Old Books, New Readers discussion

Goodreads Reading Plan for January:

This 30-minute-a-day reading plan assumes a reading speed of 250-300wpm, and reading 25-35 pages per a day per a selection.

Reading Plan:


Week 1:
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin by Benjamin Franklin

Week 2:
Some Fruits of Solitude: Wise Sayings on the Conduct of Human Life by William Penn

Week 3:
The Apology, Phaedo, and Crito of Socrates by Plato
The Golden Sayings by Epictetus

Final Week:
The Meditations, by Marcus Aurelius



Volume 1 Contents:


The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, by Benjamin Franklin
pp. 160


The Journal of John Woolman, by John Woolman
pp. 264


Some Fruits of Solitude: Wise Sayings on the Conduct of Human Life, by William Penn
pp. 168


Volume 2 Contents:


The Apology, Crito, and Phaedo,of Socrates by Plato
pp. 128


The Golden Sayings, by Epictetus
pp. 92


The Meditations, by Marcus Aurelius
pp. 304

Jason, I saw this on Amazon today. All 51 volumes for under $3. FYI.

http://www.amazon.com/Harvard-Classic...

I saw it as well, but thought with that many pages it would run horribly.:p Thanks for the reminder about it... Will post a link to it in the premise thread.

I didn't think about that. So far no problems.

I love it! Dr. Ellison's plan seems to be more varied and that makes it slightly more appealing to me.

I have finished the autobiography of Franklin and have started the journal of Woolman. Right off the bat I have noticed a big difference between the two men. Woolman is a fairly religious man whereas Franklin can pretty much take it or leave it (mostly leave it). As I mentioned in the Dr. Eliot plan thread, I admire Franklin's self discipline.

Susan Margaret wrote: "I have finished the autobiography of Franklin and have started the journal of Woolman. Right off the bat I have noticed a big difference between the two men. Woolman is a fairly religious man where..."

Hi Susan,
I've just finished BF Auotobiography. Find him impressive, admirable...have great respect for his self management as well as the masterful interactions with others at all levels of society. I am thankful for his introduction of so many essential civic operations along with many other things that preclude our modern conveniences.
On to Woolman!

I got started late and just finished Franklin's Autobiography. I definitely enjoyed it. I found him fascinating. But, I sure wish it went further. I would really like to see his reasoning for the American Revolution. He seemed to be a man who loved King and Country, so I wonder what made him change. I'm sure much has been written about it, but it's different "hearing" it from his own "lips." :) On to Woolman.

I'm really far behind now... I finally finished The Journal of John Woolman. It was extremely hard to get thru. And, as a Christian I normally read and enjoy Christian non-fiction, but I had a hard time getting into this one. It was really hard to follow at times, I think due to the language. I had to reread sentences multiple times to understand what he was trying to say... Well, onto Penn. Hopefully, his book is easier to read, so I can try to catch up. :)

Kimberly wrote: "I'm really far behind now... I finally finished The Journal of John Woolman. It was extremely hard to get thru. And, as a Christian I normally read and enjoy Christian non-fiction, b..."

I skimmed the John Woolman book. After a while I got bored with his visits to the Friends. The book has a good message. I admire his stance against slavery especially since the book was written at the beginning stages of the formation of the United States, long before the majority believed slavery was wrong.

Some Fruits is challenging as well...mushing on to Plato...Marcus Aurelius looks positively daunting!

Shirley wrote: "Some Fruits is challenging as well...mushing on to Plato...Marcus Aurelius looks positively daunting!"

Oh oh. I'm not in the mood for challenging!

Done with Penn and onto Plato. Penn wasn't nearly as bad as Woolman. I liked many of the sayings he wrote: Good advice. :)

I noticed February's reading hasn't been posted yet... Is that cuz we are pretty much all behind? ;) :)

Kimberly wrote: "Done with Penn and onto Plato. Penn wasn't nearly as bad as Woolman. I liked many of the sayings he wrote: Good advice. :)

I noticed February's reading hasn't been posted yet... Is that cuz we are..."

I was wondering about that, too.

I feel like Jack in the freezing cold ocean, hanging onto the door fragment after the Titanic sank!

I'm also no longer sure I can just march straight through 50 Volumes of classic lit.

Toss me a lifeline, please!

Shirley wrote: "I feel like Jack in the freezing cold ocean, hanging onto the door fragment after the Titanic sank!

I'm also no longer sure I can just march straight through 50 Volumes of classic lit.

Toss me a..."

I am on the bottom of the ocean floor.

I see what happened. Dr. Eliot's plan did say one could read through the collection at a rate of 15 minutes a day OVER A COURSE OF MANY YEARS! Perhaps our Good Reading goal was to read from the entire collection ONLY VOLUMES 1 & 2 during the month of January... whereas the other plan read a selection a day from volumes throughout the entire collection.

And then, in February we were to rejoin the main group in reading Mansfield Park or the alternate selection...

I just finished Plato. I found his description of the Earth rather fascinating. :) It amazes me how people thought the universe worked in the past. I did find some of his arguments hard to follow, but I'm so far behind, that I just continued on. I'll probably try reading it again at another time because it was interesting. :) Onto The Golden Sayings.

Shirley wrote: "I see what happened. Dr. Eliot's plan did say one could read through the collection at a rate of 15 minutes a day OVER A COURSE OF MANY YEARS! Perhaps our Good Reading goal was to read from the ent..."

I see what you mean about the Dr. Eliot's Plan, but I still thought we were going to be doing this the whole year long, along with the monthly reads. :) At one point, Jason commented that we really ought to be reading out of 3 volumes a month in order to complete it in 1 year. Not sure what happened. Things do happen in life that we don't plan.

I plan on continuing to read thru all the books, though. I ended up getting the $3 Kindle version which has all 51 volumes of the Harvard Classics, as well as the 20 volumes of the Harvard Fiction. :) This will take me several years, I'm sure, but many of the books are on my TBR. A good way to get to read them. :)

Hey , Kimberly !
Thought I'd lost you...I have the kindle version too. Plato's logic was kind of maddening...if one only uses logic to make decisions the outcome for situations will be far different than it is for people who are more feeling driven.

I, too, thought we'd be reading these volumes for the whole year.
Please look at the Reader's Guide in Volume 50...maybe we can modify the 3 volumes a month.