The great books are books that are thought to constitute an essential foundation in the literature of Western culture. Specified sets of great books typically range from 100 to 150, though they differ according to purpose and context. For instance, some lists are built to be read by undergraduates in a college semester system (130 books, Torrey Honors Institute),[1] some are compiled to be sold as a single set of volumes (500 books, Mortimer Adler), while some lists aim at a thorough literary criticism (2,400 books, Harold Bloom).[2]

Contents

1 Concept 2 Origin 3 Program

3.1 Universities

4 Controversy 5 Series 6 Television 7 See also 8 References 9 Sources 10 External links

Concept[edit] The great books are those that tradition, and various institutions and authorities, have regarded as constituting or best expressing the foundations of Western culture
Western culture (the Western canon
Western canon is a similar but broader designation); derivatively the term also refers to a curriculum or method of education based around a list of such books. Mortimer Adler
Mortimer Adler lists three criteria for including a book on the list:

the book has contemporary significance; that is, it has relevance to the problems and issues of our times; the book is inexhaustible; it can be read again and again with benefit; "This is an exacting criterion, an ideal that is fully attained by only a small number of the 511 works that we selected. It is approximated in varying degrees by the rest."[3] the book is relevant to a large number of the great ideas and great issues that have occupied the minds of thinking individuals for the last 25 centuries.[4]

Origin[edit] Thomas Jefferson,[5] well known for his interest in higher education, frequently composed great books lists for his friends and correspondents, for example, for Peter Carr in 1785[6] and again in 1787.[7] In 1909, Harvard University published a 51-volume great books series, titled the Harvard Classics. These volumes are now in the public domain. The Great Books
Great Books of the Western World came about as the result of a discussion among American academics and educators, starting in the 1920s and 1930s and begun by Prof. John Erskine of Columbia University,[8] about how to improve the higher education system by returning it to the western liberal arts tradition of broad cross-disciplinary learning. These academics and educators included Robert Hutchins, Mortimer Adler, Stringfellow Barr, Scott Buchanan, Jacques Barzun, and Alexander Meiklejohn. The view among them was that the emphasis on narrow specialization in American colleges had harmed the quality of higher education by failing to expose students to the important products of Western civilization and thought. They were at odds both with much of the existing educational establishment and with contemporary educational theory. Educational theorists like Sidney Hook[9] and John Dewey
John Dewey (see pragmatism) disagreed with the premise that there was crossover in education.[citation needed] Program[edit] The Great Books
Great Books Program is a curriculum that makes use of this list of texts. As much as possible, students rely on primary sources. The emphasis is on open discussion with limited guidance by a professor, facilitator, or tutor. Students are also expected to write papers. In 1920, Professor Erskine taught the first course based on the "great books" program, titled "General Honors", at Columbia University.[10][11] He helped mold its core curriculum. It initially failed, however, shortly after its introduction due to fallings-out between the senior faculty over the best ways to conduct classes and due to concerns about the rigor of the courses. Thus junior faculty including Mark Van Doren
Mark Van Doren and Mortimer Adler
Mortimer Adler after 1923, taught a part of the course. The course was discontinued in 1928, though later reconstituted. Adler left for the University of Chicago
University of Chicago in 1929, where he continued his work on the theme, and along with the University president, Robert M. Hutchins, held an annual seminar of great books. In 1937, when Mark Van Doren
Mark Van Doren redesigned the course, it was already being taught at St. John's College, Annapolis, besides University of Chicago. This course later became Humanities A for freshmen, and subsequently evolved into Literature
Literature Humanities.[10] Survivors, however, include Columbia's Core Curriculum, the Common Core at Chicago, and the Core Curriculum at Boston University, each heavily focused on the "great books" of the Western canon. A university or college Great Books
Great Books Program is a program inspired by the Great Books
Great Books movement begun in the United States in the 1920s. The aim of such programs is a return to the Western Liberal Arts
Liberal Arts tradition in education, as a corrective to the extreme disciplinary specialisation common within the academy. The essential component of such programs is a high degree of engagement with whole primary texts, called the Great Books. The curricula of Great Books
Great Books programs often follow a canon of texts considered more or less essential to a student's education, such as Plato's Republic, or Dante's Divine Comedy. Such programs often focus exclusively on Western culture. Their employment of primary texts dictates an interdisciplinary approach, as most of the Great Books
Great Books do not fall neatly under the prerogative of a single contemporary academic discipline. Great Books programs often include designated discussion groups as well as lectures, and have small class sizes. In general students in such programs receive an abnormally high degree of attention from their professors, as part of the overall aim of fostering a community of learning. There are only a few true " Great Books
Great Books Programs" still in operation.[citation needed] These schools focus almost exclusively on the Great Books
Great Books Curriculum throughout enrollment and do not offer classes analogous to those commonly offered at other colleges. The first and best known of these schools is St. John's College in Annapolis and Santa Fe (program established in 1937);[12] it was followed by Shimer College
Shimer College in Chicago, the Integral Program[13] at Saint Mary's College of California
Saint Mary's College of California (1955), Northeast Catholic College in Warner, New Hampshire, and Thomas Aquinas College
Thomas Aquinas College in Santa Paula, California. More recent schools with this type of curriculum include New Saint Andrews College
New Saint Andrews College in Moscow, Idaho (est. 1994), Gutenberg College in Eugene, Oregon (est. 1994), Harrison Middleton University in Tempe, Arizona (est. 1998), Wyoming Catholic College
Wyoming Catholic College in Lander, Wyoming (est. 2005), and Imago Dei College in Oak Glen, California (est. 2010). Fordham University's Honors Program at Rose Hill incorporates the Great Books
Great Books curriculum into a rigorous first four semesters in the program. The University of Notre Dame's Program of Liberal Studies, established in 1950, is a highly regarded Great Books Program that operates as a separate institution within the College of Liberal Arts. Dharma Realm Buddhist University
Dharma Realm Buddhist University is the first Great Books school to offer curriculum combining Eastern and Western classics.[14] The Center for the Study of the Great Ideas advances the Great Conversation found in the great books by providing Adler's guidance, and resource materials through both live and on-line seminars, educational and philosophical consultation, international presence on the Internet, access to the Center's library collection of books, essays, articles, journals and audio/video programs. Center programs are unique in that they do not replicate other existing programs either started or developed by Adler. Universities[edit] Over 100 institutions of higher learning in the United States, Canada, and Europe maintain some version of a Great Books
Great Books Program as an option for students.[15] Among these are: United States

Azusa Pacific University
Azusa Pacific University Honors College[16] Baylor University, Great Texts[17] Biola University, Torrey Honors Institute[18] Boston College[19] Boston University[20] Columbia University[10] Dharma Realm Buddhist University[14] East Carolina University
East Carolina University Thomas Harriot College of Arts and Sciences[21] Faulkner University Fordham University, Rose Hill, Honors Program Franciscan University of Steubenville[22] George Fox University, William Penn Honors Program[23] Gutenberg College[24] Harrison Middleton University[25] Hillsdale College Houston Baptist University, Honors College[26] Mercer University[27] Middlebury College[28] New York University, Gallatin Program, Liberal Studies Program Northeast Catholic College[29] Palm Beach Atlantic University[30] Pepperdine University[31] Saint Anselm College[32] St. John's College[33] Saint Mary's College of California
Saint Mary's College of California (Moraga), Integral Liberal Arts Program[34] Shimer College[35] Templeton Honors College at Eastern University[36] Thomas Aquinas College[37] Thomas More
Thomas More College of Liberal Arts[38] University of Chicago[39] University of Dallas[40] University of Michigan[41] University of Notre Dame[42] University of San Francisco, St. Ignatius Institute[43] University of Texas at Austin, Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson Center[44] University of West Florida, Kugelman Honors Program[45] Wyoming Catholic College[46] Xavier University (Cincinnati)

Canada

The College of the Humanities at Carleton University, Ottawa [47] The Liberal Arts
Liberal Arts College at Concordia University, Montreal [48] Liberal Studies at Vancouver Island University[49]

St. Thomas University (New Brunswick)[50] University of King's College
University of King's College (Foundation Year Programme)[51] The Arts One Program at the University of British Columbia[52]

Europe

Catholic University of Portugal[53] University of Beira Interior, Portugal[54]

Asia

Ashoka University
Ashoka University (India)[55]

Shalem College
Shalem College (Israel)[56]

Controversy[edit] In contemporary scholarship, the great books curriculum was drawn into the popular debate about multiculturalism, traditional education, the "culture war," and the role of the intellectual in American life. Much of this debate centered on reactions to the publication of The Closing of the American Mind in 1987 by Allan Bloom.[57] Series[edit] Main article: Great Books
Great Books of the Western World The Great Books
Great Books of the Western World is a hardcover 60-volume collection (originally 54 volumes) of the books on the great books list (about 517 individual works). Many of the books in the collection were translated into English for the first time.[citation needed] A prominent feature of the collection is a two-volume Syntopicon that includes essays written by Mortimer Adler
Mortimer Adler on 102 "great ideas." Following each essay is an extensive outline of the idea with page references to relevant passages throughout the collection. Familiar to many Americans, the collection is available from Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., which owns the copyright. Shortly after Adler retired from the Great Books
Great Books Foundation in 1989, a second edition (1990) of the Great Books
Great Books of the Western World was published; it included more Hispanic and female authors and, for the first time, works by black authors.[58] During his tenure as president of the Foundation, Adler had resisted such additions.[59]

We did not base our selections on an author's nationality, religion, politics, or field of study; nor on an author's race or gender. Great books were not chosen to make up quotas of any kind; there was no "affirmative action" in the process ... we chose the great books on the basis of their relevance to at least 25 of the 102 great ideas. Many of the great books are relevant to a much larger number of the 102 great ideas, as many as 75 or more great ideas, a few to all 102 great ideas. In sharp contrast are the good books that are relevant to less than 10 or even as few as 4 or 5 great ideas. We placed such books in the lists of Recommended Readings to be found in the last section in each of the 102 chapters of the "Syntopicon". Here readers will find many twentieth-century female authors, black authors, and Latin American authors whose works we recommended but did not include in the second edition of the great books.[3]

In the course of history ... new books have been written that have won their place in the list. Books once thought entitled to belong to it have been superseded; and this process of change will continue as long as men can think and write. It is the task of every generation to reassess the tradition in which it lives, to discard what it cannot use, and to bring into context with the distant and intermediate past the most recent contributions to the Great Conversation.[60]

The following is an example list, in chronological order, compiled from How to Read a Book
Book by Mortimer Adler
Mortimer Adler (1940), and How to Read a Book, 2nd ed. by Mortimer Adler
Mortimer Adler and Charles Van Doren
Charles Van Doren (1972):

Homer
Homer – Iliad; Odyssey The Old Testament Aeschylus
Aeschylus – Tragedies Sophocles
Sophocles – Tragedies Herodotus
Herodotus – Histories Euripides
Euripides – Tragedies Thucydides
Thucydides – History of the Peloponnesian War Hippocrates
Hippocrates – Medical Writings Aristophanes
Aristophanes – Comedies Plato
Plato – Dialogues Aristotle
Aristotle – Works Epicurus
Epicurus – "Letter to Herodotus"; "Letter to Menoecus" Euclid
Euclid – Elements Archimedes
Archimedes – Works Apollonius – Conics Cicero
Cicero – Works (esp. Orations; On Friendship; On Old Age; Republic; Laws; Tusculan Disputations; Offices) Lucretius
Lucretius – On the Nature of Things Virgil
Virgil – Works (esp. Aeneid) Horace
Horace – Works (esp. Odes and Epodes; The Art of Poetry) Livy
Livy – History of Rome Ovid
Ovid – Works (esp. Metamorphoses) Quintilian
Quintilian – Institutes of Oratory Plutarch
Plutarch – Parallel Lives; Moralia Tacitus
Tacitus – Histories; Annals; Agricola; Germania; Dialogus de oratoribus (Dialogue on Oratory) Nicomachus of Gerasa – Introduction to Arithmetic Epictetus
Epictetus – Discourses; Enchiridion Ptolemy
Ptolemy – Almagest Lucian
Lucian – Works (esp. The Way to Write History; The True History; The Sale of Creeds; Alexander the Oracle Monger; Charon; The Sale of Lives; The Fisherman; Dialogue of the Gods; Dialogues of the Sea-Gods; Dialogues of the Dead) Marcus Aurelius
Marcus Aurelius – Meditations Galen
Galen – On the Natural Faculties The New Testament Plotinus
Plotinus – The Enneads St. Augustine – "On the Teacher"; Confessions; City of God; On Christian Doctrine The Volsungs Saga or Nibelungenlied The Song of Roland The Saga of Burnt Njál Maimonides
Maimonides – The Guide for the Perplexed St. Thomas Aquinas
St. Thomas Aquinas – Of Being and Essence; Summa Contra Gentiles; Of the Governance of Rulers; Summa Theologica Dante Alighieri
Dante Alighieri – The New Life (La Vita Nuova); "On Monarchy"; Divine Comedy Giovanni Boccaccio
Giovanni Boccaccio - The Decameron Geoffrey Chaucer
Geoffrey Chaucer – Troilus and Criseyde; The Canterbury Tales Thomas à Kempis
Thomas à Kempis – The Imitation of Christ Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo da Vinci – Notebooks Niccolò Machiavelli
Niccolò Machiavelli – The Prince; Discourses on the First Ten Books of Livy Desiderius Erasmus
Desiderius Erasmus – The Praise of Folly; Colloquies Nicolaus Copernicus
Nicolaus Copernicus – On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres Thomas More
Thomas More – Utopia Martin Luther
Martin Luther – Table Talk; Three Treatises François Rabelais
François Rabelais – Gargantua and Pantagruel John Calvin
John Calvin – Institutes of the Christian Religion Michel de Montaigne
Michel de Montaigne – Essays William Gilbert – On the Lodestone and Magnetic Bodies Miguel de Cervantes
Miguel de Cervantes – Don Quixote Edmund Spenser
Edmund Spenser – Prothalamion; The Faerie Queene Francis Bacon
Francis Bacon – Essays; The Advancement of Learning; Novum Organum; New Atlantis William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare – Poetry and Plays Galileo Galilei
Galileo Galilei – Starry Messenger; Two New Sciences Johannes Kepler
Johannes Kepler – The Epitome of Copernican Astronomy; Harmonices Mundi William Harvey
William Harvey – On the Motion of the Heart and Blood in Animals; On the Circulation of the Blood; Generation of Animals Grotius
Grotius – The Law of War and Peace Thomas Hobbes
Thomas Hobbes – Leviathan; Elements of Philosophy René Descartes
René Descartes – Rules for the Direction of the Mind; Discourse on the Method; Geometry; Meditations
Meditations on First Philosophy; Principles of Philosophy; The Passions of the Soul Corneille – Tragedies (esp. The Cid, Cinna) John Milton
John Milton – Works (esp. the minor poems; Areopagitica; Paradise Lost; Samson Agonistes) Molière
Molière – Comedies (esp. The Miser; The School for Wives; The Misanthrope; The Doctor in Spite of Himself; Tartuffe; The Tradesman Turned Gentleman; The Imaginary Invalid; The Affected Ladies) Blaise Pascal
Blaise Pascal – The Provincial Letters; Pensées; Scientific Treatises John Bunyan
John Bunyan - The Pilgrim's Progress Boyle – The Sceptical Chymist Christiaan Huygens
Christiaan Huygens – Treatise on Light Benedict de Spinoza
Benedict de Spinoza – Political Treatises; Ethics John Locke
John Locke – A Letter Concerning Toleration; Of Civil Government; An Essay Concerning Human Understanding; Some Thoughts Concerning Education Jean Baptiste Racine
Jean Baptiste Racine – Tragedies (esp. Andromache; Phaedra; Athalie (Athaliah)) Isaac Newton
Isaac Newton – Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy; Opticks Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz – Discourse on Metaphysics; New Essays on Human Understanding; Monadology Daniel Defoe
Daniel Defoe – Robinson Crusoe; Moll Flanders Jonathan Swift
Jonathan Swift – The Battle of the Books; A Tale of a Tub; A Journal to Stella; Gulliver's Travels; A Modest Proposal William Congreve
William Congreve – The Way of the World George Berkeley
George Berkeley – A New Theory of Vision; A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge Alexander Pope
Alexander Pope – An Essay on Criticism; The Rape of the Lock; An Essay on Man Charles de Secondat, baron de Montesquieu
Charles de Secondat, baron de Montesquieu – Persian Letters; The Spirit of the Laws Voltaire
Voltaire – Letters on the English; Candide; Philosophical Dictionary Henry Fielding
Henry Fielding – Joseph Andrews; Tom Jones Samuel Johnson
Samuel Johnson – The Vanity of Human Wishes; Dictionary; Rasselas; Lives of the Poets David Hume
David Hume – A Treatise of Human Nature; Essays Moral and Political; An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding; History of England Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Jean-Jacques Rousseau – Discourse on Inequality; On Political Economy; Emile: or, On Education; The Social Contract; Confessions Laurence Sterne
Laurence Sterne – Tristram Shandy; A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy Adam Smith
Adam Smith – The Theory of Moral Sentiments; The Wealth of Nations William Blackstone
William Blackstone – Commentaries on the Laws of England Immanuel Kant
Immanuel Kant – Critique of Pure Reason; Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals; Critique of Practical Reason; Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics; The Science of Right; Critique of Judgment; Perpetual Peace Edward Gibbon
Edward Gibbon – The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire; Autobiography James Boswell
James Boswell – Journal; The Life of Samuel Johnson Antoine Laurent Lavoisier
Antoine Laurent Lavoisier – Traité Élémentaire de Chimie (Elements of Chemistry) Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison
James Madison – Federalist Papers (together with the Articles of Confederation; United States Constitution and United States Declaration of Independence) Jeremy Bentham
Jeremy Bentham – Comment on the Commentaries; Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation; Theory of Fictions Johann Wolfgang Goethe
Johann Wolfgang Goethe – Faust; Poetry and Truth Thomas Robert Malthus
Thomas Robert Malthus – An Essay on the Principle of Population John Dalton
John Dalton – A New System of Chemical Philosophy Jean Baptiste Joseph Fourier
Jean Baptiste Joseph Fourier – Analytical Theory of Heat Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel – The Phenomenology of Spirit; Science of Logic; Elements of the Philosophy of Right; Lectures on the Philosophy of History William Wordsworth
William Wordsworth – Poems (esp. Lyrical Ballads; Lucy poems; sonnets; The Prelude) Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Samuel Taylor Coleridge – Poems (esp. Kubla Khan; The Rime of the Ancient Mariner ); Biographia Literaria David Ricardo
David Ricardo – On the Principles of Political Economy
Principles of Political Economy and Taxation Jane Austen
Jane Austen – Pride and Prejudice; Emma Carl von Clausewitz
Carl von Clausewitz – On War Stendhal
Stendhal – The Red and the Black; The Charterhouse of Parma; On Love François Guizot
François Guizot – History of Civilization in France Lord Byron – Don Juan Arthur Schopenhauer
Arthur Schopenhauer – Studies in Pessimism Michael Faraday
Michael Faraday – The Chemical History of a Candle; Experimental Researches in Electricity Nikolai Lobachevsky
Nikolai Lobachevsky – Geometrical Researches on the Theory of Parallels Charles Lyell
Charles Lyell – Principles of Geology Auguste Comte
Auguste Comte – The Positive Philosophy Honoré Balzac
Honoré Balzac – Works (esp. Le Père Goriot; Le Cousin Pons; Eugénie Grandet; Cousin Bette; César Birotteau) Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson – Representative Men; Essays; Journal Victor Hugo
Victor Hugo - Les Misérables Nathaniel Hawthorne
Nathaniel Hawthorne – The Scarlet Letter Alexis de Tocqueville
Alexis de Tocqueville – Democracy in America John Stuart Mill
John Stuart Mill – A System of Logic; Principles of Political Economy; On Liberty; Considerations on Representative Government; Utilitarianism; The Subjection of Women; Autobiography Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin – On the Origin of Species; The Descent of Man; Autobiography William Makepeace Thackeray
William Makepeace Thackeray – Works (esp. Vanity Fair; The History of Henry Esmond; The Virginians; Pendennis) Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens – Works (esp. Pickwick Papers; Our Mutual Friend; David Copperfield; Dombey and Son; Oliver Twist; A Tale of Two Cities; Hard Times) Claude Bernard
Claude Bernard – Introduction to the Study of Experimental Medicine George Boole
George Boole – The Laws of Thought Henry David Thoreau
Henry David Thoreau – Civil Disobedience; Walden Karl Marx
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels
Friedrich Engels – Das Kapital
Das Kapital (Capital); The Communist Manifesto George Eliot
George Eliot – Adam Bede; Middlemarch Herman Melville
Herman Melville – Typee; Moby-Dick; Billy Budd Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Fyodor Dostoyevsky – Crime and Punishment; The Idiot; The Brothers Karamazov Gustave Flaubert
Gustave Flaubert – Madame Bovary; Three Stories Henry Thomas Buckle
Henry Thomas Buckle – A History of Civilization in England Francis Galton
Francis Galton – Inquiries into Human Faculties and Its Development Bernhard Riemann
Bernhard Riemann – The Hypotheses of Geometry Henrik Ibsen
Henrik Ibsen – Plays (esp. Peer Gynt; Brand; Hedda Gabler; Emperor and Galilean; A Doll's House; The Wild Duck; The Master Builder) Leo Tolstoy
Leo Tolstoy – War and Peace; Anna Karenina; "What Is Art?"; Twenty-Three Tales Richard Dedekind
Richard Dedekind – Theory of Numbers Wilhelm Wundt
Wilhelm Wundt – Physiological Psychology; Outline of Psychology Mark Twain
Mark Twain – The Innocents Abroad; Adventures of Huckleberry Finn; A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court; The Mysterious Stranger Henry Adams
Henry Adams – History of the United States; Mont-Saint-Michel and Chartres; The Education of Henry Adams; Degradation of Democratic Dogma Charles Peirce – Chance, Love, and Logic; Collected Papers William Sumner – Folkways Oliver Wendell Holmes – The Common Law; Collected Legal Papers William James
William James – The Principles of Psychology; The Varieties of Religious Experience; Pragmatism; A Pluralistic Universe; Essays in Radical Empiricism Henry James
Henry James – The American; The Ambassadors Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche – Thus Spoke Zarathustra; Beyond Good and Evil; On the Genealogy of Morality; The Will to Power; Twilight of the Idols; The Antichrist Georg Cantor
Georg Cantor – Transfinite Numbers Jules Henri Poincaré
Jules Henri Poincaré – Science and Hypothesis; Science and Method; The Foundations of Science Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud – The Interpretation of Dreams; Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality; Introduction to Psychoanalysis; Beyond the Pleasure Principle; Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego; The Ego and the Id; Civilization and Its Discontents; New Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw – Plays and Prefaces Max Planck
Max Planck – Origin and Development of the Quantum Theory; Where Is Science Going?; Scientific Autobiography Henri Bergson
Henri Bergson – Time and Free Will; Matter and Memory; Creative Evolution; The Two Sources of Morality and Religion John Dewey
John Dewey – How We Think; Democracy and Education; Experience and Nature; The Quest for Certainty; Logic – The Theory of Inquiry Alfred North Whitehead
Alfred North Whitehead – A Treatise on Universal Algebra; An Introduction to Mathematics; Science and the Modern World; Process and Reality; The Aims of Education and Other Essays; Adventures of Ideas George Santayana
George Santayana – The Life of Reason; Scepticism and Animal Faith; The Realms of Being (which discusses the Realms of Essence, Matter and Truth); Persons and Places Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Lenin – Imperialism; The State and Revolution Marcel Proust
Marcel Proust – In Search of Lost Time
In Search of Lost Time (formerly translated as Remembrance of Things Past) Bertrand Russell
Bertrand Russell – Principles of Mathematics; The Problems of Philosophy; Principia Mathematica; The Analysis of Mind; An Inquiry into Meaning and Truth; Human Knowledge, Its Scope and Limits Thomas Mann
Thomas Mann – The Magic Mountain; Joseph and His Brothers Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein – The Theory of Relativity; Sidelights on Relativity; The Meaning of Relativity; On the Method of Theoretical Physics; The Evolution of Physics James Joyce
James Joyce – "The Dead" in Dubliners; A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man; Ulysses Jacques Maritain
Jacques Maritain – Art and Scholasticism; The Degrees of Knowledge; Freedom and the Modern World; A Preface to Metaphysics; The Rights of Man and Natural Law; True Humanism Franz Kafka
Franz Kafka – The Trial; The Castle Arnold J. Toynbee
Arnold J. Toynbee – A Study of History; Civilization on Trial Jean-Paul Sartre
Jean-Paul Sartre – Nausea; No Exit; Being and Nothingness Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn – The First Circle; Cancer Ward

The original edition of How to Read a Book
Book contained a separate "contemporary list" because "Here one's judgment must be tentative"[61] All but the following authors were incorporated into the single list of the revised edition:

Ivan Pavlov
Ivan Pavlov – Conditioned Reflexes Thorstein Veblen
Thorstein Veblen – The Theory of the Leisure Class; The Higher Learning in America; The Place of Science in Modern Civilization; Vested Interests and the State of Industrial Arts; Absentee Ownership and Business Enterprise in Recent Times Franz Boas
Franz Boas – The Mind of Primitive Man; Anthropology and Modern Life Leon Trotsky
Leon Trotsky – The History of the Russian Revolution

Television[edit] Main article: The Learning Channel's Great Books In 1954 Mortimer Adler
Mortimer Adler hosted a live weekly television series in San Francisco, comprising 52 half-hour programs, entitled The Great Ideas. These programs were produced by the Institute for Philosophical Research and were carried as a public service by the American Broadcasting Company, presented by National Educational Television (NET), the precursor to what is now PBS. Adler bequeathed these films to the Center for the Study of the Great Ideas, where they are available for purchase.[62] In 1993 and 1994, The Learning Channel
Learning Channel created a series of one-hour programs discussing many of the great books of history and their impact on the world. It was narrated by Donald Sutherland
Donald Sutherland and Morgan Freeman, amongst others. See also[edit]

Association for Core Texts and Courses Banned books Education reform#Reforms of classical education Educational perennialism Liberal arts Transcendentalism Western canon

References[edit]

^ "The Reading List Torrey Honors Institute, Biola University".  ^ Teeter, Robert. "Bloom. Western Canon".  ^ a b Adler, Mortimer J. "Selecting Works for the 1990 Edition of the Great Books
Great Books of the Western World". Retrieved 2014-11-06.  ^ Adler, "Second Look", p. 142 ^ "Thomas Jefferson's Reading Lists". John-uebersax.com. Retrieved 2013-11-09.  ^ Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson to Peter Carr (An honest heart, a knowing head; Paris, August 19, 1785). In: Merril D. Peterson (ed.), Thomas Jefferson Works, 1984. (pp. 814–818) ^ Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson to Peter Carr (The homage to Reason; Paris, August 10, 1787). In: Merril D. Peterson (ed.), Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson Works, 1984. (pp. 900–906). ^ "radicalacademy.com". radicalacademy.com. Retrieved 2013-11-09.  ^ Hook, Sidney (1946). "A Critical Appraisal of the St. John's College Curriculum". Education for Modern Man. New York, NY: The Dial Press. Reprinted with some minor changes from The New Leader, May 26 and June 4, 1944  ^ a b c "The Beginnings of the Great Books
Great Books Movement at Columbia". Columbia Magazine. Winter 2001. Retrieved June 27, 2013.  ^ "An Oasis of Order: The Core Curriculum at Columbia College:Faculty Profiles:John Erskine". Columbia College. Retrieved June 27, 2013.  ^ "St. John's College Academic Program The Reading List". Stjohnscollege.edu. Archived from the original on 2010-05-27. Retrieved 2013-11-09.  ^ "The Integral Program".  ^ a b " Dharma Realm Buddhist University
Dharma Realm Buddhist University Accepting Applications for Undergraduate Program". Dharma Realm Buddhist University. Retrieved 10 August 2016.  ^ Casement, William. "College Great Books
Great Books Programs". The Association for Core Texts and Courses (ACTC). Retrieved May 29, 2012.  ^ " Azusa Pacific University
Azusa Pacific University Honors College". apu.edu. Retrieved 2017-04-29.  ^ " Baylor University
Baylor University Great Texts". Baylor.edu. Retrieved 2013-11-09.  ^ "About «  Torrey Honors Institute
Torrey Honors Institute « Biola University". Biola.edu. Retrieved 2013-11-09.  ^ "Perspectives and PULSE programs".  ^ "Core Curriculum - Boston University". www.bu.edu.  ^ "index". Ecu.edu. 2013-04-16. Retrieved 2013-11-09.  ^ "The Honors Program « Franciscan University". Franciscan.edu. Archived from the original on 2013-12-31. Retrieved 2014-01-09.  ^ "Overview of the William Penn Honors Program at George Fox University". Retrieved 2017-04-04.  ^ " Gutenberg College
Gutenberg College Great Books". Gutenberg.edu. Retrieved 2013-11-09.  ^ "Curriculum - Harrison Middleton University". Hmu.edu. Retrieved 2013-11-09.  ^ "Honors College". Hbu.edu. Retrieved 2013-11-09.  ^ "Mercer Great Books". Departments.mercer.edu. Retrieved 2013-11-09.  ^ "Literary Studies Requirements". middlebury.edu. Retrieved 2016-09-13.  ^ The Newman Guide, "Northeast Catholic College" Archived 2015-07-06 at the Wayback Machine., accessed 5-11-2015 ^ "Honors Program Palm Beach Atlantic University". Pba.edu. Retrieved 2013-11-09.  ^ "Great Books" (PDF). Seaver.pepperdine.edu. Retrieved 2013-11-09.  ^ "Integrated Studies in the Great Books
Great Books Major Description". anselm.edu. Retrieved 2016-09-30.  ^ "St. John's College". Stjohnscollege.edu. Retrieved 2013-11-09.  ^ "The Integral Program". St. Mary's College. Retrieved 2014-06-20.  ^ [1] Archived December 28, 2012, at the Wayback Machine. ^ "Templeton Honors College and Eastern University". Eastern University. Retrieved 2014-11-06.  ^ "The Great Books
Great Books Thomas Aquinas College". Thomasaquinas.edu. Retrieved 2013-11-09.  ^ "The Thomas More
Thomas More College Curriculum". Thomasmorecollege.edu. 2013-02-15. Retrieved 2013-11-09.  ^ "The College Core Curriculum". University of Chicago. Retrieved 2014-08-10.  ^ " Association for Core Texts and Courses & The ACTC Liberal Arts Institute » College Great Books
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University of San Francisco (USF)". Usfca.edu. Retrieved 2014-06-20.  ^ " Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson Center for the Study of Core Texts and Ideas". Utexas.edu. 2013-11-05. Retrieved 2013-11-09.  ^ "Kugelman Honors Program Study of Great Books" (PDF). uwf.edu. 2016-02-26. Archived from the original on 2014-11-08. Retrieved 2016-02-26.  ^ "Academics » The Great Books". Wyoming Catholic College. 2013-03-28. Retrieved 2013-11-09.  ^ "The Great Books
Great Books in the Bachelor of Humanities Program". .carleton.ca. Retrieved 2013-11-09.  ^ "Welcome - Liberal Arts
Liberal Arts College - Concordia University
Concordia University - Montreal, Quebec, Canada". Liberalartscollege.concordia.ca. Retrieved 2013-11-09.  ^ "Overview - Liberal Studies - Vancouver Island University". socialsciences.viu.ca.  ^ "Great Books". St Thomas University. 2014. Retrieved 2014-11-06.  ^ "Foundation Year Programme University of King's College". Ukings.ca. Retrieved 2013-11-09.  ^ "Arts One Program". ubc.ca. Retrieved 2014-05-29.  ^ "UCP - Instituto de Estudos Políticos". Iep.lisboa.ucp.pt. Retrieved 2013-11-09.  ^ "Universidade da Beira Interior". UBI.pt. Retrieved 2018-03-04.  ^ "Foundation Courses". Retrieved 2016-11-30.  ^ "A Great Books
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Sources[edit]

Nelson, Adam R. (2001). Education and Democracy: The Meaning of Alexander Meiklejohn, 1872–1964. Univ of Wisconsin Press. ISBN 978-0-299-17140-7.  O'Hear, Anthony. The Great Books: A Journey through 2,500 Years of the West's Classic Literature. Intercollegiate Studies Institute; 2 edition, 2009. ISBN 978-1-933859-78-1

External links[edit]

Center for the Study of the Great Ideas website Greater Books Dorfman, Ron (April 25, 1997). "Culture Wars and the Great Conversation". Shattering Silences. PBS.  Recommended books - National Association of Scholars

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