This publication has two primary purposes. The first is to write and publish on my love of books, the Great Books, and the pursuit of lifelong learning. The second is to foster a community of like-minded individuals who might benefit in some small way from the things about which I write, and who will help expand my own learning and thinking through comment and debate.
One way to satisfy both purposes is through something I am calling the Lifelong Learning Project.
For the years that I’ve considered writing about books, this idea has been front and center in my thinking.
Simply put, I will start from the beginning on a journey through reading and writing about the great works of history, literature, philosophy, and more. It is my hope that others will adopt the same pursuit and read along with me.
Our guidepost along this journey will be the undergraduate reading curriculum schedule posted by St. John’s College in Annapolis, Maryland.
St. John’s is a Great Books program college, meaning its entire curriculum is based around the Great Books. I will read along with their stated schedule, or a derivative variation thereof, and I will write essays about my thoughts and reactions to the readings.
Hopefully, along the way, others will read along with me, engage with the material on their own and in the comments here, and take steps along their own lifelong learning paths.
I am not a scholar in any of these works. Many of them I read long ago in my own studies in high school or college. Many I will be reading for the first time. But my writings on these readings are not intended to be anything more than my own engagement with the material and any broader themes I see, or any reactions the work inspires within me.
The learning process is personal. And yet, I also hope to develop relationships and connections around this material and find opportunities and collaborations along the way. I know there are many others like me out there.
We will begin, as one does, at the beginning: freshman year. Using the wonderful schedule offered by St. John’s found here, I will attempt to go in order in the reading and writing about the work.
Since this is a labor of love, and the goal is to hopefully inspire busy people to pursue this project along with me, I will take each of the suggested readings over the course of one week, as opposed to multiple sessions per week as one does in college.
Each Saturday I will write an essay with my own thoughts and takeaways from that week’s reading. This will be an exercise in public thinking and public learning. The hope is, after some time, that a community will develop, and a discourse will be created. At the very least, I’ll be reading, thinking, and writing about the Great Books, which is wonderful enough on its own.
We may skip some works, we may jump around, but for the most part, I trust that the syllabus is structured for a reason, and if it’s good enough for the fine folks at St. John’s, it’s certainly good enough for me.
We will begin with The Iliad, Homer’s epic set in the final year of the war between the Achaeans and the Trojans.
Week 1 “Assignment” - The Iliad, Books I-VI
I hope you, whoever you may be, will find this as worth a pursuit as I believe it will be for me.