Susan Wise Bauer

Are there classic books you know you should read but haven't because they seem overwhelming?Susan Wise Bauer provides a welcome and encouraging antidote. Newly updated and expanded to include essential readings in science (from Aristotle to Stephen Hawking), The Well-Educated Mind offers brief, entertaining histories of six genres—fiction, autobiography, history, drama, poetry, and science—accompanied by detailed instructions on how to read each kind of literature. The annotated lists in each chapter provide the crucial information necessary to read the world's great texts and encourage readers to make vital connections between ancient traditions and contemporary writing.Learn how to allocate time to your reading on a regular basis, how to master a difficult argument, how to keep a reading journal, how to make personal judgments about what you read, and how to understand literary techniques in a way that makes every book come alive.

A Guide to the Classical Education You Never Had

The Well-Educated Mind

Lisa Miller

I can't imagine many people would want to follow this book's instruction to the letter. And then for the small number that do (and I admit that 10 years ago I would have been in this group) have the time and discipline to stick to it. HOWEVER I think this is a brilliant reference book to have at hand to help you think about what you have read, retain those thoughts for longer and link them to others you have read/will read. BUT my main gripe about this book is that, as far as I can tell, the 2nd edition published in 2016 is only in hardback and expensive. So before you buy get it from the library first if you can. My library even had it available as an e-book. 

So this book is about reading the Western Canon, giving yourself as best as possible a liberal arts education without the expense and time of going to college if you are well past that stage of your life. The older I get the more I agree with this sentiment of life-long learning and I have to say I think the younger generations (gen Z) might be heading this way themselves. With the information available these days, via internet, do we have to sit in a room somewhere together, taking a static 4-5 years to attain tertiary liberal education when we could be learning all the time, anywhere and everywhere, as needed and wished.

The book, after a waffly intro, splits into 6 subjects (Novel, Autobiography, History, Drama, Poetry, Science) in order of recommended reading. In each subject she discusses The progression of the genre which I found really informative. It's quick, she even calls the novel part "the 10 minute history of the novel" so of course it's not in depth, but just a little bit information is enough to make sense of terminology we have all heard but may not be able to explain. For example what is the difference between modernism and postmodernism and for that matter what is postmodernism? Then she instructs how to read the book, which is usually split into three stages (grammar, logic, rhetoric), with questions and tasks to do at each stage. Now would I do this for every book I read? Nope. But I think I am going to try it for a few books in each subject and see what it's like. Some of it might be a good habit to get into, some will probably be time consuming and will depend on the book if it's worth it, some I might never do. 

After this comes a pretty big list of books to read arranged in chronological order and designed to show the progression of the subject as discussed - it's not the full canon and was never intended to be. For each book she has recommended texts based on translation, affordability, availability, text size etc, even if applicable which audio version she liked best. I really appreciated these comments. Usually for each book she has a blurb about what it's about and then why it's on the list however sometimes it was a straight book description with no justification which made me feel like it had been overlooked.

The one subject I bumped against was history. There were a few selections of ancient/early history texts and modern history texts but in the middle were a number of political philosophy texts that aren't historiography and I would struggle to read the text as she suggests because of that. I wouldn't even feel comfortable reading them without researching the location and times of the author first. i.e. history. I have noted in other reviews people have questioned why there isn't a philosophy section, which I agree would be good to have and maybe if there is a 3rd edition she could add a philosophy section, like she added science in this edition, and move those texts there.

Finally there is the question of the Canon itself. Are the texts selected diverse and representative which is a common debate with books like this. First the texts selected are Western, Eurocentric, and American-centric. There is no doubt of this but as the author explained in the drama section there isn't enough space, nor does she have the required expertise to talk about anything other than the development and progression anglo-american drama canon. And that would be true for all the subjects. Secondly this isn't a defense of the Canon as a static list, this is a guide on how to read important texts and to take or leave her suggestions as you wish. Thirdly in a book like this you want the most obvious choices, so it's easy for the reader to find the texts and further information if they need it. E.g. Pride and Prejudice is one of the few classics that bookstores are still likely to stock, and even the most basic google search will provide a wealth of information. In saying all that this list isn't just white men (yes most are dead we are talking about antiquity and and medieval times here lol) nor are the women and people of colour authors a singular token choice.

S. Wise Bauer

A guide to "classical learning" helps readers fill in the holes in their education as it looks at great works of fiction, autobiography, history, poetry, drama, and other genres and provides annotated listings of suggested readings.

The Well-Educated Mind A Guide to the Classical Education You Never Had

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