My Qualifications

I am neither a scholar of the work I am writing on, nor a scholar of the culture from which the work came from. I am not an academic, nor have I ever worked in academia.

I have a college degree in history and a college degree in education and I like to read old works. That’s it.

My Inspiration

I was inspired by the words of C. S. Lewis who wrote in his essay “On the Reading of Old Books”:

There is a strange idea abroad that in every subject the ancient books should be read only by the professionals, and that the amateur should content himself with the modern books… The error is rather an amiable one, for it springs from humility. The student is half afraid to meet one of the great philosophers face to face. He feels himself inadequate and thinks he will not understand him. But if he only knew, the great man, just because of his greatness, is much more intelligible than his modern commentator…

It has always therefore been one of my main endeavors as a teacher to persuade the young that firsthand knowledge is not only more worth acquiring then secondhand knowledge, but is usually much easier and more delightful to acquire.

“On the Reading of Old Books” can be found in God in the Dock: Essays on Theology and Ethics

I just want to read the classics of the Western Canon and learn from them. Part of my learning process is writing summaries and reflections on what I read.

My Schedule

I work fulltime on top of having hobbies and obligations at home. I can guarantee at least one posting a week.

For now, I have a new post up every Sunday morning at 3am, Pacific Standard Time.

I have plans to do more than one post a week, but I won’t be doing so until I get many other details squared away and I have more time to focus on just writing.

My Previous Experience

My experience with these works before starting this project is varied. Most of these works I have never read. Some I attempted and gave up on. Some I’ve read at least once. Some, multiple times.

I had attempted the reading list once before. I had gotten through: Homer, the Old Testament, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Herodotus, Thucydides, Hippocrates, Euripides, Aristophanes, and Plato. Xenophon wasn’t on the list at the time and I read Aristotle’s Organon (his six books on Logic) before I stopped.

Reading Aristotle made me realize I needed to do more than just read these works–I needed to write and reflect on them too. Read this post if you want to know a little more about this journey of mine.

So, after a few years hiatus and an expansion of the reading list, I decided to start all over. The difference being that I would write about what I read and share it with the internet.

You Can Do It!

I encourage you to read these works for yourself. It’s not beyond you! If C. S. Lewis said you can do it, you can do it!

Join me in reading these works. See if you agree or disagree with my summaries and reflections.

My Perfectionism

I tend to edit my pages and posts a lot as I reread them and find errors, phrasings I don’t like, statements I think aren’t necessary, etc. Don’t mind me.

A Line in the Sand

There’s a line in the sand I have to draw and it unfortunately involves the current cultural and political situation of The West and the United States in particular.

If you think the works I’ll be covering are easy, difficult, conventional, controversial, enlightening, boring, sensational, or even think they’ve done more harm than good, then you’re in good company. Let’s tackle these works, wrestle with them, learn from them, and become better people.

However, if you think the Western tradition promotes a white supremacist, patriarchal, cis-gendered, heteronormative, etc., worldview, and they should be condemned and torn down and thrown in the trash bin, then this isn’t for you. You are not my target audience and in fact it would be better if you stayed away. I’m not going to change your mind and you’re not going to change mine. I won’t be intimidated by any scare tactics and bullying and I believe this outlook on life to be self-destructive and abhorrent. I will not tolerate it.

Find me on social media.