Old Books, New Readers discussion

" 'On or about December, 1910,' Virginia Woolf wrote, 'human character changed.' Woolf was not referring to a specific event so much as to a new cultural climate, a new way of looking at the world, that would become known as modernism. When he finished his introduction to the Harvard Classics in March of that same year, Charles William Eliot could hardly have guessed that such a change was just over the horizon. Yet it is tempting to think that his 'five-foot shelf' of books, chosen as a record of the 'progress of man...from the earliest historical times to the close of the nineteenth century,' was meant as a time capsule from that era just about to end. In 50 volumes we have a record of what President Eliot's America, and his Harvard, thought best in their own heritage--a monument from a more humane and confident time." - Adam Kirsch, Harvard Magazine - Nov, 2001.

Around 1909 Dr. Charles William Eliot was preparing to retire, after serving for 40 years as President of Harvard University. Around this time he gave a speech where he declared that a five-foot (originally three-foot) shelf of books could provide the average man a good substitute for a liberal education, even if he read them for just 15 minutes a day. He went on to compile this bookshelf of 49 volumes, totally around 23,000 words, as well as a 50th volume that provided his 15-Minute a Day reading guide. Later a 51st volume containing lecture material was added. Thus was the Harvard Classics born.

He suggested that these volumes should be approached as a set of six courses: "The History of Civilization," "Religion and Philosophy," "Education," "Science," "Politics," and "Criticism of Literature and the Fine Arts." These volumes showed the progress of the human race, and to show the upward progress we have made from the Classic era to the start of the 20th Century. What they also do is show a snapshot of the world view at the true end of the Classic Era, and what the world was like before the start of the Modern Era. The Harvard Classics will show you a very Western European/American viewpoint of the world, but they do encompass a great sampling of what created the classic viewpoint of the "Educated" world of the time.

This Challenge will focus on the main 50-volume set, as opposed to the 20-volume set of the Shelf of Fiction. There are over 100 full length books, as well as many poems and essays. It will be broken into two options. The first will be following Dr. Eliot's 15-minutes a day reading plan. This will not cover all of the works contained, but will cover about 1/4 of the actual material. The second option will require about 1/2 hour a day to complete, or around 30-45 pages a day, but will encompass the collection in a much broader scope. This will be a daunting challenge, especially if you plan on taking of the full series, but will probably be one of the most rewarding experiences on your literary journey. Let all your bookworm-ish friends know as well, as this will be much more enjoyable if we have a-lot of people for the discussions.

The Harvard Classics are now completely available as Public Domain as eBooks, and can be downloaded from the following websites, completely free of charge:

Bartleby's - http://www.bartleby.com/hc/

Project Gutenberg - http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Harvard...

OpenCulture - http://www.openculture.com/2014/03/th...

Archive.org - https://archive.org/details/harvardcl...

I think Bartleby's probably has the cleanest format, but I haven't completely reviewed them all. I will also be listing each book that will be read individually, in case you'd like to get a paper copy of the books.

You can also purchase the complete collection from Amazon for $2.99usd. This contains both the original Collection as well as the Fiction collection:

Amazon - http://www.amazon.com/Harvard-Classic...

Look forward to hearing from you!

Vol. 1: FRANKLIN, WOOLMAN, PENN
His Autobiography, by Benjamin Franklin
The Journal of John Woolman, by John Woolman (1774 and subsequent editions)
Fruits of Solitude, by William Penn

Vol. 2. PLATO, EPICTETUS, MARCUS AURELIUS
The Apology, Phaedo, and Crito, by Plato
The Golden Sayings, by Epictetus
The Meditations, by Marcus Aurelius

Vol. 3. BACON, MILTON'S PROSE, THOS. BROWNE
Essays, Civil and Moral, and New Atlantis, by Francis Bacon
Areopagitica and Tractate of Education, by John Milton
Religio Medici, by Sir Thomas Browne

Vol. 4. COMPLETE POEMS IN ENGLISH, MILTON
Complete poems written in English, by John Milton

Vol. 5. ESSAYS AND ENGLISH TRAITS, EMERSON
Essays and English Traits, by Ralph Waldo Emerson

Vol. 6. POEMS AND SONGS, BURNS
Poems and songs, by Robert Burns

Vol. 7. CONFESSIONS OF ST. AUGUSTINE, IMITATION OF CHRIST
The Confessions, by Saint Augustine
The Imitation of Christ, by Thomas á Kempis

Vol. 8. NINE GREEK DRAMAS
Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers, The Furies, and Prometheus Bound, by Aeschylus
Oedipus the King and Antigone, by Sophocles
Hippolytus and The Bacchae, by Euripides
The Frogs, by Aristophanes

Vol. 9. LETTERS AND TREATISES OF CICERO AND PLINY
On Friendship, On Old Age, and letters, by Cicero
Letters, by Pliny the Younger

Vol. 10. WEALTH OF NATIONS, ADAM SMITH
The Wealth of Nations, by Adam Smith

Vol. 11. ORIGIN OF SPECIES, DARWIN
The Origin of Species, by Charles Darwin

Vol. 12. PLUTARCH'S LIVES
Lives, by Plutarch

Vol. 13. AENEID, VIRGIL
Aeneid, by Virgil

Vol. 14. DON QUIXOTE, PART 1, CERVANTES
Don Quixote, part 1, by Cervantes

Vol. 15. PILGRIM'S PROGRESS, DONNE & HERBERT, BUNYAN, WALTON
The Pilgrim's Progress, by John Bunyan
The Lives of Donne and Herbert, by Izaak Walton

Vol. 16. THE THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTS
Stories from the Thousand and One Nights

Vol. 17. FOLKLORE AND FABLE, AESOP, GRIMM, ANDERSON
Fables, by Aesop
Children's and Household Tales, by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm
Tales, by Hans Christian Andersen

Vol. 18. MODERN ENGLISH DRAMA
All for Love, by John Dryden
The School for Scandal, by Richard Brinsley Sheridan
She Stoops to Conquer, by Oliver Goldsmith
The Cenci, by Percy Bysshe Shelley
A Blot in the 'Scutcheon, by Robert Browning
Manfred, by Lord Byron

Vol. 19. FAUST, EGMONT, ETC. DOCTOR FAUSTUS, GOETHE, MARLOWE
Faust, part 1, Egmont, and Hermann and Dorothea, by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Dr. Faustus, by Christopher Marlowe

Vol. 20. THE DIVINE COMEDY, DANTE
The Divine Comedy, by Dante Alighieri

Vol. 21. I PROMESSI SPOSI, MANZONI
I Promessi Sposi, by Alessandro Manzoni

Vol. 22. THE ODYSSEY, HOMER
The Odyssey, by Homer

Vol. 23. TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST, DANA
Two Years Before the Mast, by Richard Henry Dana, Jr.

Vol. 24. ON THE SUBLIME, FRENCH REVOLUTION, ETC., BURKE
On Taste, On the Sublime and Beautiful, Reflections on the French Revolution, and A Letter to a Noble Lord, by Edmund Burke

Vol. 25. AUTOBIOGRAPHY, ETC., ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES, J.S. MILL, T. CARLYLE
Autobiography and On Liberty, by John Stuart Mill
Characteristics, Inaugural Address at Edinburgh, and Sir Walter Scott, by Thomas Carlyle

Vol. 26. CONTINENTAL DRAMA
Life is a Dream, by Pedro Calderón de la Barca
Polyeucte, by Pierre Corneille
Phèdre, by Jean Racine
Tartuffe, by Molière
Minna von Barnhelm, by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing
William Tell, by Friedrich von Schiller

Vol. 27. ENGLISH ESSAYS: SIDNEY TO MACAULAY

Vol. 28. ESSAYS: ENGLISH AND AMERICAN

Vol. 29. VOYAGE OF THE BEAGLE, DARWIN
The Voyage of the Beagle, by Charles Darwin

Vol. 30. FARADAY, HELMHOLTZ, KELVIN, NEWCOMB, ETC
The Forces of Matter and The Chemical History of a Candle, by Michael Faraday
On the Conservation of Force and Ice and Glaciers, by Hermann von Helmholtz
The Wave Theory of Light and The Tides, by Lord Kelvin
The Extent of the Universe, by Simon Newcomb
Geographical Evolution, by Sir Archibald Geikie

Vol. 31. AUTOBIOGRAPHY, BENVENUTO CELLINI
The Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini

Vol. 32. LITERARY AND PHILOSOPHICAL ESSAYS
Essays, by Michel Eyquem de Montaigne
Montaigne and What is a Classic?, by Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve
The Poetry of the Celtic Races, by Ernest Renan
The Education of the Human Race, by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing
Letters upon the Aesthetic Education of Man, by Friedrich von Schiller
Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysic of Morals, by Immanuel Kant
Byron and Goethe, by Giuseppe Mazzini

Vol. 33. VOYAGES AND TRAVELS
An account of Egypt from The Histories, by Herodotus
Germany, by Tacitus
Sir Francis Drake Revived, by Philip Nichols
Sir Francis Drake's Famous Voyage Round the World, by Francis Pretty
Drake's Great Armada, by Captain Walter Bigges
Sir Humphrey Gilbert's Voyage to Newfoundland, by Edward Haies
The Discovery of Guiana, by Sir Walter Raleigh

Vol. 34. FRENCH AND ENGLISH PHILOSOPHERS, DESCARTES, VOLTAIRE, ROUSSEAU, HOBBES
Discourse on Method, by René Descartes
Letters on the English, by Voltaire
On the Inequality among Mankind and Profession of Faith of a Savoyard Vicar, by Jean Jacques Rousseau
Of Man, Being the First Part of Leviathan, by Thomas Hobbes

Vol. 35. CHRONICLE AND ROMANCE, FROISSART, MALORY, HOLINSHEAD
Chronicles, by Jean Froissart
The Holy Grail, by Sir Thomas Malory
A Description of Elizabethan England, by William Harrison

Vol. 36. MACHIAVELLI, MORE, LUTHER
The Prince, by Niccolò Machiavelli
The Life of Sir Thomas More, by William Roper
Utopia, by Sir Thomas More
The Ninety-Five Theses, To the Christian Nobility of the German Nation, and On the Freedom of a Christian, by Martin Luther

ol. 37. LOCKE, BERKELEY, HUME
Some Thoughts Concerning Education, by John Locke
Three Dialogues Between Hylas and Philonous in Opposition to Sceptics and Atheists, by George Berkeley
An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, by David Hume

Vol. 38. HARVEY, JENNER, LISTER, PASTEUR
The Oath of Hippocrates
Journeys in Diverse Places, by Ambroise Paré
On the Motion of the Heart and Blood in Animals, by William Harvey
The Three Original Publications on Vaccination Against Smallpox, by Edward Jenner
The Contagiousness of Puerperal Fever, by Oliver Wendell Holmes
On the Antiseptic Principle of the Practice of Surgery, by Joseph Lister
Scientific papers, by Louis Pasteur
Scientific papers, by Charles Lyell

Vol. 39. PREFACES AND PROLOGUES

Vol. 40. ENGLISH POETRY 1: CHAUCER TO GRAY

Vol. 41. ENGLISH POETRY 2: COLLINS TO FITZGERALD

Vol. 42. ENGLISH POETRY 3: TENNYSON TO WHITMAN

Vol. 43. AMERICAN HISTORICAL DOCUMENTS

Vol. 44. SACRED WRITINGS 1
Confucian: The sayings of Confucius
Hebrew: Job, Psalms, and Ecclesiastes
Christian I: Luke and Acts

Vol. 45. SACRED WRITINGS 2
Christian II: Corinthians I and II and hymns
Buddhist: Writings
Hindu: The Bhagavad-Gita
Mohammedan: Chapters from the Koran

Vol. 46. ELIZABETHAN DRAMA 1
Edward the Second, by Christopher Marlowe
Hamlet, King Lear, Macbeth, and The Tempest, by William Shakespeare

Vol. 47. ELIZABETHAN DRAMA 2
The Shoemaker's Holiday, by Thomas Dekker
The Alchemist, by Ben Jonson
Philaster, by Beaumont and Fletcher
The Duchess of Malfi, by John Webster
A New Way to Pay Old Debts, by Philip Massinger

Vol. 48. THOUGHTS AND MINOR WORKS, PASCAL
Thoughts, letters, and minor works, by Blaise Pascal

Vol. 49. EPIC AND SAGA
Beowulf
The Song of Roland
The Destruction of Dá Derga's Hostel
The Story of the Volsungs and Niblungs

Vol. 50. INTRODUCTION, READER'S GUIDE, INDEXES

Vol. 51. LECTURES
The last volume contains sixty lectures introducing and summarizing the covered fields: history, poetry, natural science, philosophy, biography, prose fiction, criticism and the essay, education, political science, drama, travelogues, and religion.

I am interested! Will this challenge begin in January 2016 or will it start next month (October 2015)?

Hi Susan... it'll start in January of 2016.:-)

Hi Jason, I'm interested.

Hi Fran, welcome aboard!

I'm interested as well!

great to have you Emily.:-)

I am REALLY interested and glad to hear about this project! :)

glad to have you aboard rose.

Intriguing project ~ I'm interested ^_^

sweet... welcome Kate!

Guess it goes without saying that I am excited by this as well!!

I'll go for this enormous challenge, too. First, I will have to learn to stop the gnashing of my teeth over some glaring omissions created by the learned Dr. Eliot's list, such as Aristotle. Once I am past that point, I will very much enjoy this profound effort.

I'm interested in doing this too. Classics aren't the only books I read so it will be difficult to do this alongside another regular reading challenge, but I will do my best. It's called a reading challenge for a reason!

greetings John and Michelle.:-)

I'll do this as well

أهلا وسهلا سادة!

I want to do it.

welcome Leslie.:-)

This looks absolutely amazing. I've read some, of course, but everything on here is a classic. Thank you for putting this out there. I never would have found this otherwise. :-)

Yeah, this is something I've been wanting to do for years. some of the intimidation factor is take away by it being a group read.;-)

Exactly. It sounds so intimidating to consider the list, but thirty minutes a day is nothing and time well spent for this list.

By the way, I was pleased to see that Dr. Eliot included both Darwin's Origin of Species and also the Voyage of the Beagle. The Voyage is a predecessor (originally called Journal and Remarks, and then later Journal of Researches, and much later Voyage), but do not expect it to be any sort of a first draft for Origin. The Voyage gave Darwin considerable acclaim, but Origin did not acquire such high regard until much later, after his death. You need to know both in order to get a sense of how much Darwin was merely incorporating the great work of predecessors in the field of evolution, and how gradual was his process of working out the steps in evolution. Not all bombshells are fired from cannons; some are landmines under our feet that we have ignored for many years!

If you haven't already read it, pick up The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History by Elizabeth Kolbert. She has some great background information on Darwin and his predecessors. I agree completely about the importance of reading both of Darwin's works. I can't wait!!!!

This sounds intriguing, but a little intimidating. I would like to join as well. And, having others participate at the same time will help keep me focused. Thanks Jason for setting this up. :)

Leslie wrote: "If you haven't already read it, pick up The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History by Elizabeth Kolbert. She has some great background information on Darwin and his ..."

I expect to enjoy this book when I can get to it. Kolbert has a lot of "teeth" in environmental science, journalism and teaching. Her one defect is that she is not well versed in science itself, not has she been a researcher on the ground in studying global warming.
Having said that, I will alert you that I will approach this with a lot of skepticism, caused solely by the ignorance of the media in covering science stories. The media often looks for a quick headline out of what is usually just a tentative finding that needs confirmation, or sometimes just one step in a much longer sequence of research.
The way the media has botched things, like Ahmed Mohamed's clock, or anti-vaccination campaigns, global warming denials, or even moon landing conspiracies, all give me a healthy distrust of what I read in science (unless it is from peer-reviewed scientific research).
I also suspect that theories of cataclysmic change are not needed to account for the substantial record
of species extermination shown in fossils, DNA, etc. Evolution is by its nature an extreme mess that favors the eco-biological balance one day and then wipes it out the next.
But with all those provisos, I think this could be an important contribution to the literature in climate change.

I know exactly what you are saying. I'm in health care and have a background in research. You are exactly right about the media and misrepresentation. That said, I've so far (only a few chapters into it myself) am finding this to be a good, thoughtful read. I think she put a lot of time into her research. I'm looking forward to following up with the Harvard reads on this topic.

Hi Kimberley, and not a problem... hope you enjoy the experience.:-)

Hope you are staying on for the monthly reads Don!

Angela wrote: "Hope you are staying on for the monthly reads Don!"
Definitely! We are all just readers who want to know more. No skill set is required, and only the time to devote to it is necessary. Maybe Don's special interest is not classics per se, but there are still some very good reads out there he might enjoy.

January Reading Plans have been posted. Let me know if there are any suggestions on comments on the Goodread plan.

Hi everyone. Just a reminder that we'll be starting the read starting in first week of January.

Whoop!

Jason wrote: "Hi everyone. Just a reminder that we'll be starting the read starting in first week of January."

I'm good to go.

Exciting!

Ooops! Great Expectations is looming. I'm not sure if I can handle both this and that too.

I expect great things from you Jon...

Jason wrote: "I expect great things from you Jon... "

No pressure, of course.

lol.. Don't think the whole message came through. rest said to give it a shot, and see what happens.