How to Read
a Book is a book by the American philosopher Mortimer J. Adler. Originally published in 1940,
it was heavily revised for a 1972 edition, co-authored by Adler with editor Charles Van Doren.
The 1972 revision gives guidelines for critically reading good and great books of any
tradition. In addition, it deals with genres, as well as inspectional and syntopical
reading.
My notes
==[ Effective Reading ]===========================================|
The following are my notes on "How to Read a Book" by Mortimer J. Adler.
Although a very excellent book, it was often very verbose and I would not like
to re-read it so I synthesized the main ideas in my own words. If you just want
the main ideas of "How to read a book" ctrl+f for the section titled
"Book Reading Method".
For anyone that would like to better their ability to learn I highly recommend
reading the book in full! Reading is our primary source of learning and being
able to get more out of the time spent reading is a valuable investment, but if
you don't have the time right now I hope my notes can serve as a decent kind of
'spark notes' and that they may help you become a better reader.
Be aware, I did not take any notes on Synoptical reading. In addition, my notes
on how to read particular types of books are limited, as I only took notes on
"Practical Books" and "Philosophy" but the general method of 'How to Read a
Book' applies well without modification to any book you may wish to gain
understanding from.
-- Table of Contents ---------------------------------------------|
Line 032: The Dimensions of Reading
Line 052: The Levels of Reading
Line 095: Speed Reading
Line 123: Active Reading
Line 149: Analytical Reading
Line 371: Aids to Reading
Line 411: Reading Practical Books
Line 447: Reading Philosophy
Line 508: Book Reading Method
Line 555: Suggested Reading List by the Author
-- The Dimensions of Reading -------------------------------------|
Reading is not just an activity but it is an art. Like all activities, it is an
active pursuit. The more active you are about your reading the more
understanding you can gain from the text. Not all reading is done for
understanding, much reading is often done just for information, and there is
nothing wrong with reading for information! But if you seek to truly understand
a topic, then you must read with the goal of understanding.
You read for information when you read newspapers, or pamphlets. You read for
understanding when you read about complex ideas such as the sciences or
humanities. The only way to further your understanding is to first find a text
that you dont understand! Then through deliberate and active reading
understanding may be achieved, allowing you to grow as a reader and as an
individual.
To be informed is to know simply that something is the case, but to be
enlightened is to know, in addition, what it's all about. Why it's the case,
what its connections are with other facts, in what respects it's the same, in
what respects it's different, and so forth.
-- The Levels of Reading -----------------------------------------|
1. Elementary Reading - Quite simply, the elementary basic level of reading.
Reading words on a page.
2. Inspectional Reading - Surface level reading, what is the text about?
The value of inspectional reading shouldn't be understated, readers who skip
the table of contents skip this part, and make their reading more difficult
as they try to both understand, and piece together knowledge of the text.
Inspectional reading is made up of two parts, pre-reading, and superficial
reading.
Pre-reading: Skimming through the contents of the text to determine if it is
worthy of a full analytical reading. Think of yourself as a detective
looking for clues to a texts main themes and ideas.
> The TOC: A roadmap of the actual roadtrip you may choose to go on with
the book.
> The Preface: What is the book about? The authors goals?
> The Index: What range of topics are covered? How are they detailed?
> The Publishers Blurb: How is it presented to potential readers?
> The Chapters: Not all, the ones that seem important. Read their openings.
> The Book: Skim the rest of the book, read the ending pages too as
the author often summarizes key points.
Superficial Reading: When reading a difficult text, one can struggle to
continue reading if they try to seek understanding *while* they are reading
it. Like how you often dont "get" everything a movie presents on the first
watch, so too is often with books. Dont hesitate to give the first read of a
difficult text a superficial, but focused read. Dont let the footnotes or
references distract- READ! On subsequent reads you will know in which areas
you need to pay more attention to and even if you dont read it a second
time, its better a full and superficial reading, then a depthful but
unfinished one.
3. Analytical Reading - "Some books are to be tasted, some swallowed, and some
few to be chewed and digested." Analytical reading is chewing and digesting
the text. It is the best and most complete reading that is possible with
unlimited time. This is not necessary for information or entertainment, this
level of reading is reserved for understanding.
4. Syntopical Reading - Reading not just one text, but many texts, and comparing
them amongst eachother to gain a deeper understanding of not just the texts
contents, but of the subject itself.
-- Speed Reading -------------------------------------------------|
It is definitely beneficial to be able to read texts thoroughly and quickly. But
time does *need* to be spent on words. The skill of 'speed reading' is in
practice more about the skill in *variable* speed reading. Knowing different
paces of reading, having different gears, and knowing which gear you should be
in for which texts and kinds of reading. When reading inspectionally and
skimming, you can read as fast as you are able to get the words. But just
because you *can* read fast does not mean you *should*. Difficult texts, or
really anything that you are trying to understand should not be sped through.
Keep your reading goals ever present and read according to them, adjusting your
speed as necessary.
-- Increasing your reading speed --
What slows our reading down the most is our eyes, how they like to re-read, and
point at chunks of the line chunk by chunk, rather than a steady glide across
the line. Dont allow your comprehension to decrease for your reading speed to
increase, the faster one moves the less of the world you notice. Every book
should be read no slower than it deserves, and no faster than you can
comprehend.
But, if you do want to read as fastly as you can, for whatever reason, here are
some techniques that may help in that:
> Follow your index finger. Start at a pace faster than comfortable, you will be
able to quickly match that speed. Continue this practice like how a sprinter
trains to run faster. This practice also improves your concentration, it makes
the reading more active and it becomes less likely for the mind to wander.
-- Active Reading ------------------------------------------------|
Active reading is when you are completely focused on the text at hand, and are
trying with a conscious effort to *understand* it. While you are reading you
should be asking yourself certain questions and trying to answer them. You
should be ever present and be *demanding* understanding from the text. Thou
that asks questions receives answers.
The four fundamental questions:
> What is the text about? - Discover the leading theme of the text, and how
the theme is subdivided and developed.
> What is being said in detail, and how? - Discover the main ideas,
assertions, and arguments.
> Is the text true? - The first two questions must be answered before this
can be, and the reading of the text must also be completed in entirety.
> What of it? - How is the texts information significant to you? Has it
enlightened you? If so, you should seek further enlightenment by asking
what else follows and what else is implied or suggested.
While you are reading you should keep these questions in your mind and
continuously make attempts to answer them, building better and better answers to
the questions as you move through the text. You also should take notes while
reading. Not just to synthesize the information contained within, but to note
your own thoughts on the matter: your reactions, your questions, and your
answers to the four fundamental questions. After finishing the text, outline the
points of it. This forces you to evaluate your understanding.
-- Analytical Reading --------------------------------------------|
As you recall, this is the third level of reading. Reading with the goal of
complete understanding of a text. There are many methods that must be employed
to reach this level of reading.
-- Stage 1: Rules for finding what a book is about --
The first stage of analytical reading is overview reading. Getting to know what
the text is *about*. What problems it tries to answer, and how it goes about
trying to answer those problems.
The following rules, or steps, compose the first stage of analytical reading
1. Classify the book according to type and subject matter.
2. State the unity of the text within a short paragraph, what its about and how
it goes about delivering that information.
3. Outline the book, its parts, and those parts relation to the whole. In doing
so, state the major parts/themes of the text, how they are organized, and
how those parts make up the text to deliver its message.
4. Define the problem(s) the author is trying to solve. Attempt to determine
what the author was trying to do- their intent with writing the text.
:: Rule 1. Classifying Books ::
You must know what kind of text you are reading, and you should know this as
early as possible, preferably before you have even begun reading. Knowing what
the text is *about* frames the rest of the content, and will help you answer
questions about the text and more quickly gain understanding.
Principles of Classification:
Expository: Books that teach knowledge
Theoretical: Books that may contain information that *can* be used to solve
problems, but not ones that specify what the problems are. Books
of the sciences are theoretical.
History : Rather easy to identify, a historical account.
Philosophy : If the text emphasizes things that lie within your daily
experience, it is a philosphical text.
Science : Also easy to identify, texts that deal with how the world works.
Practical : Books that contain information on how to solve problems, like
how-to guides, manuals, or guidebooks.
Instructive: Manuals, how-to guides.
Informative: Information of ethical or political problems. These are
practical problems as they deal with how people interact with
eachother.
Fiction : Very easy to identify; make believe, novels, stories, fantasy.
Dont expect all texts to stay isolated to one category. As an example, James
Principles of Psychology is a scientific and philosophical work in the area of
psychology.
You can quite effectively classify a text by determining if its a practical or
theoretical text, what the subject matter is, and how the author deals with the
subject. These things can be determined through an inspectional reading; the
title, subtitle, table of contents, introduction, publisher blurbs, etc.
Ex: Lockes Essay Concerning Human Understanding is a philosophical work in
psychology
:: Rule 2. Stating Unity ::
Give the text an inspectional reading and then attempt to accurately state what
the text is about within a short paragraph.
As an example, the unity of Aristotle's ethics can be stated as:
This is the inquiry into the nature of human happiness and an analysis of the
conditions under which happiness may be gained or lost, with an indication of
what men must do in their conduct and thinking in order to become happy or to
avoid unhappines, the principal emphasis being placed on the cultivation of
the virtues, both moral and intellectual, although other goods are also
recognized as necessary for happiness, such as wealth, health, friends, and a
just society in which to live.
:: Rule 3. Outlining The Text ::
Its important to create a proper outline of what the book is about. Identify
what sections of the text talk about what, and how they all relate to eachother
and compose a greater theme. State the unity of the text.
After your initial inspectional reading you should be able to have a rough
outline of the text within your mind.
:: Rule 4. Determine The Authors Intent ::
You should be able to determine the main question, or questions, that the author
attempts to answer in the text. You should be able to also state the subordinate
questions if the main question is complex and has many parts. You should be able
to put these questions in an intelligble order; which are primary, secondary,
and which need to be answered before others can be answered.
-- Stage 2: Rules for Interperative Reading ::
The second stage of analytical reading is done to answer the following question:
What is being said in detail, and how? Applying the following rules clearly
helps you answer this question. When you have come to terms with the author,
identified his problems, arguments, and solutions you will know what the authors
message is. The following rules compose the second stage of analytical reading:
5. Come to terms with the author by identifying and interpreting the key words
6. Grasp the authors leading propositions/assertitions by identifying and
(dealing with/meditating on) the important sentences.
7. Identify and understand the authors arguments by finding them in, or
constructing them out of, sequences of sentences.
8. Determine what problems the author has solved, and which he has not. For the
latter, determine which the author knew he had failed to solve
:: Rule 5. Finding the Important Words ::
To properly come to terms with an author you must understand his vocabularly,
the key words that the author uses to convey his message. If you see a word that
you dont recognize, or are unsure of how it is being used. DO NOT just continue
reading all will-nilly. If you misunderstand, or fail to understand, a word in
the authors text, you risk the failure of understanding the entirety of the
text.
So try to identify the words that you suspect are more important than most, and
try to be sure of how their useage develops the authors overall idea that they
are trying to convey to you.
Ex: "Cause" can vary, cause and effect? Mans duty and cause?
:: Rule 6. Finding the Important Sentences ::
Just as it is important to find the key words in a sentence, it is just as
important to find the key sentences in the paragraph. Depending on the
context, the location of the sentence and by what other sentences it is
surrounded by, the meaning of a singular sentence can vary wildly. A lot can be
said with just one sentence, there can be many propositions contained with a
singular sentence. Just as well, however, it can take many sentences to bring
forward one proposition. It is your duty as a reader to follow the context, how
each word makes up each sentence, and how each sentence makes up each paragraph,
page, chapter, section, etc. To demonstrate a full understanding of a text you
must understand it at each level.
:: Rule 7. Finding the Important Arguments ::
Arguments of course are made up of sentences. Identifying the important
arguments first begins with identifying the important sentences. An argument
begins somewhere, goes somewhere, and gets somewhere. It is a movement of
thought.
Some arguments are made with an unbroken series of sentences. Other arguments
are composed of many paragraphs, with the important sentences sprinkled amongst
them. In the latter case, it is your duty as a reader to piece together the
argument that is scattered.
:: Rule 8. Determine the Authors Solutions ::
After you have determined the authors main arguments, points, and ideas you can
compile them as solutions to the problems you identified in Rule 4. In doing so
you synthesize the points the author has made into their most important
existence; the answers and the solutions. This demonstrates a full and effective
understanding. This doesnt mean the are the RIGHT answers, but that they are the
answers the author is proposing.
:: Test Your Understanding ::
One of the best ways to test your understanding is to restate what the author is
trying to convey in your own words. If you are restating the authors words with
little variation, then the only thing that has been communicated to you is that,
words. To be able to restate a message in your own words shows that you
understand the authors *message*.
Another way of demonstrating understanding is to make the message relevant to
you. How can you apply the information to your own experience, history, and
life? Ideas do not exist in isolation. They originate from, and refer to, the
world that we live in. To demonstrate how those ideas relate to your world
demonstrates understanding.
-- Stage 3: Criticizing the Text --
The last stage of analytical reading is judging a book. If you have succesfully
understood the text, then the author has elevated you to his level, and you can
act like their peer and engage in conversation, praise, and critiques. In fact,
it is your duty, if the text has been worthy of your time so far the worst crime
of all would be to put it back on its shelf and forget about it. No, instead go
forth and criticize it fairly, justly, and fully. Engage with the author. The
following rules compose the third stage of analytical reading:
9. You must be able to say with reasonable certainty, "I understand", before
you can say that you agree or disagree.
10. When you disagree, do so reasonably, and not disputatiously or
contentiously. Disagreements are generally remediable.
11. Respect the difference between knowledge and mere personal opinion. Give
reasons for any critical judgement you make, or view you hold.
:: Rule 9. Claiming Understanding ::
Before you can criticize a book fairly you must first be able to confidently say
"I understand". You must have taken great care to adhere to the first two stages
of analytical reading and truly know what the text is about. Be weary of
claiming understanding of a text if its meaning is dependent upon other works of
the same author, as an example, critiquing Kants Critque of Pure Reason without
reading his Critique of Practical Reason is an injustice.
:: Rule 10. Disagreeing with an Author ::
Any disagreements you have with an author must be done reasonably and be done in
the pursuit of truth, not in the pursuit of 'being right' or in winning an
argument. You should be as prepared to agree as you are to disagree. Whichever
one does should only be motivated by one consideration, the facts. Disagreement
as well is a two way street. When disagreement arises you should be just as
prepared to teach as you are to learn.
Conditions of engaging in rational disagreement:
1. Be aware of your own emotions, and how your words may invoke emotions in the
other party. Do not give vent to feelings. Stay level headed and rational.
2. Make your own assumptions, prejudices, and prejudgements explicit. If you
cannot admit your own assumptions then you will be unable to admit that the
other party has their own assumptions as well.
3. Be impartial. Avoid partisanship. Ones pursuit should be in truth, not in
being right. Be sympathetic to the other perspective.
:: Rule 11. Reason vs Opinion ::
If an author does not give reasons for his propositions, then they can only be
treated as matters of opinion. So too, when you are criticizing an author, any
judgement you make or view you hold must be backed up by reason, it must be
explained, otherwise it is just shallow opinion.
The four ways a text can be criticized are as follows:
1. You are uninformed. You lack key knowledge.
2. You are misinformed. Your assertions are untrue.
3. You are illogical. You have commited a fallacy in your reasoning.
4. Your analysis is incomplete. You have not solved all the stated problems /
did not see all their implications / have failed to make distinctians that
are relevant to the authors undertaking.
If you have not made any of the first three criticisms, then you agree with the
author. To say "I find nothing wrong with your premises, and no errors in your
reasoning, but I do not agree with your conclusions." then that only means you
dislike the conclusion. If you understand, and you have no founded criticisms,
you must agree with the author.
-- Aids to Reading -----------------------------------------------|
It is important to perform a full and just intrinsic reading before reaching for
external aids to gain understanding. Perform a full active reading of the text,
cast your own judgement, and then allow yourself to indulge in commentaries,
abstracts, and reference books. Of course, ones reading cannot be entirely
intrinsic, during our analytical reading our understanding of the book is based
upon our own life experience, and previous books we have read. Nevertheless, the
four extrinsic reading aids faill into four categories:
1. Relevant experience
2. Other books
3. Commentaries and abstracts
4. Reference Books
:: Relevant Experience ::
Relevant experience is possible with common or specialized experience.
Concerning the work of fiction and philosophy, all that is required is common
experience. Concerining the sciences, specialized experience and knowledge is
required. Concerning history, both is required.
:: Other Books ::
With many texts of philosophy and science the work is built upon earlier works.
As an example, one cannot get a proper understanding of the Federalist Papers
without having first read the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution.
Authors are influencd by other authors, to truly understand an authors work you
may wish to read some works that were influential to that author.
:: Commentaries and Abstracts ::
Commentaries and abstracts should be used sparingly. Too often commentators are
wrong in their commentary, just look at Anthony Fantano. Reading a commentary
too easily leads to a limited understanding of the book. Only use these as a
second opinion on the matter, do not let anyone but yourself make up your mind
about the book. If you read the book first and develop your own judgement, you
are on equal terms of the author of any commentaries. If however you read a
commentary before reading the book, you, and your understanding, are at the
commentators mercy.
:: Reference Books ::
MAN WE GOT THE INTERNET NOW.
-- Reading Practical Books ---------------------------------------|
Practical books may contain the information of how to solve a problem, but the
onus is on you to solve it. Yes, more information can help you make better
decisions, but you MUST act. Reading a book on how to be a better
conversationalist will not make you any better at conversation until you begin
applying the concepts described, until you start practicing, until you act.
There are two distinct kinds of practical books
1. Ones that are primarily a presentation of rules
2. Ones that read theoretically, but attack practical problems, like philosophy
When reading a practical book, the personality of the author is important. In
contrast to a book of the sciences, you dont need to care at all for the
personality the author of a mathematical treatise has, but for practical books,
reading in a way that you wish to apply what the author has to say in your own
life, you and the authors personalities must be somewhat compatible.
Follow the steps of analytical reading as you usually would do, but the
following rules are changed to be better suited for practical books:
4. Find out what the author wants you to do
8. Find out how the author proposes that you do these things
When reading a practical book there are two major questions you should ask:
1. What are the authors objectives?
2. What means for achieving them does the author provide?
You will notice they are very similar to our standard: What are the problems /
solutions.
Also, the following questions are changed to better suit practical books:
3. Is what the author wants you to seek right? If so, what is the
best way of seeking it.
4. If you agree with the author of a practical book, then you must
apply what has been said in your own life. You must take action. Any failure
to do so is not of laziness, but in not truly agreeing with the author.
-- Reading Philosophy --------------------------------------------|
Humans are naturally born inquisitive. Through life and the interaction with
other people, and the nonanswers received is it beaten out of us, reduced to
only ask for information. Curiosity persists, but in a deteriorated state. The
ability to ask the same sort of profund questions that a child asks, with the
mature understanding of what it means to retain it, is extremely rare. We do not
have to think as children in order to philosphize, but we do need to be able to
see as they do, wonder as they do, and ask as they do.
Adults let the world of man burden their pursuit of truth. Great philosophers
are able to think without these burdens effecting their questioning or
reasoning. They are able to make simple distiction on complex ideas. They are
able to be childishly simple in their questioning, but simultaneously maturely
wise and in the replies.
:: The Questions Philosophers Ask ::
The best way to explain what kinds of questions philosophers ask is with some
examples:
Does everything that exists exist physically, or are there some things that
exist apart from material embodiment? Do all things change, or is there anything
that is immutable? Does anything exist necessarily, or must we say that
everything that does exist might not have existed? Is the realm of possible
existence larger than the realm of what actually does exist?
The above questions are metaphysical questions. There are other types of
questions as well:
Metaphysical: Questions about being and existence
Nature : Questions about the natural world, its components and
interactions with eachother.
Epistemology: Questions about knowledge, the causes, limits, and extants of
human knowledge.
Normative : Questions of ethics, leading the good life, and having a just
society.
:: The Philosophical Method ::
1. The doubt: Put in to doubt everything that is possible to doubt. Suspect
things or beliefs that are taken for granted. Ask "Why?"
2. The question: The forumulation of the philosophical question must be
pondered as well. A clear and precise question leads to the root of the
problem, it should clearly expose what is unknown.
3. The answer: In trying to answer a philosophical question you should ask and
attempt to answer many other secondary questions, perform deductive
reasoning and ponder at length to arrive at your final answer. Your answer
must be clear and well founded.
4. The justification: Your answer must be justified and supported. Arguments
should be presented in forms of premises that are logically connected.
Each different school of philosophy has its own perspective and way of thinking
about philosophical questions. By reading the works of other philosophers from
various schools of philosophy, you will become more acquainted with the
philosophical method and be able to better philosophize yourself.
:: Tips for Reading Philosophy ::
When reading books on philosophy an adhereance to Analytical reading is best
suited. No rules need to be altered.
Identify the questions -> Identify the authors controlling principles and
perspective -> Perform the rest of analytical reading -> Make judgement
-- Book Reading Method -------------------------------------------|
:: The Steps of Inspectional Reading ::
I. Prereading
1. Read through the Table of Contents: It serves as a roadmap for the roadtrip
you may go on with the book.
2. Read the Preface: What is the book about? What are the authors goals, what
will he be trying to communicate to the reader?
3. Read the Index: What range of topics are covered? How are they detailed?
4. Read the Publishers Blurb: How is the book presented to potential readers?
5. Read some Chapters: Not all, but the ones that seem important. Read their
openings.
6. Skim the Book: Give the book a cursory reading, read chapters ending pages
too as the author often summarizes key points.
II. Superficial Reading
7. If a book is too difficult to gain understanding and to follow along with
the author as you read, then give it a superficial reading instead. If you
are finding yourself frequently rereading sentences and paragraphs, battling
with the author trying to understand them, postpone your analytical read,
and instead read the text superficially (but fully) and without backtracking
or reference/footnote hunting.
:: The Steps of Analytical Reading ::
I. Determine what the book is about. Read Inspectionally
1. Classify the book according to kind and subject matter.
2. State what the book is about within a paragraph.
3. Enumerate its major parts, their order, and their relation. Outline these
parts.
4. Define the problem(s) the author is trying to solve with the book.
II. Interpret the books contents. Read Analytically.
5. Come to terms with the author by identifying and interpreting the key
words.
6. Grasp the authors main propositions by dealing with the most important
sentences.
7. Know the authors arguments, by finding them in, or constructing them out
of, sequences of sentences.
8. Determine which problems the author has solved, and which they have not.
Determine if the author acknowledges any unsolved problems.
III. Criticizing a book fairly. Meditate on the book.
9. Do not criticize until you can confidently say you understand the authors
message(s).
10. If you disagree with the messages, do so reasonably and for the pursuit of
truth, not for being right or for being a contrarian.
11. Any judgements or critiques you make must be fully reasoned and explained,
otherwise it is just opinion.
12. If you can not show that author is uninformed, misinformed, or that they
have committed a logical fallacy, then you agree with the author, or, in
the case of an incomplete analysis, you suspend judgement.
-- Suggested Reading List ----------------------------------------|
Homer Iliad, Odyssey
The Old Testament
Aeschylus Tragedies
Sophocles Tragedies
Herodotus Histories
Euripides Tragedies
Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War
Hippocrates Medical Writings
Aristophanes Comedies
Plato Dialogues
Aristotle Works
Epicurus Letter to Herodotus; Letter to Menoecus
Euclid Elements
Archimedes Works
Apollonius of Perga Conic Sections
Cicero Works
Lucretius On the Nature of Things
Virgil Works
Horace Works
Livy History of Rome
Ovid Works
Plutarch Parallel Lives; Moralia
Tacitus Histories; Annals; Agricola; Germania
Nicomachus of Gerasa Introduction to Arithmetic
Epictetus Discourses; Encheiridion
Ptolemy Almagest
Lucian Works
Marcus Aurelius Meditations
Galen On the Natural Faculties
The New Testament
Plotinus The Enneads
St. Augustine On the Teacher; Confessions; City of God; On Christian Doctrine
The Song of Roland
The Nibelungenlied
The Saga of Burnt Njail
St. Thomas Aquinas Summa Theologica
Dante Alighieri The Divine Comedy;The New Life; On Monarchy
Geoffrey Chaucer Troilus and Criseyde; The Canterbury Tales
Leonardo da Vinci Notebooks
Niccolò Machiavelli The Prince; Discourses on the First Ten Books of Livy
Desiderius Erasmus The Praise of Folly
Nicolaus Copernicus On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres
Thomas More Utopia
Martin Luther Table Talk; Three Treatises
François Rabelais Gargantua and Pantagruel
John Calvin Institutes of the Christian Religion
Michel de Montaigne Essays
William Gilbert On the Loadstone and Magnetic Bodies
Miguel de Cervantes Don Quixote
Edmund Spenser Prothalamion; The Faerie Queene
Francis Bacon Essays; Advancement of Learning; Novum Organum, New Atlantis
William Shakespeare Poetry and Plays
Galileo Galilei Starry Messenger; Dialogues Concerning Two New Sciences
Johannes Kepler Epitome of Copernican Astronomy; Concerning the Harmonies of
the World
William Harvey On the Motion of the Heart and Blood in Animals; On the
Circulation of the Blood; On the Generation of Animals
Thomas Hobbes Leviathan
René Descartes Rules for the Direction of the Mind; Discourse on the Method;
Geometry; Meditations on First Philosophy
John Milton Works
Molière Comedies
Blaise Pascal The Provincial Letters; Pensees; Scientific Treatises
Christiaan Huygens Treatise on Light
Benedict de Spinoza Ethics
John Locke Letter Concerning Toleration; Of Civil Government; Essay Concerning
Human Understanding; Thoughts Concerning Education
Jean Baptiste Racine Tragedies
Isaac Newton Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy; Optics
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Discourse on Metaphysics; New Essays Concerning
Human Understanding; Monadology
Daniel Defoe Robinson Crusoe
Jonathan Swift A Tale of a Tub; Journal to Stella; Gulliver's Travels; A
Modest Proposal
William Congreve The Way of the World
George Berkeley Principles of Human Knowledge
Alexander Pope Essay on Criticism; Rape of the Lock; Essay on Man
Charles de Secondat, baron de Montesquieu Persian Letters; Spirit of Laws
Voltaire Letters on the English; Candide; Philosophical Dictionary
Henry Fielding Joseph Andrews; Tom Jones
Samuel Johnson The Vanity of Human Wishes; Dictionary; Rasselas; The Lives of
the Poets
David Hume Treatise on Human Nature; Essays Moral and Political; An Enquiry
Concerning Human Understanding
Jean-Jacques Rousseau On the Origin of Inequality; On the Political Economy;
Emile or, On Education, The Social Contract
Laurence Sterne Tristram Shandy; A Sentimental Journey through France and
Italy
Adam Smith The Theory of Moral Sentiments; The Wealth of Nations
Immanuel Kant Critique of Pure Reason; Fundamental Principles of the
Metaphysics of Morals; Critique of Practical Reason; The Science
of Right; Critique of Judgment; Perpetual Peace
Edward Gibbon The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire; Autobiography
James Boswell Journal; Life of Samuel Johnson, Ll.D.
Antoine Laurent Lavoisier Traita lamentaire de Chimie (Elements of Chemistry)
Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison Federalist Papers
Jeremy Bentham Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation;
Theory of Fictions
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Faust; Poetry and Truth
Jean Baptiste Joseph Fourier Analytical Theory of Heat
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel Phenomenology of Spirit; Philosophy of Right;
Lectures on the Philosophy of History
William Wordsworth Poems
Samuel Taylor Coleridge Poems; Biographia Literaria
Jane Austen Pride and Prejudice; Emma
Carl von Clausewitz On War
Stendhal The Red and the Black; The Charterhouse of Parma; On Love
Lord Byron Don Juan
Arthur Schopenhauer Studies in Pessimism
Michael Faraday Chemical History of a Candle; Experimental Researches in
Electricity
Charles Lyell Principles of Geology
Auguste Comte The Positive Philosophy
Honora de Balzac Pare Goriot; Eugenie Grandet
Ralph Waldo Emerson Representative Men; Essays; Journal
Nathaniel Hawthorne The Scarlet Letter
Alexis de Tocqueville Democracy in America
John Stuart Mill A System of Logic; On Liberty; Representative Government;
Utilitarianism; The Subjection of Women; Autobiography
Charles Darwin The Origin of Species; The Descent of Man; Autobiography
Charles Dickens Pickwick Papers; David Copperfield; Hard Times
Claude Bernard Introduction to the Study of Experimental Medicine
Henry David Thoreau Civil Disobedience; Walden
Karl Marx Capital; Communist Manifesto
George Eliot Adam Bede; Middlemarch
Herman Melville Moby-Dick; Billy Budd
Fyodor Dostoevsky Crime and Punishment; The Idiot; The Brothers Karamazov
Gustave Flaubert Madame Bovary; Three Stories
Henrik Ibsen Plays
Leo Tolstoy War and Peace; Anna Karenina; What is Art?; Twenty-Three Tales
Mark Twain The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn; The Mysterious Stranger
William James The Principles of Psychology; The Varieties of Religious
Experience; Pragmatism; Essays in Radical Empiricism
Henry James The American; The Ambassadors
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche Thus Spoke Zarathustra; Beyond Good and Evil; The
Genealogy of Morals; The Will to Power
Jules Henri Poincar Science and Hypothesis; Science and Method
Sigmund Freud The Interpretation of Dreams; Introductory Lectures on
Psychoanalysis; Civilization and Its Discontents; New
Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis
George Bernard Shaw Plays and Prefaces
Max Planck Origin and Development of the Quantum Theory; Where Is Science
Going?; Scientific Autobiography
Henri Bergson Time and Free Will; Matter and Memory; Creative Evolution; The
Two Sources of Morality and Religion
John Dewey How We Think; Democracy and Education; Experience and Nature;
Logic: the Theory of Inquiry
Alfred North Whitehead An Introduction to Mathematics; Science and the Modern
World; The Aims of Education and Other Essays;
Adventures of Ideas
George Santayana The Life of Reason; Skepticism and Animal Faith; Persons and
Places
Vladimir Lenin The State and Revolution
Marcel Proust Remembrance of Things Past
Bertrand Russell The Problems of Philosophy; The Analysis of Mind; An Inquiry
into Meaning and Truth; Human Knowledge, Its Scope and Limits
Thomas Mann The Magic Mountain; Joseph and His Brothers
Albert Einstein The Meaning of Relativity; On the Method of Theoretical
Physics; The Evolution of Physics
James Joyce 'The Dead' in Dubliners; A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man;
Ulysses
Jacques Maritain Art and Scholasticism; The Degrees of Knowledge; The Rights
of Man and Natural Law; True Humanism
Franz Kafka The Trial; The Castle
Arnold J. Toynbee A Study of History; Civilization on Trial
Jean-Paul Sartre Nausea; No Exit; Being and Nothingness
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn The First Circle; The Cancer Ward