Seven Pillars of Wisdom (Classics of World Literature) Paperback – 5 Jun. 1997

Would just like to lead off with absolutely amazed at the speed this delivery has came, did not expect til late this week and came today (the next day) a pleasant surprise and added to the excitement of reading. First things first, I am 26 years of age and have read military books and memoirs from all sorts of foreign nations and military figures through history because I was never truly taught a lot about the wars in my normal schooling however additional to this is the fact that the UK will only address in everyday schooling is what it was like in trenches during ww1 and maybe touch into the poems that were written to go alongside it, so to say my education is being taught a complete different side of a war that pretty much shaped modern Europe and I knew nothing about it upsets me completely because the true fact is I just thought "Lawrence of Arabia" was a film about an Englishman helping the Arabians with the ottomans being an issue to their country, NOT the actual fictional man and planning he did to rebel against the ottomans trying to take over the country for it's economical gems. Additionally the fact this man is such a controversial issue in this country and that people are not being taught about him and what he did is a serious let down in modern schooling. This all being said the book gives a true insight as best he can remember about he journey and the battles he fought, the military planning etc. Everything you'd expect from an officer of the British military and the education he possessed, credit where credit is due the man states on the very first page that most is done via memory and what he can't fully recall is a slight twist on fiction. Not too far into this and I already feel immersed in the time and experiences he's describing. It would definitely be a book I'd recommended mainly because memoirs tend to be worth a read and even if there is a twist of fiction with each one, but if you want to get to know more about the man behind the legend of Lawrence of Arabia pick it up.

Over forty years ago, an English Literature teacher suggested I read this book; I had shown a naive interest in the Middle East. But in 1962 I saw the movie, Lawrence of Arabia, again and again, and again. I still think it's my favourite all time movie, but now I wish I had read the book first!Reading all the introductory pages first was a mistake...I wish I had started where T.E.L begins. To analyse before reading (I found) distorts the flow of the well written tale. So read T.E.Lawrence first, then go back to see what his critics say. And, if you haven't already, then see the movie! There are critics a-plenty of Lawrence from beginning to end of that, and all in the best possible taste.It's a long, not always easy read, but well worth a little effort!

It's arguable that this book needs a thorough editing. It's incredibly dense, piling detail upon exhausting detail; it's self-contradictory; it's inconsistent; it sprawls; as a history, it's probably not the most reliable; as an autobiography, the same could be said.But really, today, who would dare? For to do so would risk editing out the most important part of Seven Pillars of Wisdom, the insight it offers into the character of the fascinating, flawed, simultaneously self-aggrandising and self-effacing, T E Lawrence.Like all the best books, it's obvious that SPoW was written to primarily please its author; but, as it soon becomes evident that Lawrence is almost impossible to please...He throws everything into the account/ history/ sometimes-near-fictional history/ confession, giving us breathtaking descriptions of the geography (and geology), the peoples, the customs, the absolute ravages, of Arabia - the country he seems eternally teetering between love and detestation for... the country he is intent on helping save from Turkish invaders in the First World War almost out of sheer masochistic perversity. He is searingly honest and unflinching, both toward his observations and toward himself, pulling no punches as he tells of dysentery-plagued Turkish 'hospitals'/ open graves or of the constant guilt he strains beneath as he lies to his Arabian followers concerning Britain's ultimate concerns in liberating their country.Heavy going, yes, but that doesn't make this anything less than a wonderfully flawed magnum opus.

What I wanted

it was not untill i read the book that i obtained such a complte view of desert and desert war the heat the cold the bouts of rain the times of bordem are all well sumed up in this book.Before reading thebook all i had read and seen was the romance and excitment,now vi can see the wet cold slow days between the activerty a well need book even more so as time takes us awy from the event