"The Harvard Universal Classics, originally known as Dr. Eliot's Five Foot Shelf, is a 51-volume anthology of classic works from world literature, compiled and edited by Harvard University president Charles W. Eliot and first published in 1909. Eliot had stated in speeches that the elements of a liberal education could be obtained by spending 15 minutes a day reading from a collection of books that could fit on a five-foot shelf. (Originally he had said a three-foot shelf.) The publisher P. F. Collier and Son saw an opportunity and challenged Eliot to make good on this statement by selecting an appropriate collection of works, and the Harvard Classics was the result." (from wikipedia) A few weeks ago I started the Harvard Classics by reading the autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. I plan to read each and every book on the list (including the one on smallpox! ˆˆ) I'm not from the US so I don't know how well-known this anthology is but I wanted to post about it for anyone out there who wants to fill his/her time by reading really valuable books which might change your life. The best thing is that you can read all of the books online for free! Here is the list of all the books (Warning, it's long!): Vol. 1: FRANKLIN, WOOLMAN, PENN His Autobiography, by Benjamin Franklin The Journal of John Woolman, by John Woolman (1774 and subsequent editions) Fruits of Solitude, by William Penn Vol. 2. PLATO, EPICTETUS, MARCUS AURELIUS The Apology, Phaedo, and Crito, by Plato The Golden Sayings, by Epictetus The Meditations, by Marcus Aurelius Vol. 3. BACON, MILTON'S PROSE, THOS. BROWNE Essays, Civil and Moral, and New Atlantis, by Francis Bacon Areopagitica and Tractate of Education, by John Milton Religio Medici, by Sir Thomas Browne Vol. 4. COMPLETE POEMS IN ENGLISH, MILTON Complete poems written in English, by John Milton Vol. 5. ESSAYS AND ENGLISH TRAITS, EMERSON Essays and English Traits, by Ralph Waldo Emerson Vol. 6. POEMS AND SONGS, BURNS Poems and songs, by Robert Burns Vol. 7. CONFESSIONS OF ST. AUGUSTINE, IMITATION OF CHRIST The Confessions, by Saint Augustine The Imitation of Christ, by Thomas á Kempis Vol. 8. NINE GREEK DRAMAS Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers, The Furies, and Prometheus Bound, by Aeschylus Oedipus the King and Antigone, by Sophocles Hippolytus and The Bacchae, by Euripides The Frogs, by Aristophanes Vol. 9. LETTERS AND TREATISES OF CICERO AND PLINY On Friendship, On Old Age, and letters, by Cicero Letters, by Pliny the Younger Vol. 10. WEALTH OF NATIONS, ADAM SMITH The Wealth of Nations, by Adam Smith Vol. 11. ORIGIN OF SPECIES, DARWIN The Origin of Species, by Charles Darwin Vol. 12. PLUTARCH'S LIVES Lives, by Plutarch Vol. 13. AENEID, VIRGIL Aeneid, by Virgil Vol. 14. DON QUIXOTE, PART 1, CERVANTES Don Quixote, part 1, by Cervantes Vol. 15. PILGRIM'S PROGRESS, DONNE & HERBERT, BUNYAN, WALTON The Pilgrim's Progress, by John Bunyan The Lives of Donne and Herbert, by Izaak Walton Vol. 16. THE THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTS Stories from the Thousand and One Nights Vol. 17. FOLKLORE AND FABLE, AESOP, GRIMM, ANDERSON Fables, by Aesop Children's and Household Tales, by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm Tales, by Hans Christian Andersen Vol. 18. MODERN ENGLISH DRAMA All for Love, by John Dryden The School for Scandal, by Richard Brinsley Sheridan She Stoops to Conquer, by Oliver Goldsmith The Cenci, by Percy Bysshe Shelley A Blot in the 'Scutcheon, by Robert Browning Manfred, by Lord Byron Vol. 19. FAUST, EGMONT, ETC. DOCTOR FAUSTUS, GOETHE, MARLOWE Faust, part 1, Egmont, and Hermann and Dorothea, by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Dr. Faustus, by Christopher Marlowe Vol. 20. THE DIVINE COMEDY, DANTE The Divine Comedy, by Dante Alighieri Vol. 21. I PROMESSI SPOSI, MANZONI I Promessi Sposi, by Alessandro Manzoni Vol. 22. THE ODYSSEY, HOMER The Odyssey, by Homer Vol. 23. TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST, DANA Two Years Before the Mast, by Richard Henry Dana, Jr. Vol. 24. ON THE SUBLIME, FRENCH REVOLUTION, ETC., BURKE On Taste, On the Sublime and Beautiful, Reflections on the French Revolution, and A Letter to a Noble Lord, by Edmund Burke Vol. 25. AUTOBIOGRAPHY, ETC., ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES, J.S. MILL, T. CARLYLE Autobiography and On Liberty, by John Stuart Mill Characteristics, Inaugural Address at Edinburgh, and Sir Walter Scott, by Thomas Carlyle Vol. 26. CONTINENTAL DRAMA Life is a Dream, by Pedro Calderón de la Barca Polyeucte, by Pierre Corneille Phèdre, by Jean Racine Tartuffe, by Molière Minna von Barnhelm, by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing William Tell, by Friedrich von Schiller Vol. 27. ENGLISH ESSAYS: SIDNEY TO MACAULAY Vol. 28. ESSAYS: ENGLISH AND AMERICAN Vol. 29. VOYAGE OF THE BEAGLE, DARWIN The Voyage of the Beagle, by Charles Darwin Vol. 30. FARADAY, HELMHOLTZ, KELVIN, NEWCOMB, ETC The Forces of Matter and The Chemical History of a Candle, by Michael Faraday On the Conservation of Force and Ice and Glaciers, by Hermann von Helmholtz The Wave Theory of Light and The Tides, by Lord Kelvin The Extent of the Universe, by Simon Newcomb Geographical Evolution, by Sir Archibald Geikie Vol. 31. AUTOBIOGRAPHY, BENVENUTO CELLINI The Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini Vol. 32. LITERARY AND PHILOSOPHICAL ESSAYS Essays, by Michel Eyquem de Montaigne Montaigne and What is a Classic?, by Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve The Poetry of the Celtic Races, by Ernest Renan The Education of the Human Race, by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing Letters upon the Aesthetic Education of Man, by Friedrich von Schiller Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysic of Morals, by Immanuel Kant Byron and Goethe, by Giuseppe Mazzini Vol. 33. VOYAGES AND TRAVELS An account of Egypt from The Histories, by Herodotus Germany, by Tacitus Sir Francis Drake Revived, by Philip Nichols Sir Francis Drake's Famous Voyage Round the World, by Francis Pretty Drake's Great Armada, by Captain Walter Bigges Sir Humphrey Gilbert's Voyage to Newfoundland, by Edward Haies The Discovery of Guiana, by Sir Walter Raleigh Vol. 34. FRENCH AND ENGLISH PHILOSOPHERS, DESCARTES, VOLTAIRE, ROUSSEAU, HOBBES Discourse on Method, by René Descartes Letters on the English, by Voltaire On the Inequality among Mankind and Profession of Faith of a Savoyard Vicar, by Jean Jacques Rousseau Of Man, Being the First Part of Leviathan, by Thomas Hobbes Vol. 35. CHRONICLE AND ROMANCE, FROISSART, MALORY, HOLINSHEAD Chronicles, by Jean Froissart The Holy Grail, by Sir Thomas Malory A Description of Elizabethan England, by William Harrison Vol. 36. MACHIAVELLI, MORE, LUTHER The Prince, by Niccolò Machiavelli The Life of Sir Thomas More, by William Roper Utopia, by Sir Thomas More The Ninety-Five Theses, To the Christian Nobility of the German Nation, and On the Freedom of a Christian, by Martin Luther Vol. 37. LOCKE, BERKELEY, HUME Some Thoughts Concerning Education, by John Locke Three Dialogues Between Hylas and Philonous in Opposition to Sceptics and Atheists, by George Berkeley An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, by David Hume Vol. 38. HARVEY, JENNER, LISTER, PASTEUR The Oath of Hippocrates Journeys in Diverse Places, by Ambroise Paré On the Motion of the Heart and Blood in Animals, by William Harvey The Three Original Publications on Vaccination Against Smallpox, by Edward Jenner The Contagiousness of Puerperal Fever, by Oliver Wendell Holmes On the Antiseptic Principle of the Practice of Surgery, by Joseph Lister Scientific papers, by Louis Pasteur Scientific papers, by Charles Lyell Vol. 39. PREFACES AND PROLOGUES Vol. 40. ENGLISH POETRY 1: CHAUCER TO GRAY Vol. 41. ENGLISH POETRY 2: COLLINS TO FITZGERALD Vol. 42. ENGLISH POETRY 3: TENNYSON TO WHITMAN Vol. 43. AMERICAN HISTORICAL DOCUMENTS Vol. 44. SACRED WRITINGS 1 Confucian: The sayings of Confucius Hebrew: Job, Psalms, and Ecclesiastes Christian I: Luke and Acts Vol. 45. SACRED WRITINGS 2 Christian II: Corinthians I and II and hymns Buddhist: Writings Hindu: The Bhagavad-Gita Mohammedan: Chapters from the Koran Vol. 46. ELIZABETHAN DRAMA 1 Edward the Second, by Christopher Marlowe Hamlet, King Lear, Macbeth, and The Tempest, by William Shakespeare Vol. 47. ELIZABETHAN DRAMA 2 The Shoemaker's Holiday, by Thomas Dekker The Alchemist, by Ben Jonson Philaster, by Beaumont and Fletcher The Duchess of Malfi, by John Webster A New Way to Pay Old Debts, by Philip Massinger Vol. 48. THOUGHTS AND MINOR WORKS, PASCAL Thoughts, letters, and minor works, by Blaise Pascal Vol. 49. EPIC AND SAGA Beowulf The Song of Roland The Destruction of Dá Derga's Hostel The Story of the Volsungs and Niblungs Vol. 50. INTRODUCTION, READER'S GUIDE, INDEXES Vol. 51. LECTURES The last volume contains sixty lectures introducing and summarizing the covered fields: history, poetry, natural science, philosophy, biography, prose fiction, criticism and the essay, education, political science, drama, travelogues, and religion.
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I'm sure I'd be into some of the books on the list, but realistically how long would it take at 15 minutes a day? How many pages does one person cover in that amount of time and what does the time investment work out to mathematically? (and how old am I now..) I do like the idea of classics though, many of which are free. 54,000 free books at Project Gutenberg and just going to the site now I see this message that it'll grow again in 2019..
There is a reader guide on the website for people who want to invest only 15 min a day. Basically you will only read parts of the books then. I try to read more than 15 min a day.
I did the math, mind you it's very approximate, but: I'm guessing most of those books are about 500 pages in length. There should be about 400 words per page, meaning each of those books has about 200,000 words. The average person reads at 200 words per minute, meaning each of those books takes 1,000 minutes, or 16 hours and 40 minutes, to read. I also counted about 152 works of literature (again, very rough math), meaning there are about 30,400,000 words in that collection, and it would take about 152,000 minutes, or 2533 hours and 20 minutes, or 42 days and 13 hours, to read. At 15 minutes per day, reading this collection would take you about 27 years and 278 days (or 10133.3333 days). So yes, you could obtain the equivalent of a liberal education by reading for 15 minutes per day, albeit impractically. I know this number is easily attainable and I only did math around it because that was part of his original statement, but you can't expect to get anywhere fast by doing anything for 15 minutes a day. Now, 2 hours per day on the other hand (which I'm assuming is still dwarfed by how much time the average American spends watching idle entertainment per day), it would only take you 3.4 years, which is pretty reasonable for a liberal education.
Thanks. And of course it is just the books, what about stuff like MOOCs? Anyway my thought is as you go along you may also find that your interest is changed by what you read, it's a big commitment. The reading speed may change too, and of course that's going to vary depending on how the English language is used. For me reading modern works I tend to go backwards when the author quotes something insightful by someone that came before them, usually not going back that far though.
Well yeah, it's definitely that kind of a challenge. Also, just throwing this in there, I feel like the type of people who are able to identify PMO as an addiction are fairly intelligent (at least, compared to the "average" American, and therefore probably have above-average reading speeds. I mean, I've spent years scanning text quickly so I'm definitely above average, and the only person I've talked to on here in depth is a professor, so the people on here could probably cut down reading time significantly. Just a thought.
I love the idea of: - Gaining wisdom and intelligence from classic books - Dedicating yourself to reading old books to get away from the internet - Circumventing traditional education and creating your own degree My only 2 questions are: 1. Will some of these be difficult to find from either the library or Amazon - out of print, etc.? 2. Can you skip the book if you find it boring initially? I usually persevere and finish every book I start. But once I read "Catcher In The Rye" after hearing so much about it being a classic. I didn't enjoy it and I didn't see what the hype was about. I wished I'd put it down instead of finishing it. From the number of books on this list, there's a good chance I won't enjoy some of them.
It helps to be familiar with the field, although I've gotten pretty good at reading scientific stuff without getting hung up on not having the background - I just acknowledge there are those points of unknowns and figure that in, and usually there's still something to gain. Many many years ago I picked up a couple of books on speed reading and did a very superficial search on the subject, I seem to recall there are different tips on reading different types of material too.
What a list! Most of my work leaves me pretty burnt out on reading, but I've been wanting to try and improve my culture a bit. I may have found the tools to do that here. Thanks for posting!
@TruChange If you go to www.myharvardclassics.com and then click "free volumes" you can find all the volumes there in pdf format. They are old volumes though, from around 1909, and I'm sure many of the scientific books are outdated. If you are not interested in the history of science I guess you can easily skip it.
1. I have not checked all of the books, but since almost all of these belong to what we call classics today, it shouldn't be difficult to obtain a printed version of them. 2. Of course you can quit reading the book if you find it tedious and uninteresting. There are so many good books available that the few you don't enjoy probably have worthy alternatives. However, if you want to "circumvent traditional education", one should keep in mind that while being a traditional student you have to read books you don't enjoy personally. I dare say that all the books on this list have a reason for being there. If you find a famous book boring, my advice is to read about it first in order to learn about its importance, historical context, impact etc. Personally, by doing that I usually manage to create a willingness and enthusiasm for reading the book in question.