20th Birthday Classic Literature Book Haul!

[@baaaldur]

Unable to escape feeling quite inadequate watching this at 21 with a far, far less cultivated philosophical and literary understanding, but your channel has definitely motivated me to take my studies and interests more seriously, which I thank you for!

[@gavinyoung-philosophy]

@@baaaldur I feel the same feeling daily, so please don’t let it discourage you! Enjoy the journey and focus on your goals for yourself; don’t let others set up those goals for you or make you feel inadequate. Best of luck :)

[@cassiopeiathew7406]

20th birthday and you’re reading Finnegans wake, that’s so impressive! I just turned 20 a few months ago and the only difficult modernist novel I can say I’ve read is The Sound and The Fury by William Faulkner, so this is definitely motivating me to push myself to read more of the difficult things I’d like to.

[@gavinyoung-philosophy]

@@cassiopeiathew7406 You got this! Thanks for spreading the motivation all around, caus this certainly makes me feel motivated!

[@cherry_4996]

Happy belated birthday! This video was so helpful! Im turning 20 and ive been getting into classics. All of these books seem so interesting. Plus such a good length of video, just the right amount said :)

[@JoeSpivey02]

I'm glad to have recently stumbled upon your channel! Middlemarch is far from easy, but it's a book that will amply reward any dedication. I'm looking forward to watching more of your videos!

[@gavinyoung-philosophy]

@@JoeSpivey02 Glad you’re here! I’ll take that advice under consideration :)

[@avalon5821]

your joy and excitement is so tangible! i turned 19 recently and also used what i received to buy books. i am not nearly as read as you, though - i am completing my first workthrough of The Republic tonight and in the creation of everything i have been brought to tears and awe. i read 5 of his dialogues prior (euthyphro which i adored, apology which i will cherish forever, meno which amazed me, crito which i loathed, and phaedo which i found absolutely mighty). i have been wanting to approach philosophy for a long time and i am so glad to finally be coming to. i want to stay in a very old time for a while though, and i'm looking to you for advice if you'll allow me! i of course will be reading plato for the rest of my life and purchased a book full of all of his work so that i might continue on that. but in branching out, should i move onto Aristotle? read some of Epicurus? any pre-socratic philosophers with written works? i am so severely unaware of these things but so ready to break into them and voraciously read their works. thank you so much if you'll advise me!

[@gavinyoung-philosophy]

@@avalon5821 Really glad to hear about all your joys reading Plato. I do not get the same sense of rapture with him, I must say, but I envy your ability to be so. Aristotle would definitely be a wise choice. I have the complete Aristotle behind me on the shelf visible in the video and the collection was so relatively inexpensive that if you end up liking Aristotle (the same applies for Plato with the complete works of Plato I have shelved next to it), it might be worth just buying the complete works and sifting through it as needed. I would highly recommend this very short but insightful presocratics reader! I came to the presocratics only after Hegel (weird, right?) bit wish I had sooner. It’s just over 100 pages but genuinely worth the money and gives you a nice summary of each presocratic given by the editor, and then a series of their extant fragments. It’s published by Hackett and edited by Patricia Curd, but here’s an Amazon link to hopefully make the search shorter: a.co/d/dXRb1V7 A foray into Hellenistic philosophy would doubtless serve you well and probably be rather enjoyable to your more antiquated and refined tastes. Epicurus, Lucretius, Marcus Aurelius (whom I didn’t love, but he’s loved by many), etc. Hopefully some of this helps and really glad you’re enjoying your readings thus far! You’re read way more Plato than me and are thus doubtless more of an expert in ancient philosophy than I, so while you may not be “nearly as read” as me in *some* areas, you’re certainly more read in others, so enjoy your niche and dive down the rabbit hole, my friend!

[@avalon5821]

@@gavinyoung-philosophythis was so inspiring, thank you so much! i will absolutely get that presocratics reader, that sounds indispensable! i look forward to the day when i myself get to Hegel - it isn't that i'm anything of an old heart, but i'd love to pace myself by existing in the one world for a while. i feel that i have seen the world of perfect forms in my dreams. to be clear, i get it! Plato was a big stretch for me, because i myself am a postmodernist and hold deep anarchist sympathies that i one day may submit to. my favorite authors are Pynchon, Joyce (though never got to Finnegan's Wake and only half through Ulysses... lifechanging enough for me, but one day i will do better), McCarthy, Gogol, Dostoevsky, and all that typical obsessive literature. i loathed Crito because of its mindless state-serving and find Plato's ideas of governance to be frequently horrible. at the same time, i'm obsessed with the Socratic dialogue, as i agree that it gets us deeper into ourselves, and the places in the spirit and at the core of truth of us being mined this far back gives me confidence in my own spiritual pursuits at the continuity and universiality of life. similarly, it's incredibly fun to read to me, and i enjoy the process of disagreement too for it allows me to deepen where necessary and broaden where necessary my own perspective on these things. but my favorite parts are certainly where it goes from bad arguments to transcendent literature at random. i fear Aristotle to a degree, but also deeply look forward to him. thank you so much for all these great names to dig into! you are a fantastic guide.

[@gavinyoung-philosophy]

@@avalon5821 Sounds like we have a lot of interests in common! You articulated very well how I feel about Plato. His politics are very problematic, but the dialogue form is really cool and immersive so I do appreciate him for that much at least! Glad I could be of some help and please feel free to leave as many comments as you need checking in and whatnot, or email me sometime via the email in my channel description :) Wishing you all the best!

[@affanshikoh5069]

Happy Birthday Sir! Just clicked so excited to see the full video

[@gavinyoung-philosophy]

@@affanshikoh5069 Thanks a lot!

[@affanshikoh5069]

Ah, thanks for introducing me to Tristram Shandy; I've been interested as of late in the question of authorship and originality, particularly from Borges' "Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote", and Laurence Sterne seems to be the English counterpart to Cervantes. Of course, knowing nothing about it yet, I will have to approach with caution 😂 but his mosaic(?) of passages directly borrowed from Robert Burton and Rabelais are reminiscent of the same. Also, a request: can you indulge us in a discussion on Barthes' "Death of the Author" and Foucault's "What is an Author"? Btw I'm highly impressed that you can read these Middle English texts like Spenser and Chaucer in the original!

[@gavinyoung-philosophy]

@@affanshikoh5069 You can definitely expect the Foucault some day, and thanks for the thoughts and compliment :)

[@nkanyezitshabalala5256]

Happy belated birthday Gavin 😄I had my birthday days ago (29th of June), and I turned 19.

[@nkanyezitshabalala5256]

I would have bought books too if I got birthday money.

[@gavinyoung-philosophy]

@@nkanyezitshabalala5256 Mine was on the 25th so no worries haha. Happy birthday yourself!

[@nkanyezitshabalala5256]

@@gavinyoung-philosophy Thanks

[@mildrumpus]

Happy Birthday! I discovered your channel through this video. Happy Reading! 😎📚👍

[@gavinyoung-philosophy]

@@mildrumpus Thank you! Hope you enjoy and to you as well!

[@viauniverse_]

Happy birthday!!! Those seem like really interesting books ❤

[@A5A1A5]

Happy Birthday brother! you are incredibly enjoyable to listen to, what a beautiful Qur'an you have as well alhamdulillah

[@gavinyoung-philosophy]

@@A5A1A5 Thank you kindly!

[@piotr_jurkiewicz]

Congrats mate! HAPPY Birthday !

[@gavinyoung-philosophy]

@@piotr_jurkiewicz Thank you!

[@VictoriaJunio]

i found this video greatly interesting! i just discovered your channel but i found it cool. new suscriber!! by the way, happy late birthday. (sorry if there are any mistakes or lack of vocabulary, english is not my first language).

[@gavinyoung-philosophy]

@@VictoriaJunio Your English is splendid, my friend! Thanks for the kind words :)

[@nkanyezitshabalala5256]

Just out of curiosity. I see instrument cases in the room you are in, what instruments do you play?

[@gavinyoung-philosophy]

@@nkanyezitshabalala5256 I play bass trombone, bassoon, and piano.

[@karenbird6727]

I just started Montaigne's essays (same edition). I'm reading about 2 essays a day.

[@gavinyoung-philosophy]

@@karenbird6727 Nice! Check back some time and let me know your thoughts!

[@FranzBely]

congratulations ons your birthday! I recommend Andrej Bely's Petersburg, it's a wonderful Russian Symbolist read with lots of philosophy stylishely played with in fiction

[@AyushKarotra-s9m]

happy birthday man

[@theknowncitizennctl]

Happy birthday man love your content

[@gavinyoung-philosophy]

Thank you!

[@inkandbaddriving6922]

this made me want to get more books

[@gavinyoung-philosophy]

@@inkandbaddriving6922 haha I know the feeling 😅

[@SollyVlogs]

Happy birthday!!!

[@gavinyoung-philosophy]

Thanks friend!

[@howardparkes8787]

Happy birthday!

[@gavinyoung-philosophy]

Thanks bro!

[@goblinmf7584]

Happy birthday king

[@gavinyoung-philosophy]

@@goblinmf7584 Thank you kindly!

[@morfindog508]

Your videos are bangers, i find your youtube by algorithm. +subs. Thank you so much, you make my day!

[@gavinyoung-philosophy]

@@morfindog508 I appreciate that! Thanks my friend :)

[@howardparkes8787]

🎉🎉🎉

[@zonic_reading]

Glad to See Quran in your reading proccess i hope you find it approachable

[@gavinyoung-philosophy]

@@zonic_reading Indeed! Certainly interesting to absorb myself in a new culture

[@Michelle_Wellbeck]

Please reconsider purchasing books from Jeff Bezos's Shop.

[@gavinyoung-philosophy]

Nah

[@maverickbragwell]

They give good deals

[@fireball43]

Yeah, start buying stuff at Barnes and Noble (owned by private equity) or my local bookstore (doesn’t have the things I want).

[@Tarsun19]

Happy birthday!

[@VivaChandles]

Happy birthday!!