Where to start with Nibley?

[EH12NG]

Which of Hugh Nibley's works / talks would you recommend as a starting point for someone who is only just beginning to find the time to read/listen to the man. 

I have spent a lot of my spare time reading Talmage over the years and with the ebb and flow of life, I have had little to no time left to ever start Nibley's offerings. This however, is about to change.

Much appreciated.

[Vort]

21 minutes ago, EH12NG said:

Which of Hugh Nibley's works / talks would you recommend as a starting point for someone who is only just beginning to find the time to read/listen to the man. 

I have spent a lot of my spare time reading Talmage over the years and with the ebb and flow of life, I have had little to no time left to ever start Nibley's offerings. This however, is about to change.

Much appreciated.

A great place to start is a 30-part lecture series Nibley gave over KSL radio in 1954, called "Time Vindicates the Prophets". Each bite-sized lecture is only ten to fifteen minutes long, and just fascinating. Here is the intro:

Then there are thirty lectures after that. The final one is certainly the best, but you should listen to them all in order.

After whetting your appetite with "Time Vindicates the Prophets", go to Nibley's speeches site on byu.edu (https://speeches.byu.edu/speakers/hugh-nibley/) and start listening. The featured talk there is his classic "Leaders and Managers", which is most certainly worth hearing, one of the really great commencement speeches you will ever hear (at least I assume it was a commencement speech), but every talk is a gem. Every one, literally. Even the not-so-good talks are good, and most are excellent. (The BYU site "Leaders and Managers" video also features a young BYU president Jeff Holland offering an introduction, which is kind of fun.)

[Vort]

By the way, all or most of Nibley's lectures are available in print. Most of his best lectures were eventually incorporated into his books, anyway. But I would still advise you to listen to the man speak. He was a gifted speaker, just fascinating to listen to, and his delivery added significantly to the information he conveyed.

[mikbone]

Id start with the Joseph Smith Papers

[zil2]

You can get the entire set of "Collected Works of Hugh Nibley" - 19 volumes in Deseret Book's eBook format for a mere $857.99¹ (less than 9¢ / page).    If you do, I'd say start with any of them.  I haven't read them all, but of those I have, I like everything I've read, but especially:

• Approaching Zion
• Old Testament and Related Studies
• The World and the Prophets
• Lehi in the Desert

¹ Based on a random sampling, the set is more expensive by far than if you bought the individual volumes.  Apparently Deseret Book have stolen Amazon's "volume discount" pricing algorithm...

[mordorbund]

4 hours ago, zil2 said:

less than 9¢ / page

Anyone else read this and hear Nibley say “that’s not bad for Xerox”?

[EH12NG]

Thanks for the pointers people. I'll be starting around this time next week. 

[Emmanuel Goldstein]

On 9/23/2023 at 10:01 AM, zil2 said:

You can get the entire set of "Collected Works of Hugh Nibley" - 19 volumes in Deseret Book's eBook format for a mere $857.99¹ (less than 9¢ / page).    If you do, I'd say start with any of them.  I haven't read them all, but of those I have, I like everything I've read, but especially:

• Approaching Zion
• Old Testament and Related Studies
• The World and the Prophets
• Lehi in the Desert

¹ Based on a random sampling, the set is more expensive by far than if you bought the individual volumes.  Apparently Deseret Book have stolen Amazon's "volume discount" pricing algorithm...

Lehi in the Desert is pretty easy to follow and Approaching Zion is his masterwork. 

[Traveler]

I would say a few things about brother Nibley.  As I grew up, his family (not in my ward in Provo) was in my neighborhood.  I knew one of his sons though not as a close friend but was a visitor to his home from time to time and had personal discussions with him – he loved talking to young people, I believe more so than adults, but he never spoke down to youth and assumed you would understand everything he said.  I took the Book of Mormon class from him at BYU, attended many of his lectures and after my brother married brother Nibley was his home teacher.

He spoke several languages and often in his lectures he would refer to his notes and then forget what language he was speaking in his lecture.  He had a rather odd sense of humor but did not like it if you laughed when he was serious – which often was difficult to tell when.  His logic and wit was very simple and elementary to him and he thought everyone should follow his line of thinking very easily with no problem – yet he loved questions – unless he thought them to be off point to the discussion – then he would just ignore them.

He believed his calling was that of a teacher and would not accept any other callings in the church.  He, as far as I knew, never served in (accepted) a “leadership calling” in the church.   He very much disliked the trappings of wealth (part of the influence to me on this subject).  He dressed as one would expect an absent-minded professor to dress.  Very eccentric, he was almost always in a well-worn drab suit, overcoat and rubber slip on boots and always carrying a umbrella regardless of the season or weather.  

My father was his insurance agent.  Hugh drove an older VW bug when he had to drive and then he only drove himself.  He was in an accident once and refused to fill out any forms or give a statement to the insurance company.  His wife provided the information.  At the time I was working for my father and was assigned (because I knew a son) to go to his home to get the proper paperwork signed – which Hugh refused to do.  My father was able to settle the matter anyway.

For the final exam in the Book of Mormon class – he came into the room and wrote on the blackboard, “Explain the spiritual significance of page 271 of the Book of Mormon and how it applies today” and left the room.  This was a closed book exam.  We were all dumbfounded and did not know what to do.   After about 10 minutes or so he re-entered the room, chuckled a bit and said this was a joke and not the exam.  He erased the “2” and replaced it with a “3” and said with a smile – this is the exam – and left.  Lucky for me I remembered him saying in class this was an important page to remember so I got one of the few A’s from the class.  He would not fail anyone but would give them a passing “C” – unless they missed classes.   When studying Nibley – study everything he says on every subject.  He never covered anything he considered not important.

My brother said that each month when Brother Nibley came to home teach, he would begin by saying, “When I recently attended the temple, I learned something new I had not considered before.”  I think or was led to think that Brother Nibley was a regular attendee at the temple on a often scheduled basis and that he lingered to meditate and contemplate before leaving.  I do not think it important to read or listen to Nibley in a strict order – rather I would suggest his works be studied and used as a reference.  That like scripture his presentations be approached in the attitude of prayer for assistance in understanding and then thought on.  I have often speculated that he would perhaps have been a GA except he only accepted the calling of a teacher in his ward.  I believe his insights are unique and unmatched in human history.  I wish everyone could have a brother Nibley in their life.  I love the fact that I grew up in Utah, in a quiet LDS community knowing general authorities and great scholars and just regular good ward members.  I do not know why anyone would prefer to live in the fringes of LDS society.  I understand there are good people there as well and experiences and opportunities in such places – but for me, growing up in a time and place as close to Zion as I have ever experienced is rarer – it seems – in these last days than what should and can be – something to remember and continue to strive for.

 

The Traveler

[KingDumb]

Dr. Nibley’s writings are pretty deep. His son, however, wrote a book I think it’s called Sargent Nibley PH.d. I was fortunate enough to have a class taught by Dr. Nibley. He would never talk about what he did during World War II only that he belonged to Army Intelligence.

His son compiled the letters that he had written home to his mom and put these in a book. Dr. Nibley’s insights into the war are rather interesting. Anyway, if you want some insights into Dr. Nibley the man, it’s a very good book!

[zil2]

Welcome to Third Hour, @KingDumb!

[Traveler]

19 hours ago, KingDumb said:

Dr. Nibley’s writings are pretty deep. His son, however, wrote a book I think it’s called Sargent Nibley PH.d. I was fortunate enough to have a class taught by Dr. Nibley. He would never talk about what he did during World War II only that he belonged to Army Intelligence.

His son compiled the letters that he had written home to his mom and put these in a book. Dr. Nibley’s insights into the war are rather interesting. Anyway, if you want some insights into Dr. Nibley the man, it’s a very good book!

Welcome and thanks for posting.

It has been a while but as I recall Dr. Nibley worked in decoding enemy communications.  If you were in a class taught by Dr. Nibley - somebody at BYU thought you were smart.  Most likely KingDomb does not suit you very well.  Hopefully you will add your insights and wit to several discussions.

 

The Traveler