Trying to pick up some tips to make my reading deeper. Picked up a few tips, but I have decided that I read mostly for pleasure. I might revisit when I am in a different mind frame. ( )

Nice little vignettes. ( )

I may look again later. I am more drawn to her broad coverage of history books and will go back to them.

guide to critical reading of various genre with annotated reading list

I read Mortimer Adler's "How to Read a Book" a few months ago and decided to see if Susan Wise Bauer had anything else to say on the matter, so picked up this book. The Well-Educated Mind is a how-to guide for reading books the way an academic scholar would, i.e by making use of the trivium: grammar, logic and rhetoric. The second section of the book provides a list of recommended texts in five categories (novels, autobiography, history, drama and poetry, and history of science).

Both these book compliment each other, but the Adler book is more comprehensive and detailed. However, unlike Adler, Bauer doesn't assume you already know how to read a book and gives some direction on the mechanics of reading a book (how to move your eyes and remedial reading and vocabulary help). There are some differences between the method as provided by Bauer and that of Adler, so it is a case of determining which method works better for the reader. I was also disappointed by the lack of attention Bauer gives to scientific reading material. She covers the history of science in a superficial manner, but generally ignores other scientific works.
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I read this book as the organizing preamble to a meetup book group. In that capacity, it was a pretty useful guide. After all, how many book groups have you been to that devolve into gab fests for people who eventually don't even bother to read the book and focus solely on the pot luck portion of the occasion? So, stars for the idea behind the book and for encouraging people to focus on the tools necessary for reading a text closely and studying without a professional guide.

That's where the stars end, however. Susan Wise Bauer comes off as a sort of arrogant, evangelical, anti-education, yutz. Eventually, the condescension comes to a head and you just want to put the book down and flip her off. Look, if you didn't go to college and for whatever reason (there are many) you can't go to college, the ideas in this book (there are like 3 solid ideas that take about as many pages to explain) are useful. It's worthwhile to gain the confidence that you are reading "correctly." For everyone else, even those of us who had a pretty good high school education, there is absolutely nothing of value here. You get a few obvious points about reading carefully, then you get her strange and often questionable list of books to read (Mein Kampf? Really? Of all the books to choose from? Was that important?). The majority of the pages are dedicated to horribly reductive synopses of her list of book.

Also there's no index, or pages listing her recommended reading lists by title only. You pretty much have to slog through her pages of commentary to see which books in each category of literature you would like to read. No thanks.

Overall, I would NOT recommend this book, though there may be some cases when parts of it are useful. ( )

I read this book as the organizing preamble to a meetup book group. In that capacity, it was a pretty useful guide. After all, how many book groups have you been to that devolve into gab fests for people who eventually don't even bother to read the book and focus solely on the pot luck portion of the occasion? So, stars for the idea behind the book and for encouraging people to focus on the tools necessary for reading a text closely and studying without a professional guide.

That's where the stars end, however. Susan Wise Bauer comes off as a sort of arrogant, evangelical, anti-education, yutz. Eventually, the condescension comes to a head and you just want to put the book down and flip her off. Look, if you didn't go to college and for whatever reason (there are many) you can't go to college, the ideas in this book (there are like 3 solid ideas that take about as many pages to explain) are useful. It's worthwhile to gain the confidence that you are reading "correctly." For everyone else, even those of us who had a pretty good high school education, there is absolutely nothing of value here. You get a few obvious points about reading carefully, then you get her strange and often questionable list of books to read (Mein Kampf? Really? Of all the books to choose from? Was that important?). The majority of the pages are dedicated to horribly reductive synopses of her list of book.

Also there's no index, or pages listing her recommended reading lists by title only. You pretty much have to slog through her pages of commentary to see which books in each category of literature you would like to read. No thanks.

Overall, I would NOT recommend this book, though there may be some cases when parts of it are useful. ( )

In this book, Susan Wise Bauer describes how to read and how to think critically about the works that you do read. She includes advice on how to read novels, autobiographies, histories, plays and poems. Most of it involves journals and reading books a few times. Understanding can be acquired through hard work and effort, which gives me hope.

Every section contains an annotated summary of suggested works and the suggested version to read along with the ISBN of that version and the price, which is very helpful. ( )

I picked up this book because I wanted to work on my book reviewing and critiquing skills, and for this purpose I liked it. Bauer does a good job of providing a systematic self-study approach to reading that really does help organize one's reactions and impressions, and makes it easier to get more out of reading a book than just "I liked it" or "I hated it." Bauer provides a 3-step process, with a first read-through and then 2 additional passes which allow the reader to evaluate the book's structure and content through the use of various useful questions.

I was a bit annoyed at how mired in 'dead white guys' the reading lists are in the annotated reading list segments of the second part of each chapter. There were a couple female authors, and even a couple non-white ones, but the focus is still toward traditional Western classical education, with all the elitist, paternalist biases that tradition contains. But as a guide to get readers started reading more thoroughly, this book definitely works, and it is easy to use the framework Bauer provides to read other books not included in her lists. In fact Bauer does suggest adding in and taking out books from her lists as the readers feels is necessary. I have already read 50% of the books in her fiction list, so I am not quite her target audience anyway; the point of this book is really to help adults who did not get a solid classical education catch up through their own self-study (and through discussing their readings with a friend who is also reading the same books, but since I have no willing friend around who could keep up with my reading that is not likely to happen soon). ( )

The subtitle says it all: A Guide to the Classical Education You Never Had. Guides you in the classical education you may wish to undergo. Suggests authors. Gives fascinating history and details you might have otherwise missed. A very inspiring and interesting book. ( )

Huh. This is another book I stumbled across somewhere and decided to give a try. I tried Cultural Literacy in audio, and that was a mistake: pretentious, prescriptivist, and about one-third list that does not make for good audio. That book was obvious; this one is juvenile.

I was doing what the author suggests -- reading the table of contents and first chapters to assess whether it was worth investing my time and energy -- when, on page 47, I came across the delightful tidbit that Thomas Jefferson wrote to John Adams in 1841. After that it was a quick read.

She gives "representative," annotated lists of classic novels (75% British or Usan), autobiographies, histories, plays, and poetry, in chronological order. She rightly cautions the reader not to read criticism or introduction by anyone but a novel's author until after reading that novel, but then, amusingly, sketches the plots of, for instance, Crime and Punishment and Invisible Man. Summaries of novels whose plots are not their most important feature -- plus a few sentences about the novels' themes and import, i.e., criticism.

The novels start with Don Quixote (of course) and end with Possession. The autobiographies range from Augustine to Elie Wiesel, the history from Herodotus to Fukuyama, the drama from Aeschylus to "Equus," and the poetry from Gilgamesh to Rita Dove. She skipped from "School for Scandal" to "Doll's House," and I immediately thought she was lame (were playwrights not writing notable plays because they were forging correspondence between dead presidents?) for skipping an entire century, but then I realized I couldn't name a single play from the early 1800s either (except for "Our American Cousin," whose literary import (if any) is not why I know about it). But I am not her audience. I might not have had a classical education but I did have a liberal one and have read most the titles or authors in her five categories.

I'm just guessing that I read this book around 2005 ... something like that. The first part of the book is an excellent guide to getting more out of your reading addiction, and the second part is a rich listing of "classics" broken down by category (History, Biography, Literature, Poetry and so on) with suggestions for specific editions and translations. A wonderful reference book to own. ( )

The organization of this book is wonderful. I especially love the historical background of the basic genres of literature. The booklists are challenging and fun. The only negatives I give this book is the redundancy in some of her "how to read a book" suggestions and the slight insults to intelligence throughout. For example, her advive to take a remedial phonics course as an adult while she is in the same breath suggesting we read Cervantes verges on ridiculous. Her attitude of smarter than thou throughout can get a bit tiresome. Her ideas for book analysis are interesting but left me feeling like if I followed her every suggestion the love of reading would be sucked dry. Good booklist and good background info.

A guide to critical reading and thinking only and educator could write. ( )

An excellent guide to all those classic books I haven't read yet. ( )

I'm using this book to refresh myself on how to analyze a book. My kids are getting old enough to begin thoughtful analysis of books and this is a fantastic resource to help teachers. ( )

Very useful book lists and method for reading books. ( )

Very useful book lists and method for reading books. ( )

Very useful book lists and method for reading books. ( )

I found this thought-provoking. Bauer challenges the reader to consider how s/he interacts with printed text and offers ideas for new avenues of approach. ( )

Another of the pillar books I own that has greased the wheels of my personal pursuit of self-education. I read 2005 , i think ( )

Excellent resource for those that received less than a stellar education. Be prepared to read, read, read! ( )

The perfect book to help fill in the gaps of a public school education sadly lacking in details. ( )

i enjoyed the susan's style and her ability to encourage me to 'educate' myself. while you could certainly find the material elsewhere (how to read a book by adler) she does a fine job. with the help of this book and a few others i plan to join in 'the great conversation'. thank you susan! ( )

If you find a cheap copy of this and desire a guide into a course of reading, then Bauer's lists may be for you. Otherwise, it's not worth the time you'll put into it. ( )