Great Books Where to Begin Reading

[@GreatBooksProf]

You can find a reading list -- based on one of my first-year courses -- for free on my Patreon page. 👉 www.patreon.com/c/GreatBooksProf

[@JohnVKaravitis]

I've read all 60 volumes. It took me 5 years. I began reading from vol. 1, but quickly found myself jumping around, based on what I felt might interest me.

[@LeonBuker]

Books mentioned to start your exploration of great books: Greek tragedy - check out Sophocles - Antigone - Oedipus Rex Philosophy - Plato's The Apology Drama - Marlowe's Dr Faustus Novels - Austen's Pride and Prejudice Politics / slavery - Douglass' Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass

[@tcaw8813]

Terrible picks in my opinion. Should be Dante, or KJV, and if youre gonna include plato why not like Trial and Death of Socrates. Jane Austen's also a weird pick to me, for a starter pack like she was influential on that kind of English novel but hardly say the architect of the novel, and doctor Faustus? Why not just read Goethe's faust or a more modern playwright like Eugebe O'neil or something. Its a good play but all these recommendations seem like weird picks it's not hard to quess he had a diversity idea in mind for the last couple.

[@kamarayesha]

Thanks for this list. It keeps me from watching the video with paper and pen, scribbling the recommendations down.

[@urzathehappy72]

For Christmas my Mom bought me Ulysess, Finnegan's Wake, Gravity's Rainbow ( along with a reading guide book), The Idiot, The Gambler, Existential essays from Sater to Doostesky, and Infinite Jest. Pretty excited to attempt even one of those. I plan to get a notebook and sticky bookm tabs n try to really figure out what the hell those books even be on about n sheet

[@martinhawrylkiewicz2025]

Great vid! I still remember my 1st year in College when I registered for a course in Greek mythology where we were assigned different ancient Greek books to read....1st on the list was The Iliad by Homer (translated by Lattimore). 2nd was the Odyssey. I really loved it, and still have those books on my shelf.

[@alikoohi8265]

This great book program is so exciting I hope it had a form of online sessions for those who areinterested but are not in Canada..

[@funkymonkey8777]

Love this. Thank you ❤

[@GreatBooksProf]

You’re welcome. Glad you liked it!

[@alikoohi8265]

Full of energy way of speech...great👌

[@GreatBooksProf]

Thanks, ali! It's mostly coffee! lol

[@JavierGomez-lv5mq]

Just want to throw this comment into the ring. Aspiring scientists should go through Euclid's The Elements! Not the typical book (set of books) though :) but it keeps in line with the Greeks. Thanks for your videos I always enjoy them.

[@GreatBooksProf]

Thanks, Javier! Great recommendation! 👍

[@bastianmaoro8278]

I want to read the dead souls by N Gogol. Also brazilians writers are very good if you find translated to English, Machado De Assis and Graciliano Ramos ohh! Very good writers.

[@GreatBooksProf]

Thanks for the recommendations!

[@ianmccorriston2902]

Dead Souls is brilliant and comical. Enjoy it.

[@resul8777]

Your videos are amazing, and the intro music too! What is the name of this soundtrack please tell me 0:27 :/ Shazam can't find it :(

[@GreatBooksProf]

Tha is Resul! I appreciate that. It’s actually a track I bought a license to. I think it’s called “Spark of Life.” Pretty sure I got it through Foxi Music.

[@resul8777]

@@GreatBooksProf thank you so much! such a good investment then :) I hope your videos reach more people and you gain more subs cause your videos are so easy to watch yet delivers super useful information in a fun way!! Respect and love ❤️💙

[@GreatBooksProf]

@@resul8777 Thanks! Very kind of you.

[@urzathehappy72]

When u said reading Spiderman comics never changed ur life clearly u didn't understand the deep meaning and subtext of such a profound work

[@jesikaglenn4561]

I must ask you. Could you reccomend a few to start with alongside children? I'm a homeschool mom who doesnt know what I'm doing all the time, but i do know i want to give them the Greats. I have about 10 years until my oldest graduates, and I'd like to have more than half these titles under our belts before then. Which should we start with??

[@GreatBooksProf]

The first things that come to mind are C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia and J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. These are not very original suggestions! Frankenstein could be good too, but it's probably not appropriate for a pre-teen. If others occur to me, I'll let you know.

[@dr.corneliusq.cadbury6984]

For young kids, folklore and fairy tales can be good, although some of the originals (especially Brothers Grimm) are a bit gruesome. Greek and Roman mythology (versions for children). For youth, Tom Sawyer and Treasure Island are good for boys. For girls, maybe The Secret Garden or Anne of Green Gables. Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass are also classics. Charlotte’s Web. Roald Dahl.

[@azraabbas6264]

I love your videos 💛💛

[@GreatBooksProf]

Thanks so much! I really appreciate that. Do you have a favourite type? Philosophy? Literature? Book recommendations?

[@azraabbas6264]

@@GreatBooksProf I would recommend you to read adunis poems since he's arabic so maybe you don't know him or maybe you can talk about john berger in your future videos i found him fascinating and the novels of elena ferrante and about philosophy i do like it but i have only read the easy ones i sometimes find it hard to understand but you have a very beautiful way of explaining like the hannah arendt videos were really useful , in my country (iraq) we don't study literature or philosophy in schools so your videos are really helping me to understand better thank you💜💜💕

[@gregorymckinney8600]

How come noone reads Don Don Quuxiote anymore, considered by readers and scholars to be the greatest novel ever written.

[@gator7082]

It's hilarious, one of my favorites.

[@moonhuggyadventures]

First of all, as a long-time reader, I adore your channel and information. With that said, this is probably a very silly question, but do you have any advice on how to read faster? I often get overwhelmed because I feel there's so many books I have, and authors I look forward to reading, but I read so slowly I feel I'm not engaging properly

[@santhoshsivan4693]

Swami Vivekananda. He reads page by bage. A real super human.

[@Anime_games-_-XUnknown]

Have you read Flower of evil by shūzō Oshimi

[@HkFinn83]

That would probably not be among the great books😂

[@11227denis]

Jane Austin is ok. Tolstoy is the master.

[@grafplaten]

Read Cervantes first instead of Jane Austen.

[@GreatNeal85]

If you're going that route, read actual chivalric romances first instead of a satire of them.

[@breezed2154]

You kinda look and sound like Tony Romo

[@GreatBooksProf]

As a diehard Eagles fan, this offends me deeply. #FlyEaglesFly. 🦅

[@noam65]

Human history stretches back over 13 thousand years. The only reason it doesn't go back further is a lack of discovery under the soils and sands across the globe. To think our brief 5000 years of readable texts are all that ever were is ludicrous.

[@HkFinn83]

Hard to read books that don’t currently exist, whether they did at one point in the past or not

[@noam65]

@@HkFinn83 there are older writings carved into stone, buried in the sands, and under the ocean surface, as covered up in the jungles of Central and South America.

[@HkFinn83]

@@noam65 ok and how does one go about incorporating these carvings into a canon of great books?

[@noam65]

@@HkFinn83 first, can we translate them? Can we put them into context? Can we create a cohesive narrative in the proper context?

[@Luke_H.]

Human history goes back much further than 13,000 years. How much further is up to debate, but it undeniably goes back further than 13,000.

[@machcruiser5592]

Pride and Prejudice is one of the worst books I have read.

[@GreatBooksProf]

This is objectively not true.

[@bart-v]

@@GreatBooksProf How can aesthetic judgement be objective?

[@alfredoball-llovera8609]

He’s joking lol