I actually found this book to be quite boring. Sure, it's a classic. Sure, it outlines a theoretically equal world. But honestly, I found it difficult to keep engaged in what I was reading. How boring would life be if it were like what this book describes! ( )

Sir Thomas More stands among the few really great and original pollitical thinkers. Utopia was written originally as an ironic comment to the Elizabethan English social order.

It was diverting to read, but Utopia by Thomas More was not a delightful, engaging read. It has essentially no plot: a world-traveler tells a man named Thomas More about a land called Utopia as they discuss various social problems.

And yet, Utopia was interesting to me as a commentary on “utopias” and “dystopias” in general. Although dystopia has come to mean “an imaginary place where people lead dehumanized and often fearful lives” (M-W.com), I would suggest that the original inspiration for the positive term (utopia) wasn’t so great either. If the land of Utopia in More’s novel is truly “a place of ideal perfection especially in laws, government, and social conditions” (M-W.com), I don’t want anything to do with perfection.

Utopia is a novel I would have loved to discuss in a class setting: there is so much I didn’t understand about the society, and I had a lot to say about it, after just one read.

In the end, I’m very glad I read Utopia. The novel itself was just over 100 pages, and while it wasn’t a quick read, it was a nice foundation to my general thoughts about utopian and dystopian fiction.

More detailed review on my blog

i actually really liked this book. it was alot different then what i thought it would be. in utopia, its the peaceful society, and i love that. it explains why they have it set up like how it was, and how it all worked and why it worked, and although it made sense to me, didn't agree with some of the things discussed. for example i like how they deal with crime. i like how they get him to humble himself, but still have his freedom in a way. but as much as i agree or disagree with this book, and its principles, i do not believe that this system could work with the world today. the human race grows to be greedy, and even its one person, greed destroys the idea. the idea that every one IS equal, and the fact that we should equal is an idea lots of people have. the only way that can be true is if everybody works, and everybody is honest, truthful, and they really want it to be as if its the perfect world. so many people though have a different image of that. with it outline of this book it gives you a society where there's no hate, lie, decisiveness, or greed. but because man has grown into knowing how to get what that is he wants he can no longer be happy if he was in this utopia for there would be no reason to steal, because there is no money, and why would you need to steal something if you already have it, and this book gives you lots of those. ( )

Modern translation of the Utopia and Erasmus's The Sileni of Alcibiades.