#102 in Classics
A Canticle for Leibowitz
- 320
- Pages
- about 6 h
- Reading time
- Hugo Award for Best Novel
- NPR Top 100 Science Fiction and Fantasy Books
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Our view
“A Canticle for Leibowitz” takes the long view of the end of the world. It follows a desert monastery across the centuries after a nuclear war, as its monks guard scraps of science for a world not yet fit to use them. Faith, power and the double edge of knowledge are weighed seriously and inventively. Some readers find the leaps in time and the sparsely introduced characters confusing enough to reread passages.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
A Canticle for Leibowitz is a post-apocalyptic social science fiction novel by American writer Walter M. Miller Jr., first published in 1959. Set in a Catholic monastery in the desert of the southwestern United States after a devastating nuclear war, the book spans thousands of years as civilization rebuilds itself. The monks of the Albertian Order of Leibowitz preserve the surviving remnants of man's scientific knowledge until the world is again ready for it.
Where the score comes from
The sources average 7.9 across 699 ratings. With that many, the reader vote carries 83% of the weight and the score stays at 8.0 — the Classics average of 7.7 barely moves it. A further +0.10 comes from the small bonus for major awards.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 7.8 | 81 | 12% |
| Hardcover | 7.9 | 618 | 88% |
Frequently asked
How long is A Canticle for Leibowitz?
It has 320 pages — shorter than 76% of the ranked books in Classics.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
Same shelf — Classics — with scores between 7.9 and 8.0, closest to this book.
