Flawed masterpiece

This is one of the best-known British works of the first half of the 20th century. It conveys well the mystique of the man, which continues to fascinate, and his descriptions of the desert landscape and his metaphysical identification with the Arab culture and people radiate from the text. But it wanders, it is highly egocentric, and it's not really to be relied on as an historical account. It nonetheless is a marvellous experience, and perfect as an audio book where Lawrence's world can be dreamed of with eyes closed.

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seven pillars of wisdom

When you hear this book I think that it should be compulsory reading for all the people who deal in the middle east,as far as I can make out it could have been wrote yesterday. I have lived and worked in the middle east and I enjoyed every minute but it has not changed a jot by the reading of this book

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Excellent apart from the music

Excellent book, excellent narration.
However, the whole was greatly spoiled by the repetition of the same piece of music every few pages (must be at least 60 times). After hearing this you will never want to hear Saint-Saens 'Swan' ever again!

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One of the great books spoilted

I have read this book and think it was great, and was looking foward to listening to it, but to me, it was ruined by the same music playing all the way through. A waste of my money a waste of my time I have downloaded a lot from audible but this is the only one I do not like.. As I said one of the great books spoiled.

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Interesting book ruined by poor production

Of all the audio books that I?ve purchased during the past couple of years this one has to rate as one of the poorest. It was a relief to finish it and a test of endurance for the majority of the listen. Now, the narration isn?t too bad and perfectly acceptable. For James Wilby?s efforts I?d probably rate him a 3 or 4 stars. However, the prose itself was fragmented, lacking context and meaning, and too much of a relaying of events without the bigger picture to form the backdrop. Fair enough, it?s an abridged version and some books can even benefit from such a format, but I do think that this isn?t one of them. True, it does have some interesting highlights and there?s just about enough to keep the listener going ? about 3 stars for content. Then, there?s that interminable ?Swan? by Saint-Saens, the music between each episode and part, repeated time and again. Extremely irritating, annoying and totally unnecessary. It is this very poor production (which itself merits a negative rating if such were possible) that renders this audio book just 1 star in the final reckoning. I mean, at one point in the book there was a full 3 minutes plus of musical interlude. WHY? You have been warned?hear comes that ?swan? again?arrrggghhh!!!

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2 people found this helpful