Sept 2015
Homer is complete.
I read this along with Ulysses the two went nicely together. Like chardonnay and chicken. Ulysses was for obvious reasons a lot harder to read. I had to get the cliffs notes for it and I listened to the audio book over and over. But the Odyssey and Ulysses were finished at the same time.
The Illiad was such a waste of time. Pages and pages of families names and who was the son of who at this battle that now everyone has to read about Agammon, and Tetravon, and Velcoron, or whoever was in the fucking trojan war. On and on for pages and pages you hear about the people who fought in this war.
And no mention of the great Trojan horse! What a horrible let down. In Housewives of NJ if they show you the snip its of the fight you eventually get to see it. The whole reason the war was won was from the Trojan horse and you never get to hear about it. Never, you never hear the story. There are 4 small lines that mention that it happened in the past tense but that's it. I had to read about 12 pages of people's names and family members who were in the damn war but the reason the war was won no Homer doesn't think to actually talk about that.
As far as the Odyssey. What else could I say that hasn't already been said. If you read the actual tale from Homer you get some extra details like the bone crunching and the bones sticking out of his mouth when the Cyclopes eats Odysseus's men. He drowns the bones with wine. The movie in the 90's with Armando glosses over that.
These are the actual books that I tried to sell three times before reading them.
Monday, January 2, 2017
Monday, December 14, 2015
The Great Ideas Volume 2: Book 3
The third book is finally complete! This took forever. It took 6 years to get basically past the introductory books. It took me 6 long years to just get past the damn books explaining what is going to be in the rest of the volumes. Well, I'm happy I completed these intro books, I'm happy it's finished; finally.
Now I can get on to the actual physical volumes. Book 4 Author 1,Homer.
Now I can get on to the actual physical volumes. Book 4 Author 1,Homer.
Thursday, March 28, 2013
The Great Ideas Volume I : Book 2
Sept 2013,
It took me 4 years to finish The Great Ideas I. Which goes from Angel to Mathematics.
2009
Angel- What is the essence of an Angel. What is an Angel made of? This book poses more questions than it gives answers.
Animal- Lots on Aristotle here. Aristotle thought the animal's brain was in the middle of their body. Whatever, you can't get everything right.
Aristocracy- can the few rule the many? Won't the few always look out for the few?
Art- Art is what? Whatever can stand the test of time? Whatever takes great sacrifice to accomplish?
2010
Astronomy- Copernicus is featured a lot here. I'm excited to get to the core of that book.
Beauty- Is there a standard of beauty? Would the models of today be models in any time? no. Are some models able to be models in any time period?
Being- Can I know that I have this being?
Cause-
Chance- How much of life is habit preset loops of things you will already do over and over. What part is chance, when do the loops get knocked off?
Change- I think a change will do me good. These take at least an hour each to complete.
Citizen- with no borders there is no country.
Constitution-
Courage-
Custom and Convention-
Definition-
Democracy- You would think democracy would work everywhere. It's the greatest system on paper. You can't design anything more fair than everyone voting for something. What is possibly more fair? And if you do go to court you're judged by your peers. Everyone in the crazy USA accepts this and knows its the best. But I don't understand why democracy doesn't work when we try to install in in other countries? Some people don't want it. They want to be ruled by a dictator. They want to be oppressed. I guess it's like porn. Some people like midget porn, some people like black porn, some people like fucking smoking porn where the girl smokes on your dick. Some people love to be oppressed.
Desire- I desire to complete this epic reading endeavor. Even though people on quora think it's a total waste of time.
Dialectic-
Duty- as Euripides says in Electra as the peasant " For no idler, though he has the gods' name on his lips, can gather a livlihood without hard work." You have a duty to work. All people do. They are defined by their work or defined as not having work.
2011
Education-
Element-
Emotion-
Eternity-
Evolution- Darwin is featured considerabtly here. for obvious reasons.
Experience-
Family-
Fate-
Form-
God- one of the longest sections in the whole thing.
Good and Evil-
Government-
2012
Habit-
Happiness-
History-
Honor-
Hypothesis-
Idea- I have an idea why the fuck am I doing this. These readings take years to complete.
2013
Immortality-
Induction-
Infinity- yes this is more than why they put the number 8 on it's side.
Judgment-
Justice-
Knowledge-
Labor-
Language-
Law-
Liberty-
Life and Death-
Logic-
Love-
Man-
Mathematics-
Then I decided to do this blog after I had already thrown away the book.
I remember the book wanted you to read everything in a certain order. It wasn't in the chronological order it was printed in. They wanted you to bounce around always coming back to the next two books The Great Ideas I and the Great Ideas II . I don't want to do it like that. I'm reading these straight a cross.
The first book also mentions it's supposed to take 10 years to read the whole thing. It is a very long work 54 volumes.
I read the first book and have what I feel is a solid base. I know how I want to read these volumes. I know about how long it will take me. Now it's on to the next book the Great Ideas Part II.....
It took me 4 years to finish The Great Ideas I. Which goes from Angel to Mathematics.
2009
Angel- What is the essence of an Angel. What is an Angel made of? This book poses more questions than it gives answers.
Animal- Lots on Aristotle here. Aristotle thought the animal's brain was in the middle of their body. Whatever, you can't get everything right.
Aristocracy- can the few rule the many? Won't the few always look out for the few?
Art- Art is what? Whatever can stand the test of time? Whatever takes great sacrifice to accomplish?
2010
Astronomy- Copernicus is featured a lot here. I'm excited to get to the core of that book.
Beauty- Is there a standard of beauty? Would the models of today be models in any time? no. Are some models able to be models in any time period?
Being- Can I know that I have this being?
Cause-
Chance- How much of life is habit preset loops of things you will already do over and over. What part is chance, when do the loops get knocked off?
Change- I think a change will do me good. These take at least an hour each to complete.
Citizen- with no borders there is no country.
Constitution-
Courage-
Custom and Convention-
Definition-
Democracy- You would think democracy would work everywhere. It's the greatest system on paper. You can't design anything more fair than everyone voting for something. What is possibly more fair? And if you do go to court you're judged by your peers. Everyone in the crazy USA accepts this and knows its the best. But I don't understand why democracy doesn't work when we try to install in in other countries? Some people don't want it. They want to be ruled by a dictator. They want to be oppressed. I guess it's like porn. Some people like midget porn, some people like black porn, some people like fucking smoking porn where the girl smokes on your dick. Some people love to be oppressed.
Desire- I desire to complete this epic reading endeavor. Even though people on quora think it's a total waste of time.
Dialectic-
Duty- as Euripides says in Electra as the peasant " For no idler, though he has the gods' name on his lips, can gather a livlihood without hard work." You have a duty to work. All people do. They are defined by their work or defined as not having work.
2011
Education-
Element-
Emotion-
Eternity-
Evolution- Darwin is featured considerabtly here. for obvious reasons.
Experience-
Family-
Fate-
Form-
God- one of the longest sections in the whole thing.
Good and Evil-
Government-
2012
Habit-
Happiness-
History-
Honor-
Hypothesis-
Idea- I have an idea why the fuck am I doing this. These readings take years to complete.
2013
Immortality-
Induction-
Infinity- yes this is more than why they put the number 8 on it's side.
Judgment-
Justice-
Knowledge-
Labor-
Language-
Law-
Liberty-
Life and Death-
Logic-
Love-
Man-
Mathematics-
I remember the book wanted you to read everything in a certain order. It wasn't in the chronological order it was printed in. They wanted you to bounce around always coming back to the next two books The Great Ideas I and the Great Ideas II . I don't want to do it like that. I'm reading these straight a cross.
The first book also mentions it's supposed to take 10 years to read the whole thing. It is a very long work 54 volumes.
I read the first book and have what I feel is a solid base. I know how I want to read these volumes. I know about how long it will take me. Now it's on to the next book the Great Ideas Part II.....
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
The Great Conversation: Book 1
December 2009
I want to read the entire Great Books of the Western World Britannica.
The first book is complete and it only took me one hour to do.
Now this was by far the easiest book. The great conversation is a series of three Introductory volumes. This book really only tells you how they set up the criteria for choosing the books and the authors. It also gives you a suggestion for how to read them. It's not in chronological order but that is the way that I'm reading them.
From book one the great conversation all the way to book 54 Freud. And it will most likely take my entire life to complete this. Which is why at the end of each book I read I will in some way get it out of my possession.
I threw away this first book as you can see in the next blog post picture. These books have been through so much. They have survived a flood, a drive across the entire US. I've watched these books my entire childhood in Germany wanting to read them but not having the confidence to even start the books. I didn't even get them until a few years after I had graduated college.
I'm hoping this blog will be a type of flowers for Algernon thing where I'm able to get smarter and smarter after I complete each great work of the western world I complete. These posts are horrible I know this. Believe you me I know how horribly written theses posts are. The great books of the western world reflect the greatest 74 minds of western thought. I care for these books and want to finish this odyssey.
I want to read the entire Great Books of the Western World Britannica.
The first book is complete and it only took me one hour to do.
Now this was by far the easiest book. The great conversation is a series of three Introductory volumes. This book really only tells you how they set up the criteria for choosing the books and the authors. It also gives you a suggestion for how to read them. It's not in chronological order but that is the way that I'm reading them.
From book one the great conversation all the way to book 54 Freud. And it will most likely take my entire life to complete this. Which is why at the end of each book I read I will in some way get it out of my possession.
I threw away this first book as you can see in the next blog post picture. These books have been through so much. They have survived a flood, a drive across the entire US. I've watched these books my entire childhood in Germany wanting to read them but not having the confidence to even start the books. I didn't even get them until a few years after I had graduated college.
I'm hoping this blog will be a type of flowers for Algernon thing where I'm able to get smarter and smarter after I complete each great work of the western world I complete. These posts are horrible I know this. Believe you me I know how horribly written theses posts are. The great books of the western world reflect the greatest 74 minds of western thought. I care for these books and want to finish this odyssey.
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