The Well Educated Mind

Very very happy I bought this book. And even with purchasing a used copy, there was no highlighting, no markings. It was almost new.It is exactly what I was expecting and looking for. Something to fill in the gaps of my learning experience and it use for my children as they hit high school to fill in the gaps of their education.

I was very pleased that the book includes current books as well as books from our past. The only quibble I have is that I think the title is incorrect. I do not think you need to have a classical education to have a well educated mind, such as, people that are educated in science or engineering. Other than that, I have gained a lot from the authors review of books I have read or ones I might want to read.

This book was as described by the seller. It arrived on time and was well packaged.

This book is a nice guide for broadening and deepening your reading variety. I used it to push myself into reading items I would have ignored. I like the authors suggestions for keeping notes on your reading. It has helped me not only understand more deeply but allowed me to review parts of the reading I had forgotten by the time I'd finishted the work. I recommend this book for anyone looking to expand and grow.

It was difficult to decide how many stars to give this book; three seemed a bit low, but four definitely seemed too high. The best part of this book is the suggested reading lists, complete with thumbnail descriptions: chronologically ordered lists of some of the most influential novels, autobiographies, histories, dramas, and poetry. I fully intend to use these lists to find future reading material.Less useful, at least to me, was the "instruction" in how to read "serious literature"; I find the suggestion that one cannot perform "logic-stage" and "rhetoric-stage" reading at the same time as "grammar-stage" reading, that one must take physical notes in a journal, and/or mark and dog-ear the pages of the book, in order to have truly read and understood it, to be somewhat patronizing and excessive. Yes, if a book is proving heavy going, these techniques might prove useful, but they are hardly universally essential when reading anything that somebody might consider "literature". Still, I suppose that it was necessary for the author to have something of the sort included, or all she would have had would have been a collection of suggested reading lists, which probably couldn't have been published.There was a lot of useful historical background here, as well, and the book was definitely worth the read. Still, I doubt that I'll be re-reading it any time soon, although I WILL be using the reading lists as reference material.

Helpful and very well organized. The author takes a very daunting task (to become "well read" and classically educated) and truly encourages and motivates the reader.She offers her lists which, she explains, are just a starting point and not exhaustive. They are set up chronologically and she encourages the reader to make the lists their own by adding to or subtracting from the list.She also offers her perspective and insight on how to accomplish the task at hand. For instance, she doesn't read her email prior to starting a serious reading. Her analysis of the issue hit the nail on the head.I also appreciated the fact the author didn't re-write history by removing the Christian writings from her lists. Brava!

I thought, after loving Well-Trained Mind, that this would be a sort of re-education for me. I would read through some timeline-style history book, review some science in an orderly fashion, get some guidelines on foreign language study, get a great books list, get some tips on math improvement. This is what I thought.This is more an annotated great books list than an education replacement plan. I enjoy the book and am attempting to start at the beginning of the list (Don Quixote) and work through. I am excited about going through the books and using the note-taking and rhetoric techniques she suggests. I just wish the book would have covered more aspects.

Many, many years out of college I felt my mind atrophying and decided to start a "serious" reading program, similar to the old "summer reading" that used to be done by high-school and college students. I picked up this book to use as a I guide.Yes, many of the techniques Susan Wise Bauer talks about in the opening chapters are ones that many readers will have picked up along the way. But even experienced readers may find her suggestions of keeping a "commonplace book" or reading journal helpful and brief background explanations of the various literary genres helpful.The very structured approach to notekeeping and journaling will probably not sit well with every reader. (I don't plan to follow all of her suggestions myself.) And many people will surely debate about the choices included on the reading lists. But Bauer is very firm about taking a book and making it your own, so disregard suggestions that don't work for you. And as she admits, no one reading list will be considered canonical by everyone. In fact, Bauer encourages the reader to use her lists as a "jumping off" point.All in all, I think any reader who is serious about reading the great "classics" can find something in this book to help with that process.

Mien Kampf as a classic auto biography. Charles Colson as a classic? Darwin only a note in passing and many others don't even get a look in. However an interesting list, useful information on reading and studying and perhaps the reader will be led to create/ research their own list of classics.

Brillant for the adult who wants to remedy a so-so education.

Not quite what I had expected. I had hoped the book would put forward a broad theory of education and a wide range of practical tips and resources.Instead, the book is mainly (70%) a guide to English literature, in the form of a list of the author's 'good books to read' (just a pared-back list of the usual stuff on any comprehensive reading list), with brief notes on each book. Books are divided into literature, histories, drama and poetry lists.The author's stated theory is a re-evaluation of the classical 'trivium' system (grammar, rhetoric and logic). However, her take on this is that it is mainly just a way to read a book on three different levels: grammar (superficial understanding), rhetoric (deeper meaning), logic (in-depth analysis). It's a nice idea, but it is really just a grafting of some 'classical' terminology onto a fairly standard English lit course to make it sound like something new.Good points: the general introduction is quite upbeat and inspiring, and the introductions to each of the four main sections (literature, histories, drama and poetry) provide quite good overviews to the history of each genre.Weak points: the book lists and notes on each book are a bit dull.

Great book that really makes you think.

good