Seven Pillars of Wisdom by Lawrence - Book Report/Review Example

The paper "Seven Pillars of Wisdom by Lawrence" is an excellent example of a book review on biographies. The seven pillars of wisdom is an autobiography of a British soldier while serving as with rebel forces during the Arab clashes with the Ottoman Empire Turks. These revolts took place between 1916 and 1918. This makes sense because it was also the time the First World War was being fought all over Europe. The title of the book, seven pillars of wisdom was derived from the bible in the book of proverbs chapter 9 verses 1. Lawrence states that before the war started, he was writing a book based on seven great cities of the Middle East (Lawrence, 2000). However, he never got to complete the book because soon the war started.

I think that Lawrence is very precise when he describes the desert and the terrain such that one is even able to visualize the landscape and different appearances of the rocks and sand (Lawrence, 2000). He also describes the camels which makes one understand the camel’s loyalty to their masters and their ability to cope with some very difficult weather conditions. Lawrence describes, Ghazala, his favorite camel just before it meets its death (Lawrence, 2000). He describes it in a way that shows the reader that he was very saddened by the death of his camel. This part reminds me of the time my cat died.
The author describes the Arab revolt in a way that shows the readers that the Arabs really needed to be free from their Turk masters. He explains the difficulty of trying to unite the different Arab tribes so that they could fight as one. He also talks about the hardships he went through as he tries to get supplies but the British army continuously denies him (Lawrence, 2000). However, despite all those challenges, he perseveres and he is eventually successful. That Arab revolt was very bloody and now I can understand why the Arabs value their freedom so much.
This memoir has a lot of intrigues but as one continues to read one page after the other, one can only wonder how he managed to achieve all that. Reading this book makes one wonder what will happen next. Despite his general feeling of uselessness and self-pity, he is able to lead the Arabs to a victory. Lawrence has mastered the use of suspense as seen in the last chapters as they capture Damascus. Read More