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

The Well-Educated Mind: A Guide to the Classical Education You Never Had
by Susan Wise Bauer

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Book Summary Information

Author: Susan Wise Bauer
Edition: Hardcover
Published: 2003-08
ISBN: 0393050947
Number of pages: 432
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Book Reviews of The Well-Educated Mind: A Guide to the Classical Education You Never Had

Book Review: Great idea, but I'm not crazy about the execution
Summary: 3 Stars

The idea of studying the Great Books chronologically by genre is a fascinating one, and I think it is a pretty good idea. Not a foolproof one (for example, you'll be able to catch references to previous novels, but not anything in Shakespeare if you haven't done the Plays chapter yet) but a very interesting one that I think has a lot going for it.

I would not recommend buying the book, though. It is very condescending, and seems to be opperating under the assumption that the reader has never read anything. Another reviewer suggested that this book is for SAHMs of toddlers, but I am one, and trust me I will not be reading Pilgrim's Progress 3 times over anytime soon! Maybe in another 10 years I'll have that sort of time. There are also some glaring omissions from the list, while I personally think that a few books are less than essential.

There is also next to no meat in this book: about half of it is plot descriptions that give away the whole story! If you're telling someone to read a list of books, do you really have to give a page-long description of the book, too? It just seemed like filler.

I'd recommend taking this book out from the library and taking a look at her list, but I think that there are better lists of Great Books out there.

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

An engaging, accessible guide to educating yourself in the classical tradition.

Surrounded by more books than ever, readers today are frequently daunted by the classics they have left unread. The Well-Educated Mind, debunking our own inferiority complexes, is a wonderful resource for anyone wishing to explore and develop the mind's capacity to read and comprehend the "greatest hits" in fiction, autobiography, history, poetry, and drama.

Far from tossing readers into the swarming sea of classics and demanding that they swim, this book offers brief, entertaining histories of five literary genres, accompanied by detailed instructions on how to read each type. The annotated lists at the close of each chapter—ranging from Cervantes to A. S. Byatt, Herodotus to Paul Gilroy—preview recommended reading and encourage readers to make vital connections between ancient traditions and contemporary writing.

Based on the same classical method as Bauer's terrifically successful The Well-Trained Mind, The Well-Educated Mind provides not only a thorough grounding in the classics but also a widely applicable foundation for self-education.

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