The Well-Educated Mind: A Guide to the Classical Education You Never Had,   ISBN:9780393050943

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Section one of this book was fine, maybe even very good. I took notes and adopted some of her tips on reading critically. However, Section 2 seriously ticked me off. If I am reading a book for the first time I want o experience it for myself. Sure I want to know generally what it is about and if other people enjoyed it or not. I frequently read Amazon reviews prior to making a purchase, but I don't want to be told explicitly what happens and how to feel about it. I cant imagine not experiencing for myself the source of Pips inheritance in "Great Expectation" or what the impediment to Jane's marriage to Rochester might be etc. . The author of this book retells the entire plot of all the books which she describes and spoils everyone of them.. Why? Why?

There are so many wonderful books about books out there which don't do that. Beowulf on the Beach for example is fantastic. Jack Murnaghan writes lovingly about many classic works but his essays succeed in making me want to know more about each book instead of thinking why bother if I already know everything that happens?
***SPOILER ALERT***




I am reminded of how cross I was when my husband innocently asked me If Uncle Tom had been beaten to death yet? while I was reading Uncle Tom's Cabin for the first time. His response was, " but everyone knows that". Obviously not EVERYONE. Maybe that is Ms Wise Bauers attitude also. Maybe she sees these books as works to be studied and not read for the sheer pleasure of it. Either way what she has succeeded in producing in section 2 is a collection of crib notes which would enable anyone to discuss a book which they have not read as if they had. Shame!

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I have been left with a great hunger in the wake of this book. I also had a great hunger before I read this book, but at least now I know what I am going to order.

I used to think my education was pretty good. I got 'A' in every exam I ever took and came away with the Holy Trinity which encompasses all knowledge which actually deserves the name - Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics. How's that for a well-rounded personality, eh? Shove yer poetry up yer Messalonghi, Mr. Byron.

This comfortable world of hard, chromed self-congratulation has obviously taken a series of knocks over the years, but the big bombshell was probably reading Pirsig's "Zen" books in my early twenties. That awakened a quest to master philosophy, which has led me along many and branching paths. At some stage, I realised that I had not, in fact, had an education as such. No fault of my teachers, who read me Gerard Manley Hopkins in awed tones and got called rude names for their pains. It was all my own ruthlessly rationalistic doing.

Now I have come to look for this education by stages, I came to read Wise-Bauer's excellent synopsis. It rests on the notion of the Trivium, the three-stage reading of any text taught to subjects of a liberal education regime to first consume, then understand, then place in context its content and meaning. I cannot fault it, nor can I fault Wise-Bauer's advocacy of it.

Very much of the book is taken up by synopses of the recommended texts. Unlike some reviewers, I take absolutely no issue with this. Firstly, these are a mini-education in their own right. Secondly, they are written by someone who has all the benefits of the education I am looking for and if that is actually worth something then their advice is worth listening to. These are the foundation stones of an encompassing education. When you have some mastery of a field, you can pick out your own stone to fashion cornices and the odd gargoyle, but when you are laying the foundations for your very first house it doesn't hurt to take the advice of a builder. So I'll make my own choices as to what I read of philosophy, but where literature is concerned I shall be starting with Don Quixote.

The book covers preparation, basically expounding the Trivium and good reading and note-taking habits. It then fleshes out the content of the education your are about to give yourself with sections on the Novel, Autobiography, History writing, Drama and Poetry. Each of these sections contains a list of synopses of the key works. I imagine that a knowledgeable reader would take issue with the precise selection but I would urge the self-educator to give them a chance. Wise-Bauer has the education and you, if it's what you came here looking for, presumably do not. Teachers disagree among themselves but it is not in the spirit of acquiring a classical education for the pupils to do so. (They would in any case only get caned.)

Thank you for educating me, Ms. Wise-Bauer.

Customer Rating: 

Susan Bauer has done a superb job in compiling a magnificent list of books that one should read throughout their lifetime. Excellent summaries were given with a sprinkling of commentary. I find this to be an excellent introductory text for those especially in their mid-lives who are seeking to be better apprised of the great works written in the past. Works that read carefully and discussed will enlighten those of us who are trying to make some sense of our postmodern society.

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I am a great fan of The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home, Revised and Updated Edition, a book which Ms. Bauer wrote with her mother, Jessie Wise. Ms. Wise home-schooled this author and allowed her intellect to flourish. Unfortunately, she did not protect her from (or perhaps actively exposed her to) ugly, anti-freedom, anti-capitalistic ideas.

Think I'm exaggerating? Well, check out these passages:

Of Mein Kampf, she says that it's eerie to see Hitler's racist rants alongside other National Socialist goals that "seem quite reasonable." Then she says, "the twenty-first century may have rejected Hitler's doctrine of racial purity, but his techniques of propaganda are still much in use." Not by the federal government, of course, but by evil capitalists! "They have been turned to the service of the market, rather than the nation-state." Nation-states don't engage in propaganda? Really?

Of the The Communist Manifesto, she says it's "difficult to argue with" Marx's description of how capitalism exploits workers "in a world where every family restaurant cowers before the golden arches." She rejects his political program in favor a mixed-economy welfare state, though.

Worst of all, she totally misses the point (or ignores it) of Nineteen Eighty-Four. To Bauer, Orwell's classic is not a condemnation of the state (which she slavishly adores), but of ... advertising! Can you believe this? "Orwell's hell on earth didn't come about in 1984. But in his chilling, detailed version of a world where both mind and will can be manipulated by large and powerful institutions, he was decades ahead of the postmodernists and their condemnation of our advertisement-driven society."

Speaking of 1984: The page count of this book is padded by entirely worthless summaries of the books covered. They don't just give you a feel for what the book is about -- they give away the entire story in less than a page. For example, the 1984 synopsis *SPOILER ALERT* tells you that O'Brien works for Big Brother, that Winston is captured, and that he eventually caves in the emotional climax and tells the state to put his lover Julia's head in with the rats instead of his own. She spills all of this! I was afraid to read the summaries of any of the books I hadn't read yet.

This book is not entirely worthless. Some of the tips on how to get more out of your reading are quite good, and the book lists are good, too. Of course, they're chosen with a leftist/communist bent, but since leftist/communists dominate the culture, it's important for educated people to know what poison they purvey. But please, supplement your Galbraith with Murray Rothbard and your McPherson with some good revisionist Civil War history.

In all honesty, you'd be much better off the check this one out from the library, copy down the book lists, and then read Mortimer Adler's How to Read a Book (A Touchstone Book) for the limited amount of good stuff contained in this book. It is very depressing to see that Ms. Wise-Bauer ended up with even worse, more perverse ideas about history and economics than those poor children who are subjected to statist programming at government indoctrination centers.

Customer Rating: 

i was deceived by the title. it was mostly a reading guide and not some sort of survey of the "classics." plus, i've read better reading guides