read the Harvard Classics

I have a degree in English. I have already read parts of the books in this collection, but not the complete works.

hi my name is ivan

The Apology, Phædo and Crito of Plato – An inspiring work written about a man by the name of Socrates. He was thrown in jail for rebuking the authorities and giving advice in private to others on how to maintain morality, order and such the likes. He died in jail with an air of acceptance an tranquility, even his jail keeper cried when giving him the poison. He was a wise man and always open to learning.

The Golden Sayings of Epictetus – Good advice, wonderful writing with an engaging style. It reminded my of B. Franklin from the first volume. I do believe, now that I think of it, that there was some references to him in Franklin’s autobiography as well. Over all it was well written and rather nice. I enjoyed it and actually have selected a couple of bits from it to my quote book.

The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius – A little dry at time, not exactly my preference, but over all it was an alright read. I really enjoyed the last chapter when they began to discuss the man himself. He seems like he tried his best to serve his people and the Gods of his time. I was slightly shocked to find that he was the man who ordered for the murder of many early Christians… Conflicting views will always spite prejudice and from that much violence.

First Volume:

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin – Defiantly worth the read; he has a beautiful writing style. Reading his autobiography was like entering a whole new world for me. It was superb and I was immensely pleased while reading it and was terribly disappointed when it came to an end.

Journal of John Woolman – Reading could be, at times, painful. I will admit that I did at times begin to fall asleep… His writing was much like poetry which meant I would go on reading for an hours without really understanding what I was going over. I got more out of the text the skimming the pages rather than directly reading it. He was an inspiring man non the less and I do think that if I had been listening rather than reading it would have been much easier to understand.

Fruits of Solitude by William Penn – Something like proverbs, lots of good advice, not all of it is applicable and not all of it is perfectly accurate or do I agree with. But honestly I really enjoyed reading it, and if I’d owned the volume that potion would have been multicolored by the time was finished. I really liked this one of his works.

I bought a set of first editions on ebay – now I just have to read them!

I love to read. What could be more satisfying than completing the best collection of writing from throughout human history?

Well, I checked it out of the library but as with most things I TELL myself to do I found dozens of things suddenly more attractive. I read only a couple chapters into the thing when I had to take it back. I WILL check it out again.

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.

If I can’t find the books at the library, I’ll read them on Bartleby.com. Sure is a lot to read. Wish me luck! :)

Unfortunately for me my grandparents have the Harvard classics but are not really willing for me to read them