Seven Pillars of Wisdom
by T. E. Lawrence · first published 1905
30% recommend65% neutral4% critical
Why HN recommends it
Firsthand account of T. E. Lawrence's wartime role uniting Arab forces against the Ottoman Empire, praised for its sensory desert travel writing and frank view of British officialdom. Suits history and memoir readers.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
Seven Pillars of Wisdom is the autobiographical account of the experiences of British Army Colonel T. E. Lawrence ("Lawrence of Arabia") while serving as a military advisor to Bedouin forces during the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire of 1916 to 1918. It was completed in February 1922, but first published in December 1926, originally published for the US market in 1927 as Revolt in the Desert and is the only version that was commercially released while he was alive. Seven Pillars of Wisdom (1935) is a longer form of the book at almost double the page count and released to the inter
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Go read Lawrence's book, the Seven Pillars of Wisdom! If it were only a travelogue, it would be worth reading. But it's also the personal story of a low ranking man saw the solution to the impossible, and got nations and cultures working together to bring…
on “Bullet indicates Lawrence of Arabia was no liar” ↗I recommend the book T E Lawrence wrote on which the movie was based upon: "Seven Pillars of Wisdom".
on “Old photos of Bedouin nomads, 1898” ↗White Teeth, Zadie Smith Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates, Tom Robbins Homage to Catalonia, George Orwell Catch 22, Joseph Heller Timequake; Mother Night, Kurt Vonnegut Jr. Seven Pillars of Wisdom, TE Lawrence The Histories, Tacitus The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger (caveat, it was most effective when I read it at 16) Redwall, Brian Jaques (got me really excited about reading when I was in…
on “Ask: Read a book that changed your life? Title?” ↗…If one is a fan of utter bullshit. For a less varnished take than this article on the attitudes and motivations of Britain's supposed gentlemen of that era, it is a very good idea to read Lawrence's 'Seven Pillars of Wisdom'. It pulls very few punches.
on “Gentleman Officer” ↗Seven Pillars of Wisdom, by T. E. Lawrence. During WWI he was sent from the UK to the Arabs to find a leader who could unite them and lead a rebellion against the Turks, who were allied with Germany. He succeeded.
on “Ask HN: Books about people who did hard things” ↗…prosperous land. Of course, classical European literature didn't focus on the American wilderness. Though the most famous book on this theme is probably Defoe's Robinson Crusoe. And I enjoyed T.E. Lawrence' Seven Pillars of Wisdom which most people know through the film; the Arabian desert was a good place for loneliness in the wilderness. > Another is the pursuit of the American Dream, where people achieve success through relentless…
on “The Great Gatsby is the most misunderstood novel” ↗…english isnt my first language..i bolster and decorate words with other 'senses' by imagining that i am 'there' inside the pages with those words. this is one of my favourite sensory readings...from the seven pillars of wisdom, t.e.lawrence.. http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks01/0100111h.html ... [...]The common base of all the Semitic creeds, winners or losers, was the ever present idea of world-worthlessness. Their profound…
on “What Did the Past Smell Like?” ↗…Shaddows, The Great Game and the Race for Empire in Central Asia Doughty Travels in Arabia Deserta Lefevre The Golden Flood Massie Dreadnought, Britain, Germany, and the Coming of the Great War Lawrence Seven Pillars of Wisdom Durant The Story of Philosophy Cardozo The Nature of the Judicial Process Schapiro The Communist Party of the Soviet Union Popper The Logic of Scientific Discovery Kershaw Hitler: 1889-1936 Hubris…
on “PG's Rarely Asked Questions” ↗Not one mention of The Seven Pillars of Wisdom by TE Lawrence? I'm actually reading that book right now; so many parallels. It's a shame Herbert didn't mention Lawrence in this essay.
on “Dune Genesis (1980)” ↗I have in my hand a 1942 edition of the 'Seven Pillars of Wisdom' by T.E. Lawrence that I am currently half way through. Can you suggest which credible data source on the internet is going to compete with Lawrence's first hand account of events?
on “Ask HN: How Do You Read?” ↗…(serfdom) about the same time in the 1860s, but it lingered in Cuba and Brazil toward the end of the 19th century. T.E.Lawrence commented on the slavery he found in Saudi Arabia during World War 1 (1916) [Seven Pillars of Wisdom]. The practice of legal slavery continued into the 1970s in the Gulf States, and the indentured servitude practiced there today is little different (long working hours in difficult conditions, physical…
on “The Four Quadrants of Conformism” ↗…Faulkner’s Soldiers’ Pay Dorothy Parker’s Enough Rope Zora Neale Hurston’s Color Struck Jim Morrison Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Land of Mist Stevie Smith Ivor Novello Miyamoto Yuriko T. E. Lawrence’s Seven Pillars of Wisdom Sound recordings published prior to 1923 The Scarlet Letter directed by Victor Sjöström Franz Kafka’s The Castle Ludwig Wittgenstein Vita Sackville-West’s The Land André Gide Bertolt Brecht’s Man…
on “What will enter the public domain in 2022” ↗…series, I'd guess. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lensman_series [EDIT] I'd add that a bigger cinematic influence on Lynch's dune was probably Lawrence of Arabia, which is fitting since if you've read Seven Pillars of Wisdom it's hard to believe it wasn't sitting at the top of a pile of books on Herbert's desk while he was writing Dune.
on “David Lynch’s Dune – A sci-fi film by a director without much care for sci-fi” ↗“Seven Pillars of Wisdom” by T. E. Lawrence “The Wars of the Roses” by Alison Weir Re-reading “A Soldier of the Great War” by Mark Helprin Also, do yourself a favor and pick up the Aubrey / Maturin series by Patrick O’Brian.…
on “Ask HN: 2018 Summer Reading List?” ↗Reading a biography of TE Lawrence and his magnificent book Seven Pillars of Wisdom, I realized that the story of Paul Atreides in Dune is largely based on his life.
on “The Secret History of Dune” ↗