Lemuel Gulliver is a practical man, a ship's surgeon who just wants to get home. But fate has other plans. After a series of shipwrecks, he finds himself in places that defy belief. First, he's a giant trapped in the land of the six-inch-tall Lilliputians, where he gets caught in their absurdly petty political squabbles. Next, the tables turn in Brobdingnag, where he's a tiny curiosity among gentle giants who see his kind as dangerous, vicious insects. His journey gets even weirder from there, visiting a floating island of absent-minded intellectuals and a land ruled by supremely rational horses, where humans are the filthy, irrational beasts.

Why You Should Read It

This book is so much more than a fantasy. Swift uses Gulliver's wide-eyed confusion as a tool. By seeing humanity from the outside—through the disgust of a giant king or the logic of a horse—our own flaws become impossible to ignore. The satire is ruthless. It targets everything from the nonsense of political parties to the blind pride of scientists and the brutality of war. What's amazing is how fresh it feels. You'll read about a conflict in Lilliput that started over which end of an egg to crack, and you'll immediately think of modern political fights that are just as silly.

Final Verdict

Perfect for anyone who loves a smart, satirical punch wrapped in a classic adventure. If you enjoy stories that make you think while you're being entertained, this is your book. It's for readers who don't mind a protagonist who becomes deeply cynical, and for anyone who's ever looked at the news and thought, 'This is utterly absurd.' Just be ready—it's a funny, clever, and sometimes uncomfortably honest look in the mirror.