WHAT IS A GREAT BOOK英语美文
Dr. Mortimer J. Adler, a noted philosopher, author, editor, lecturer, and teacher, Dr. Adler has throughout his long and distinguished career been a proponent of the great books of western civilization that comprise a liberal education and support a free society. He is chairman of the Board of Editors of the Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc., director of the Institute for Philosophical Research in Chicago, chairman of the Paideia Project, and honorary trustee of the Aspen Institute.
There is no end to the making of books. Nor does there seem to be any end to the making of lists of "great books." There have always been more books than anyone could read. And as they have multiplied through the centuries, more and more blue-ribbon lists have had to be made.
No matter how long your life, you will, at best, be able to read only a few books of all that have been written, and the few you do read should include the best. You can rejoice in the fact that the number of such is relatively small.
The listing of the best books is as old as reading and writing. The teachers and librarians of ancient Alexandria did it. Quintilian did it for Roman education, selecting, as he said, both ancient and modern classics. In the Renaissance, such leaders of the revival of learning as Montaigne and Erasmus made lists of the books they read.
It is to be expected that the selections will change will the times. Yet there is a surprising uniformity in the lists which represent the best choices of any period. In every age, the list makers include both ancient and modern books in their selections, and they always wonder whether the moderns are up to the great books of the past.
What are the signs by which we may recognize a great book? The six I will mention may not be all there are, but they are the ones I ve found most useful in explaining my choices over the years.
Great books are probably the most widely read. They are not best sellers for a year or two. They are enduring best sellers. GONE WITH THE WIND has had relatively few readers compared to the plays of Shakespeare or DON QUIXOTE. It would be reasonable to estimate that Homer sliad hs been read by at least 25,000,000 people in the last 3000 years.
A great book need not even be a best seller in its own day. It may take time for it to accumulate its ultimate audience. The astronomer Kepler, whose work on the planetary motions is now a classic, is reported to have said of his book that "it may wait a century for a reader, as God has waited 6000 years for an observer."
Great books are popular, not pedantic. They are not written by specialists about specialties for specialists. Whether they be philosophy or science, or history or poetry, they treat of human, not academic problems. They are written for men, not professors. To read a textbook for advanced students, you have to read an elementary textbook first. But the great books can be considered elementary in the sense that they treat the elements of any subject matter. They are not related to one another as a series of textbooks, graded in difficulty or in the technicality of the problems with which they deal.
There is one kind of prior reading, however, which does help you to read a great book, and that is the other great books the author himself read. Let me illustrate this point by taking Euclid s elements of Geometry and Newton s Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy. Euclid requires no prior study of mathematics. His book is generally an introduction to geometry, and to basic arithmetic as well. The same cannot be said for Newton, because Newton uses mathematics in the solution of physical problems. His style shows how deeply he was influenced by Euclid s treatment of ration and proportions. His book is, therefore, not readily intelligible, even to scientists, unless Euclid has been read before.
I am not saying that great scientific books can be read without effort. I am saying that if they are read in an historical order, the effort is rewarded. Just as Euclid illuminates Newton and Galileo, so they in turn help to make Einstein intelligible. The point applies to philosophical books as well.
Great books are always contemporary. In contrast, the books we call "contemporary", because they are currently popular, last only for a year or two, or ten at the most. You probably cannot recall the names of many earlier best sellers, and you probably would not be interested in reading them. But the great books are never outmoded by the movement of thought or the shifting winds of doctrine and opinion.
People regard the "classics" as the great has-beens, the great books of other times. "Our times are different," they say. On the contrary, the great books are not dusty remains for scholars to investigate, they are, rather, the most potent civilizing forces in the world today.
The fundamental human problems remain the same in all ages. Anyone who reads the speeches of Demosthenes and the letters of Cicero, or the essays of Bacon and Montaigne, will find how constant is the preoccupation of men with happiness and justice, with virtue and truth and even with stability and change itself. We may accelerate the motions of life, but we cannot seem to change the routes that are available to its goals.
-
纠结心语70句精选
千愁万绪纠结难松绑,一种受困的慌。下面是小编精心整理的纠结心语,赶紧来看看吧。1、和喜欢的人发信息不自觉脸上挂着笑。2、归根结底,是我想多了。而下次,或许我还是会多想,因为我是有血有肉的人,我还是会期待,期待落空的时候,只不过是不再大哭了,而是能淡淡地说一句,哦...
-
2023年经典幸福的句子锦集50条
每个人表面上都是笑嘻嘻的,其实内心更多的是不舍,不过你幸福就好。下面是关于幸福的句子50条,欢迎阅读,希望能够对大家有所帮助。1、说不尽相思苦,道不完爱你浓,情人明月能传情,只望鹊桥可相会,爱你,到永远!2、平日里见不找你,只有在网上才有你的消息,我只有在网上苦苦追...
-
2023年实用的励志语录集合66条
你的一首小诗,是你脉脉的心语,流淌在我柔软的心田。念起,你便是我的温暖,也是我红尘路上的永恒。女子的心情,也在流年里婉约成一朵朵开花的文字,低语呢喃,滴墨染念,绕指化柔。以下是关于励志语录66条,欢迎参考。1、人生道路上有鲜花、有掌声,有多少人能等闲视之;人生路上...
-
【推荐】2023年正能量语录摘录62条
全身画满神刺青,杀戮语音鬼神惊。下面是小编为大家收集的正能量语录62条,仅供参考,大家一起来看看吧。1、八月,枝头妖娆。或许是因了秋的张望,指尖总在不经意中,生长些许淡淡的凉,忧伤若丝,洇染一颗善感的心。2、愿你走遍万水千山,归来仍是少年。3、书写,就是不问世事。...
相关文章
- whats your plan for dragon boat festival英语作文
- Passage Eighteen (Strictly Ban smoking)英语阅读理解
- 英语作文:The Value of Reading Books
- 英语Book7Unit10WorkwithLanguage课后作业题
- How to keep a good relationship with parents英语作文
- Should women work after marriage英语作文
- 英语满分作文:Reading-TheBestMeanstoAcquireknowledge
- A big effort to make it a happy birthday英语作文
- The value of reading books英语作文
- 高中生优秀英语作文:Have a break away from electronics