961

Winner of the 1961 Hugo Award for Best Novel and widely considered one of the most accomplished, powerful, and enduring classics of modern speculative fiction, Walter M. Miller’s A Canticle for Leibowitz is a true landmark of 20th-century literature - a chilling and still-provocative look at a post-apocalyptic future.

In a nightmarish, ruined world, slowly awakening to the light after sleeping in darkness, the infantile rediscoveries of science are secretly nourished by cloistered monks dedicated to the study and preservation of the relics and writings of the blessed Saint Isaac Leibowitz. From there, the story spans centuries of ignorance, violence, and barbarism, viewing through a sharp, satirical eye the relentless progression of a human race damned by its inherent humanness to recelebrate its grand foibles and repeat its grievous mistakes.

Seriously funny, stunning, tragic, eternally fresh, imaginative, and altogether remarkable, A Canticle for Leibowitz retains its ability to enthrall and amaze. It is now, as it always has been, a masterpiece.

©1959 Walter M. Miller, Jr. (P)2011 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

“Chillingly effective.” (Time)

Sci-fi with the realities of Catholicism

This is a masterwork every detail, utterance and character has a deep meaning and commentary on the reality of the fallen world we live in. We never faced the Nuclear Holocaust but the themes here have an eternal truth to them because ultimately it is 3 stories about what it means to be a follower of Christ in a world of concupasence and malformity of our own doing.

An interesting classic

Very well performed! I enjoyed the story as it walked through the ages. Another appearance of the wanderer would’ve been nice.

Surprisingly amazing

10/10 great book, didn’t know what to expect, I found something engaging and inspiring.

Still doing ourselves in...

Where does A Canticle for Leibowitz rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This audio book is a good deal. The recording is well done, given the complications of the story. I first read this story when I was in college, and we were not too far past the Bay of Pigs. It seemed more realistic and yet fascinating at the time. This time around, I have seen too many repeats on the part of so-called civilization to do itself in. I found it much sadder. It is a well written book, and the premise continues to capture the imagination.

Would you recommend A Canticle for Leibowitz to your friends? Why or why not?

Yes, but with some precursor statement about the content.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The gilded reproduction of the blueprint was a perfect example of how a uninformed group of people can make something out of nothing. The fact that the thieves took the reproduction instead of the original says something about the human fascination with bling!I was also torn by the choice of the mother to end her life and the life of her child rather than deal with the pain of radiation poisoning.

A great listen for a great read

What made the experience of listening to A Canticle for Leibowitz the most enjoyable?

I had read this book a long time ago and was always impressed by the author's grasp of the essential destructiveness of humans. Listening to this was a refresher on the bleak possibilities in a post-nuclear holocaust future. A morality tale, well told.

Who was your favorite character and why?

This was not a book of characters, so no one stands out. It was a book of circumstance and plot.

Have you listened to any of Tom Weiner’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Will we never learn?

A classic ... revisited.

Would you consider the audio edition of A Canticle for Leibowitz to be better than the print version?

Not "better," but just a different experience. The narrator, Tom Weiner, does a simply beautiful job. I read A Canticle for Leibowitz originally when I was a teenager, and was delighted to see it pop up in my Audible queue.

What did you like best about this story?

The effortless way Miller compresses 1,500 years of future history into three linked volumes - not a bad trick in a book you can listen to in 10 hours.

What about Tom Weiner’s performance did you like?

Everything. Weiner performs the book perfectly, down to the different southwestern and midwestern accents.

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

Funny, but when I read the book originally 30 years ago, I believe it did just read it cover-to-cover.

Classic sci-fi story with strong religious themes

After a nuclear war the world is a wasteland, like so many past dictators those that survive push their anger towards the educated. An order of the the Catholic church has taken on the task of preserving man's scientific knowledge until society is again ready for it. This is the story one monastery order that takes on this task for thousands of years.

The book is broke into three stories: The first a novice monk, who is prone to fainting, makes a discovery that unwillingly involves him in the canonization process of the order founder Leibowitz. We see how the monks offer their work and preserve the past. In the second story, civilization has advanced to a new renaissance age and a leading secular scientist comes to the monastery to review and discover the history and scientific knowledge they have kept. The third story takes place when society have advanced to the stars but is on the verge of destroying itself, again. The church takes steps to not repeat the past and give the future hope, we also see how people react to suffering.

The characters are well realized. These are not cloistered monks that do nothing but pray. They're normal people with humour and personalities, who have devoted their life to their work and their faith. It also does not water down religious teaching or try to 'modernize' it. Often authors will adjust the church teaching to show so call progress, that is not the case here. The Abbots fight against euthanasia is as strong as someone today would be.

Since it was written in the 1960s the technology referenced can feel dated, there no computers, which may be a good thing for preserving knowledge. The world is well realized but may seem cliche to people despite it being one of the first.

Explores themes of technological vs social development, history repeating itself, and church vs. secularism. Give hints of events that can be either interpreted as divine, as often is by the POV, or explained by other means by the reader if they so chooses.

Worth reading if you like classics, somber but funny post-apocalyptic stories or religious and philosophy themes. You don't have to be catholic to appreciate it but you'll appreciate the through and detail the author put into it.

Must-read classic

I hadn't read this book for over 20 years and ordered it, expecting to be disappointed. Often the "classics" of yesteryear fail to impress on later readings. This is an exception. It sets the standard for all works featuring the cyclical way that civilizations rise fall and rise again scenarios (see Toynbee). Some humour (not easy in SciFi), some pathos but basically a great story (novel at the time, not so now), good characterisations and a large dollop of cynicism. The narrator does a great job of making the characters come alive and is not afraid to "ham it up" a bit in order to help us get an insight into the character. Thank you for doing a wonderful version of this book.

Classic Post-Apocalyptic!

Any additional comments?

After the nuclear holocaust known as the Flame Deluge, all knowledge and holders of knowledge were destroyed in the Great Simplification. Isaac Edward Leibowitz, an engineer, seeks refuge and permission to preserve what knowledge he can from the Catholic Church, the only surviving organizational institution. A Canticle for Leibowitz revisits this world at 600 year intervals after the death of the founder of a desert abbey and the Albertian Order of Leibowitz. The first interval follows the story of Francis as he attempts to become ordained while the Order attempts to canonize Leibowitz. During the second interval, civilization has risen to the level of city-states and science is reemerging as a secular subject. By the third interval, mankind is reaching for the stars, and once again is threatening to destroy themselves via world war.

Unique and excellent

This is a legitimate five star book, not fast food science fiction. Mr. Miller has a new fan.