read the Harvard Classics

I’ve been receiving new volumes at a rate of one every four weeks. I finally got the first volume in the set and I have read half of Benjamin Franklin’s autobiography. He was an impressive man and his dedication to self improvement is both inspiring and infectious. Unfortunately, I have’t been reading this for months. I’m between books at the moment so now is the time to get back to it.

Currently, the only volume I have is Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations. It didn’t take long before I recognized how much of our current society is based on ideas held by Adam Smith and how much I disagree with most of those ideas. I rarely read a page without wanting to rant and rave and Mr. Smith. I am trying to recognize the context of his writings but my progress in Wealth of Nations has been painful at best.

I have not read this since my copy of Godel, Escher, Bach arrived. GEB is both intellectually stimulating and fun. I know I need to get back to WoN but it is difficult and procrastination is setting in.

Dr. Charles W. Eliot, then President of Harvard University, said a five-foot shelf would hold books enough to afford a good substitute for a liberal education to anyone who would read them with devotion, even if he could spare but fifteen minutes a day for reading. It was from this start that Dr. Eliot published the Harvard Classics in 1909, making his mythical shelf a reality.

I recently discovered Easton Press (publishers of finely bound, collectable books) had resurrected this set for their Millenium Edition. Immediately, I knew I had to have them. I was already getting their “100 Greatest Books Ever Written” set and knew the books would be of an heirloom quality.

I received my first book last week, “Wealth of Nations” by Adam Smith. The entire 50 volume set will take just over 4 years to collect but I intend to get them all.

Now, it remains to be seen if I have the devotion required by Dr. Eliot’s statement.