“Something is lacking in my education.”
That’s the thought that bothered me as I was finishing up college. To make a long story short, I realized one of the reasons I felt this way was because I didn’t read enough of the classics. I always felt a pang of regret every time someone talked about an author 100, 1000, 2000 years ago and I never read their works or even knew they existed.
I’ve always been interested in how something started and how it’s progressed since then. How did this genre of literature start? Who were the founders of this philosophy? How did we get to the beliefs we have today?
Cue the classics.
I hardly got introduced to classic literature throughout public school and college and I felt robbed. I also felt I needed to do something about it.
There were two problems though: 1) Where do I start?; and 2) Was I educated enough to read the classics?
I tackled the first question by reading How to Read A Book by Mortimer Adler. The back of the book had a list of classics from a diverse range of subjects. I had a starting point now.
What about the second question though? Was I really smart enough to read these classics? Weren’t textbooks, commentaries, and [insert author or work] for Dummies written because the classics were a bit inaccessible? That’s when I read C. S. Lewis’ essay “On the Reading of Old Books.” He starts the essay with:
There is a strange idea abroad that in every subject the ancient books should be read only by the professionals, and that the amateur should content himself with the modern books… The error is rather an amiable one, for it springs from humility. The student is half afraid to meet one of the great philosophers face to face. He feels himself inadequate and thinks he will not understand him. But if he only knew, the great man, just because of his greatness, is much more intelligible than his modern commentator.
Alright, Mr./Dr./Professor Lewis. I’m listening. He finishes the opening paragraph with:
It has always therefore been one of my main endeavors as a teacher to persuade the young that firsthand knowledge is not only more worth acquiring then secondhand knowledge, but is usually much easier and more delightful to acquire.
Consider me persuaded.
And so, I began tackling Adler’s classics list. I read Homer, the Old Testament, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Herodotus, Thucydides, Hippocrates, Euripides, Aristophanes, and Plato. And then I got to Aristotle. I read his entire Organon (his six books on Logic, about 300 pages)… and realized it all went over my head. I watched videos, I read Aristotle For Everybody by Mortimer Adler, I read articles...
It didn’t help much. I eventually stopped and moved on to other books and projects. Demoralized.
Aristotle became my boogeyman.
And worse: I was forgetting what I had read from the other authors.
I didn’t want to give it up though. Where did I go wrong? After a lot of thinking, I realized I failed to follow one of the major rules set down by Adler: make the work your own. That could mean everything from highlighting and underlining, to taking notes, etc. I got so caught up in wanting to read through the classics as quickly as possible that I failed to take a step back and take in what I read.
After much brainstorming, and about a three year hiatus, I came up with my solution:
I would write about these classics I was reading and share it with others.
If you ever wanted to read the classics, but were too busy with work and life, too intimidated by them, thought you needed a special degree to read and understand them, or constantly get caught up in re-reading your favorite series for the umpteenth time, then I will be providing a helpful solution for you!
All of my writeups will be chapter-by-chapter (section by section, act by act, etc.) of the classic work I’m going through. These writeups will contain:
A summary of the chapter/section
A central quote I think gives the reader a good sense of that chapter/section
Some commentary from me, questions I have, and quotes that stood out
My goal, even if you are a busy person, is to give you a taste of what’s in that work and pique your interest into reading it yourself.
If C. S. Lewis said you can do it, you can do it! If not, that’s fine. My writeups should give you a basic idea of what the work is about.
After finishing a writeup for every chapter/section of that work, my goal is to do one final writeup for the entire work. It will include a summary of the whole work and my final thoughts. I plan on reading this final writeup in a microphone and posting on video sharing and podcast platforms. Knock on wood.
I will be using public domain translations of works not in English. This is for two reasons: 1) No issues with copyright; and 2) The public domain can be freely accessed or purchased for very cheap. If you want to spend the extra money and get more modern translations, by all means! In some cases, I can make recommendations.
I am a busy person myself working full time, having responsibilities and other interests--you know, the usual--so I can guarantee at least one post a week. This is mostly because some works will require more attention than others (like my boogeyman Aristotle) and it may take me a week just to write something of substance.
My posts will go live every Sunday at 3am Pacific Standard Time.
May your days be filled with grace.
-Andronikos
