Ten Books Every Student Should Read in College

HUMAN EVENTS ^ | Week of June 2, 2003 | 28 distinguished scholars and university professors

[Remedy]

• ED : Administration Cites Recent Surveys Showing Lack Of Basic Knowledge Of U.S. History
• ED : Senate Panel Hears that Ignorance of U.S. History Poses Major Security Threat
• ED : Give me Creation or give me PATRICK HENRY
• ED : New High School Curriculum Will Focus on Founding Fathers, Constitution
• ED : Putting the Teaching of American History and Civics back in the classroom
• High School Students' Attitudes Toward Creation And Evolution Compared To Their Worldview

[Remedy]

substitutions, rearrangement?

[AdamSelene235]

2. The Federalist Papers

Why did Hamilton conceal his authorship of the Federalist Papers?

Why did roughly half of the delegates to Constitutional Convention walk out?

Why did Patrick Henry when nominated to the Constitutional Convention refuse to attend saying, "Because I smelt a rat" ?

[Remedy]

Anti-Federalist papers SHOULD have been included.

[goldstategop]

I agree. All of them save the Bible, are available in the world famous Penguin Classics paperback series of world literature. The most readable version of The Bible is Ernest Sutherland's famous 1936 classic The Bible: Designed And Arranged To Be Read As Living Literature. Both formats will introduce readers to the core works of Western civilization at a price they can afford. Sorry for the shameless plug here but that's how I encountered all of the above authors and its a pleasure to be able to read works that have affected our thinking and lives ever since.

[Alouette]

I would recommend replacing one of the Augustine works with Maimonides' Guide to the Perplexed. Just as an aside, this great work was originally written in ARABIC.

[LonghornFreeper]

I agree with many of these, but this list is much to liberal arts oriented. If all students are going to read the ancient texts on politics, regardless of whether they apply to their major, then there is no reason all students should not read Newton's Principia and some of the works of Einstein, Copernicus, Euler, and other great scientists and mathmaticians. They are no harder to read or more boring for non-science majors than some of the chosen ten are for those who aren't political science or literature majors.

[FlatLandBeer]

Add the following:

Atlas Shrugged

The Road to Serfdom

Capitalism and Freedom

Free to Choose

[BillyBoy]

These guys don't seem to be fans of any books written in the last two centuries, do they? ;-) LOL. Since I'm just getting out of college now, here's all the books I've read out of their wish list:

The Bible
The Federalist Papers
The Divine Comedy, Part I: The Inferno
The Illiad
King Lear
Hamlet
Oedipus Trilogy, Parts I & III (nobody ever pays attention to II)
Animal Farm

All were required for various classes except the last one.

There are a couple on their list that I haven't read but would like to, such as "The Conservative Mind" and "A New Birth of Freedom".

Oddly enough, I was forced to read Ayn Rand in High School and hated it. I don't get all the Ayn Rand worshipers on this forum who says Rand "converted" them to conservative thought. I was conservative long before Rand and her novel Anthem put me to sleep, Orwell wrote on the same theme and did it much better instead of hitting you over the head with it. And the fact that she's a pro-abortion athetist doesn't endear me to her either.

[Remedy]

Blaise Pascal - Pensees

[M Kehoe]

There are two in the list I haven't read: Confessions and City of God. I'll try and read them.

I would add one more text to the list and that is Atlas Shrugged.

5.56mm

[RightWhale]

If possible, read these in their original languages. Especially Dante. It might be noted that a common thread besides technique such as irony runs through many of these recommended works.

[Remedy]

I don't get all the Ayn Rand worshipers

Nor do I - The Ethics of Ayn Rand: A Preliminary Assessment

[fishbabe]

of course,all you freepers are assuming these kids can read....and why should they waste their time when the liberal professor will tell them what to think and they will get a passing grade from that professor cuz they mouth his/her exact statements!!!!!!

[widowithfoursons]

It's telling that Marcus Tullius Cicero didn't even get an Honorable Mention. Crikey, when I took Latin in HS we had to translate Caesar's "Gallic Wars" as well as Cicero's "Republic". Guess they went out when Latin studies went out. But Cicero has my vote as the most important defender of the Republic ideal.

[I still care]

Bump for reference. Great thread.

[TheWillardHotel]

"When the nation's history is poorly taught in schools, ignored by the young, and rejected by qualified elders, awareness of the tradition consists only in wanting to destroy it."

Jacques Barzun: From Dawn to Decadence : 500 Years of Western Cultural Life 1500 to the Present

[Remedy]

5.56mm

Fifth Circuit No. 99-10331 & Your Gun as an honorable mention?

[LanPB01]

Atals Shrugged
The Fountainhead
Anthem
Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal

All by Ayn Rand. They should also consider reading all the works of P.J. O'Rourke.

[JRandomFreeper]

I would recommend replacing one of the Augustine works with Maimonides' Guide to the Perplexed.

I agree.

I'm suprised that Aristotle was included. But gratified.

/john