Total Page : 432
Publisher : W W Norton Company
Publication Date : 2003 08
>> A Glorified Self Help Book
The market segment for Susan Wise Bauer s The Well Educated Mind is clear it s a guidebook and cheat sheet for book club members primarily women And the book falls into the category of self improvement that middle aged women who think they re too educated for Oprah are so obsessed with nowadays
Borrowing from Hegel s thesis anti thesis synthesis argument Ms Bauer believes there are three main outcomes of reading first is the ability to understand the text second is the ability to criticize the text and third is the ability to formulate one s own viewpoint She explains how to read different genres and provides a cheat list of books to be read from these genres In this way her book is a cross between David Denby s Great Books which I also abhorred for its pretentious sophomoric induglences and Cole Notes
There is nothing original nor interesting in this glorified self help book
>> Very annoyed by section 2
Section one of this book was fine maybe even very good I took notes and adopted some of her tips on reading critically However Section 2 seriously ticked me off If I am reading a book for the first time I want o experience it for myself Sure I want to know generally what it is about and if other people enjoyed it or not I frequently read Amazon reviews prior to making a purchase but I don t want to be told explicitly what happens and how to feel about it I cant imagine not experiencing for myself the source of Pips inheritance in Great Expectation or what the impediment to Jane s marriage to Rochester might be etc The author of this book retells the entire plot of all the books which she describes and spoils everyone of them Why Why
There are so many wonderful books about books out there which don t do that Beowulf on the Beach for example is fantastic Jack Murnaghan writes lovingly about many classic works but his essays succeed in making me want to know more about each book instead of thinking why bother if I already know everything that happens
SPOILER ALERT
I am reminded of how cross I was when my husband innocently asked me If Uncle Tom had been beaten to death yet while I was reading Uncle Tom s Cabin for the first time His response was but everyone knows that Obviously not EVERYONE Maybe that is Ms Wise Bauers attitude also Maybe she sees these books as works to be studied and not read for the sheer pleasure of it Either way what she has succeeded in producing in section 2 is a collection of crib notes which would enable anyone to discuss a book which they have not read as if they had Shame
>> Behold The Trivium
I have been left with a great hunger in the wake of this book I also had a great hunger before I read this book but at least now I know what I am going to order
I used to think my education was pretty good I got A in every exam I ever took and came away with the Holy Trinity which encompasses all knowledge which actually deserves the name Physics Chemistry and Mathematics How s that for a well rounded personality eh Shove yer poetry up yer Messalonghi Mr Byron
This comfortable world of hard chromed self congratulation has obviously taken a series of knocks over the years but the big bombshell was probably reading Pirsig s Zen books in my early twenties That awakened a quest to master philosophy which has led me along many and branching paths At some stage I realised that I had not in fact had an education as such No fault of my teachers who read me Gerard Manley Hopkins in awed tones and got called rude names for their pains It was all my own ruthlessly rationalistic doing
Now I have come to look for this education by stages I came to read Wise Bauer s excellent synopsis It rests on the notion of the Trivium the three stage reading of any text taught to subjects of a liberal education regime to first consume then understand then place in context its content and meaning I cannot fault it nor can I fault Wise Bauer s advocacy of it
Very much of the book is taken up by synopses of the recommended texts Unlike some reviewers I take absolutely no issue with this Firstly these are a mini education in their own right Secondly they are written by someone who has all the benefits of the education I am looking for and if that is actually worth something then their advice is worth listening to These are the foundation stones of an encompassing education When you have some mastery of a field you can pick out your own stone to fashion cornices and the odd gargoyle but when you are laying the foundations for your very first house it doesn t hurt to take the advice of a builder So I ll make my own choices as to what I read of philosophy but where literature is concerned I shall be starting with Don Quixote
The book covers preparation basically expounding the Trivium and good reading and note taking habits It then fleshes out the content of the education your are about to give yourself with sections on the Novel Autobiography History writing Drama and Poetry Each of these sections contains a list of synopses of the key works I imagine that a knowledgeable reader would take issue with the precise selection but I would urge the self educator to give them a chance Wise Bauer has the education and you if it s what you came here looking for presumably do not Teachers disagree among themselves but it is not in the spirit of acquiring a classical education for the pupils to do so They would in any case only get caned
Thank you for educating me Ms Wise Bauer
