Rating: 
Summary: How to Explain Nuclear Fear to our Grandchildren
Review: I am a Catholic Boomer from the '50s. I remember backyard fallout shelters, test runs of air raid sirens, extensive discussion of nuclear war and fallout in Boy Scouts, Nike missiles on Chicago's lakefront, the Cuban missile crisis, priests and nuns fulminating against godless Communism. How to explain to future generations what it means to walk the rim of the crater Armaggedon? As always, the best distillation of an era, a state of mind, a cultural phase is through great fiction. And the work of fiction that best encapsulates my reaction to the 40 odd years I spent under a nuclear Sword of Damocles is a fable, A Canticle for Leibowitz. It is to Nuclear Fear what 1984 is to Stalinism. I am overjoyed that there is a posthumous "sequel."
Rating:
Summary: Yup
Review: Great book. One of the best science fiction books
of all time. Possibly the best.
--This text refers to the edition
Rating:
Summary: A Post-Apocalyptic Classic
Review: If you consider the names George Orwell and Aldous Huxley essential to a solid literary foundation, add a new name to your list: Walter Miller, Jr. Miller's post-apocalyptic vision, A Canticle for Leibowitz, provokes thought in a way few works of literature can. What role can religion play in a world destroyed? What simple things are simple people doing now, will they do in the future, that may alter the course of humanity? Or is the course of humanity set in stone, unalterable, doomed to an endless cycle of purge and renewal? Canticle draws one in easily, without being grim or grotesque, and becomes an important milestone in the readers experience. Don't overlook this powerful book
Rating:
Summary: A Masterpiece
Review: Absolutely the most profound book I have ever read. I read it first as a teenager and initially found it amusing and was suckered in by the humourous exploits of the simple-minded Francis, only to be horrified and moved by the end of the book. I will further comment that, like _The Exorcist_, it is a book which can be most appreciated by one who was raised in the Catholic faith, though it is an excellent read for anyone. Being fluent in Latin wouldn't hurt, either. I have read it no fewer than ten times in the past eighteen years or so, and always come away from it staggered, and utterly amazed that I find something new, different, and profound with each read. This is not a book for the dimwitted or unimaginitive, and you should not expect quick or easy gratification from it. Nor should you expect to grasp it entirely on the first or even second read. I spent half a semester dissecting this book in a literature class in college, and still to this day find new aspects each time I read it.
Incidently, _Fiat Voluntas Tua_ usually translates as "Thy will Be Done" (as in the line from the Lord's Prayer), which does not bode well for the characters of the third section of the book, or for mankind as a whole.
_Fiat Lux_ is "Let there be Light" and _Fiat Homo_ is "Let there be Man".
A _canticle_ is a holy song of praise, as might be sung in the Church in celebration of a Saint (i.e. Leibowitz).
This book has occasionally been referred to as a youth's book. Though as a teenager I enjoyed the book immensely, I can hardly see Miller writing such graphic and horrific passages dealing with mature subjects like cannibalism, warfare, euthanasia, and injury and death associated with nuclear detonation, with children or teens in mind. Miller has quite a sense of humour, and if the reader is literate at all he will find himself getting many good belly laughs out of the book. But do not mistake the fact that Miller is deadly serious about the subject matter. I assure you that you will not be laughing at the final few paragraphs. That is the really the charm of this book, you know, that Miller uses wit and an (initially) deceptively simple plot to gently introduce and bind us to some concepts which few can take pleasure from, but whose implications are profound in the extreme.
I have lately been wrestling with a real life analogue of the "abominable autoscribe" (Kurzweil Voice for Windows) and in doing so have noted an eerie parallel with the book. One can only wonder what other concepts imagined by Miller will come to life <gulp>
Rating: 
Summary: exceedingly boring
Review: This was one of the worst books I have ever read. Given the rave reviews I saw prior to reading the book, I kept reading in the hope that it would get better. It never did. From start to finish it was a constant struggle to continue reading. I give this review to try and save others from the fate of reading such a dire work.
Rating:
Summary: A Masterpiece
Review: Certainly one of the greatest masterpieces of the 20th century. It hasn't been recognized as such because science fictions is (usually justly) not respected as literature. If you read only one science fiction book in your life, this is the one to read
Rating:
Summary: Speculative fiction and philosophy both, still a good read
Review: This is the first and the best of the post-apocolyptic fiction, and nothing since has come close. I first read this as a youngster and saw a story. I reread it in college, and realized that it is one of those rare books that -- like Orwell's Animal Farm -- offer one thing to children and another to adults.
Humankind has nuked itself almost to oblivion. The question Miller poses is: will we do it again? For anyone lucky enough to get a copy of the 1961 Bantam edition (available through at least 1980), the inside cover quote actually represents the book well. This quote was removed from subsequent editions.
Miller's split the book into 3 sections: Fiat Homo (Let There Be Man), Fiat Lux (Let There Be Light) and Fiat Volultas Tua (Lord, According To Thy Will). Fiat Homo address the question: what happens when men start organizing themselves into statelets. Fiat Lux addresses the question of what responsibility do scientists bear for the application of their findings. Fiat Voluntas Tua addresses the issues of church v. state, sin (original or otherwise) and will we do it again. Given its title, this section title particularly terrifying. Wandering through the book is Lazarus, whom Christ raised from the dead. Watch for him, he's interesting.
Or you can read it as a novel and enjoy it at face value.
One final note: Miller's other works are a very different kettle of fish -- typical 50's short stories for teenage boys. I would love to know how he came to write this book.
Rating:
Summary: one of greatest sci-fi works ever
Review: Walter Miller was not noted for a long string of novels or great works, even though he had received some acclaim as a short story writer.. But, with this novel, he has accomplishe a master work. He has traded (in a philosophical and literary sense) a lifetime of good novels for the immortality of a masterpiece. Is this novel merely a popular fear stated of the Cold War? In a sense yes, but not "merely". it is a sociological and religious statement on the nature of mankind. Much a precursor to the plot line of The Gripping Hand, this novel proposes the horrors of apocalyopse, the cyclical nature of developemnt, and the hope for something grander than repeating history. The literary style is captivating and moving, intellectual yet common. It is a work for the future written in a time of fear in the past.
Rating:
Summary: Extraordinary and thought provoking.
Review: I first read Canticle 10 years ago on recommendation of a fellow bibliophile. It is an extraordinary, thought provoking view of a post-apocolyptic world. Humorous twists on our views of technology and religion as the mysterious Leibowitz looks down on his handiwork. A must read for all those enamored with technology or who question religious icons
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant look at consequences of neuclear war
Review: This book takes a look at what would happen if the world underwent a neuclear holocaust.
The book begins several hundred years after all civilization was destroyed in a monestary commited to preserving books. The author then takes a look at society a thousand years after the halocaust.
He then takes a third look at humanity two thousand years after the cataclysm.
This allows us to come to some neat insights on religion, humanity and society.
This book is surely one of the best I've ever read.
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