The question I should have been asking when deciding what to include in my canon came to me when I was watching a cheesy sci-fi movie.
What works would I recommend to an intelligent extraterrestrial to give it an understanding of humanity?
I realize that it is kind of a silly question, but it has helped me [...]
Posts tagged as:
canon
Since I decided that the best way to get an understanding of world literature was to define my own canon, I’ve been struggling with a definition. According to Princeton WordNet, a canon is “a collection of books accepted as holy scripture, especially the books of the Bible recognized by any Christian church as genuine and [...]
While going about and cleaning up some of the items on my list, I noticed three that were awfully similar. The first I had already written about, #64 – Read the Harvard Classics. The second, “Develop an appreciation of literature,” is far too vague, and would develop naturally, I would hope, if I were to [...]
I have read The Odyssey three times now, and twice it has been Pope’s 1726 translation. Or perhaps I should call it Pope, Broome & Fenton’s, since according to George Sutherland Fraser, Pope only translated 12 of the 24 books, leaving the remaining half to the other two men. Whichever, I have read it twice, [...]
I have heard that many people find solace in the Book of Job during difficult times. Having just read it for the first time, I find this inconceivable.
The plot, in a nutshell: Satan is in God’s neighborhood and stops by for a chat. God points out the most righteous man on earth, and as a [...]
The second selection for the Civilization class is Book 2 of Herodotus: “Egypt.” I have read the entire Histories before, and loved it. The second half of it, anyway. The first half is a bit dry, reciting far too many facts around far too few histories. Unfortunately, this selection is in the first half, and [...]
The works included in Harvard Classics are arranged somewhat pellmell into 50 volumes, so there are an additional 2 volumes of reading guides, indexes, and lectures to assist in tackling the whole set in a more organized fashion. I figured I might as well start big: The History of Civilization.
The course starts with an essay, [...]
I have a Kindle. Don’t worry, though. This isn’t going to be a post talking about how much I love it (I really do) or how much it has changed my life (it really hasn’t).
Ever since I first read a book on my PDA nearly 7 years ago, I have dreamt of a device that [...]
We are leaving in a few hours for Buenos Aires. We’ll be gone for 9 days, during which time I hope to post at least a few times. Not sure what our Internet access situation will be, so that hope may be optimistic.
And, in case the oddsmakers are curious, the final books selected for the [...]
At the risk of turning this into a Book Blog, which it is not intended to be, I am today considering the question, “What makes a good airplane book?”
Judging by what one finds in most airport bookstores, it must be thick with plot, and thin with substance. Though I am not like Somerset Maugham, who [...]
