Poll: How many of these books have you read?

[Doc Dan]

Just for fun, I would like to see how many of you have read any of these important books. Please check all that apply.

There are more modern books I could have included but I only have ten spots for this poll. Maybe I'll do another with some of those books.

[Sjucaveman]

None, most of the stuff I've read are from Locke, Hobbes, and Machiavelli. I'm not big on reading made up stories so it's either philosophical or non- fiction.

[jmh58]

What??? No "Mad Magazines" ??? :D John

[flasharry]

All those, advantages of a classical education I suppose.. Just worked my way through the Shorter Summa by Aquinas, and now the writings of Aelfric, an Anglo Saxon Bishop, as well as some of the old Norse sagas....

[Evil D]

I've read quite a bit of the Odyssey but not all of it.

[The Meat man]

The Iliad is the only one on there that I've read.

[xceptnl]

Iliad & The Odyssey a long time ago. Still have leather bound copies

[Doc Dan]

These are interesting books. The Anabasis may still be a required text at West Point because it is the story of how Xenophon rose to leadership of the Greeks after the defeat of the army they fought for and had to fight a rear guard action to get his men safely home, again. At one time in American schools, if you had not read Essays and Lives you were considered uneducated. I had a college professor steal my copy of Essays and it took me a long time to find another unabridged copy.

[TomAiello]

Where's the Inferno? And the Prince?

Or if we're talking books everyone should read, the Little Prince?

[The Mastiff]

Homer's books were required reading back in 6th grade or thereabouts. I wonder if they still are.

Joe

[xceptnl]

Homer's books were required reading back in 6th grade or thereabouts. I wonder if they still are.

Joe

Our school system here in southern Va requires the use of SOLs so actual teaching and the like are out the window. I believe Homer's books were an 8th grade requirement for me Joe.

[bh49]

Are you asking about originals or translations? :D

[Doc Dan]

My Greek is too rusty for originals and my Latin is near non-existent, I'm afraid.

[flasharry]

Are you asking about originals or translations? :D

we did Caesar's Conquest of Gaul in Latin....

[shunsui]

gallia est divisa in partes tres

That's all I remember.

[Doc Dan]

I am happy to see that many of you have read some of these books. We need to do more reading and thinking about what we read, rather than spending time on the computer and our smart phones. The younger generation, especially, has their thinking formed by Oprah, Kardashians, and God only knows what else.

All of the books on this list are worth reading as they all have something to say. Michael de Montaigne wrote his Essays because he wanted to leave his children something besides his mere money (a lot of that). He wanted to leave something of the inner person that he was. It is a fascinating and thoughtful read.

[bh49]

Are you asking about originals or translations? :D

we did Caesar's Conquest of Gaul in Latin....

was it fun?

[bh49]

out of entire list "Twelve Caesars" is my favorite. But I read it when I was much older to compare with Iliad and Odyssey, which I read when I was about 12.

[shunsui]

A couple of educated men.

https://youtu.be/NG78f0g4Pz8


A nice discussion of the latin translation can be found here:

http://latindiscussion.com/forum/latin/ ... tone.6909/

[Doc Dan]

These books are all available online, nowadays, for free. Places like Project Gutenberg, CCEL, and the Literature Network, among many others, offer these books as PDF's, eBooks, ePub, etc.