How to Start Reading the Great Books in Four Easy Steps!

Welcome to my Great Books blog! In this blog I am going to read all the great books of Western Civilization. Why? Well, let me lay out four easy steps that explain why I chose this dire course of action and how you can too!

Step 1 - Have an Existential Crisis

What does it mean to be human in the age of AI? Am I going to be completely obsolete in a few short years? Oh my god, I’m turning 40. These are all great foundations for having an existential crisis, and from there it’s basically a straight line to “maybe I should start reading ancient greek literature.” You start to wonder about the last 10,000 years of human civilization. What does it mean to be human? Now that I’m, gasp, middle-aged, it seems that I probably won’t become president or win a nobel prize after all. Do the people of the past have anything to offer to help with this? I don’t know, but we’re about to find out!

Step 2 - Realize you have become attentionally deranged

Your phone dings and you find yourself scrolling Reddit for an undetermined amount of time. You reflexively refresh bluesky while hiding from your children in the bathroom. In bed, after turning out the lights, you gaze into the bad news flashlight for longer than you’re willing to admit. You’re reading on your phone right now aren’t you? It turns out that little rectangle in your pocket has wrecked your attention span. And don’t get me started on how the corporations that run your pocket slot machine don’t have your best interests at heart. You are a smart person, you love your kids, and you desire a good night’s sleep. You know what the remedy is don’t you? That’s right, Ancient Greek Literature.

Step 3 - Are We the Baddies?

With everything that is going on right now it seems that a lot of people are having a difficult time telling right from wrong. The right wing goons in charge only seem to be interested in grift and scapegoats. The left wing mobs seem to be turning from cancelling people to vigilante violence. It’s enough to make you wonder if we're actually the baddies in this story. Why can’t people just chill out and be good? I’m not sure but I think there are some old books about morals and virtue that I am willing to consult.

Step 4 - Make a Plan

When I first became curious about studying Western Civilization and great books, I did some Googling. I came across the St. John’s College Great Books reading list. At first I assumed that it must be a fake college like The University of Phoenix Online, but it turns out that this is a real university with real students, a campus and everything. They’ve obvious put some thought into this, so I am going to follow this reading list for now. Tune in next time for thoughts on the Iliad, or 500 pages of the nasty ancient Greeks behaving like nasty little nasties.