This works. I have used something like it (slips instead of cards) for many years. Notes have been and continue to be a source of reflection, discussion, invention, and inspiration for a lifetime. Thank you Amy for sharing.
If you look closely at those photos of Adler, you'll notice that one is in context and the other is the same image of him cut and pasted onto a set of books.
Those who are into this broader topic may also appreciate Alex Beam's book "A Great Idea at the Time: The Rise, Fall, and Curious Afterlife of the Great Books". A while back I remember going though Lawrence Principe's Great Courses lecture series on the History of Science to 1700 which I suspect might help contextualize a tour through the great courses.
I'm curious if you're adding any other books that Adler et al left off their list?
Chris, thank you for the excellent comments and link. Whether to add other books that were left off Adler's original list? That is a great question! Personally, my answer is yes. For example, I really want to read the Epic of Gilgamesh. And of more modern works, Heidegger is on my list, Gadamer, Levinas etc. Plus histories, biographies... And that's just the thing with this method. Those books may not have been part of the historical "Great Conversation", but by bringing them into my notebox, I can make them part of "my conversation"! :-)
For a bibliophile like me, it is worth it. Each volume has much more than Great Book additions. For instance, the 1965 volume:
Part 1: Work, Wealth and Leisure
Part 2: Contemporary Aspects of a Great Idea
Part 3: The Year's Developments in the Arts and Sciences
Part 4: Additions to the Great Books:
Utopia, Walden (selections) and The Challenge of Democracy.
Note Walden is a selected article, not the whole thing.
It is worth it to me because I get a snapshot of the intellectual times and because I saved the otherwise unloved books from the landfill or sitting backwards in a furniture store (see https://heapcoup.substack.com/p/old-books-are-better). They are nice, leather bound volumes. The earliest volumes had snazzy dust jackets for a while. You can see what they look like in my article on old books, the first photograph.
Every time I open one of these I find something new. HECK, I didn't even know Sir Thomas More's, Utopia, was in this series until just now!
Bryan, I should add that many of the Great Books now have translations or annotated editions far better than what available to Adler. For serious study, a single volume is certainly better. The Iliad and Odyssey in TGWW, for instances, are real bad, Romanized translations. I use Lattimore's translation.
Any advice for someone who, like myself, is multiple years into the great books and hasn't organized any notes? Some books have been extensively marked up, some not at all.
This works. I have used something like it (slips instead of cards) for many years. Notes have been and continue to be a source of reflection, discussion, invention, and inspiration for a lifetime. Thank you Amy for sharing.
Louis Menand had an interesting article on great books courses recently: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/12/20/whats-so-great-about-great-books-courses-roosevelt-montas-rescuing-socrates.
If you look closely at those photos of Adler, you'll notice that one is in context and the other is the same image of him cut and pasted onto a set of books.
Those who are into this broader topic may also appreciate Alex Beam's book "A Great Idea at the Time: The Rise, Fall, and Curious Afterlife of the Great Books". A while back I remember going though Lawrence Principe's Great Courses lecture series on the History of Science to 1700 which I suspect might help contextualize a tour through the great courses.
I'm curious if you're adding any other books that Adler et al left off their list?
Chris, thank you for the excellent comments and link. Whether to add other books that were left off Adler's original list? That is a great question! Personally, my answer is yes. For example, I really want to read the Epic of Gilgamesh. And of more modern works, Heidegger is on my list, Gadamer, Levinas etc. Plus histories, biographies... And that's just the thing with this method. Those books may not have been part of the historical "Great Conversation", but by bringing them into my notebox, I can make them part of "my conversation"! :-)
Gilgamesh is in the 1986 volume. The Great Books index says it is in the 1996 volume; that is a mistake.
http://thegreatideasfromthegreatbooks.blogspot.com/p/the-great-ideas-today-index-by.html
Is the “Great Ideas” collection a worthy addition? Or is it better to pick up individual works as needed?
For a bibliophile like me, it is worth it. Each volume has much more than Great Book additions. For instance, the 1965 volume:
Part 1: Work, Wealth and Leisure
Part 2: Contemporary Aspects of a Great Idea
Part 3: The Year's Developments in the Arts and Sciences
Part 4: Additions to the Great Books:
Utopia, Walden (selections) and The Challenge of Democracy.
Note Walden is a selected article, not the whole thing.
It is worth it to me because I get a snapshot of the intellectual times and because I saved the otherwise unloved books from the landfill or sitting backwards in a furniture store (see https://heapcoup.substack.com/p/old-books-are-better). They are nice, leather bound volumes. The earliest volumes had snazzy dust jackets for a while. You can see what they look like in my article on old books, the first photograph.
Every time I open one of these I find something new. HECK, I didn't even know Sir Thomas More's, Utopia, was in this series until just now!
Bryan, I should add that many of the Great Books now have translations or annotated editions far better than what available to Adler. For serious study, a single volume is certainly better. The Iliad and Odyssey in TGWW, for instances, are real bad, Romanized translations. I use Lattimore's translation.
You are all brave souls! And dedicated.
Any advice for someone who, like myself, is multiple years into the great books and hasn't organized any notes? Some books have been extensively marked up, some not at all.
Looks like Scott Scheper uses storage boxes by Vaultz: https://www.vaultz.com/vaultz-vz01395-black-locking-4x6-index-card-cabinet-double-drawer