Stupid question: What are the "Great Books"?

[Hunter's Moon]

I suppose the question should be, "Where to find a list of the great books"?

 

I have looked everywhere and cannot find the list. I was interesting in looking through it.

 

Can someone please give me a link?

[PollyOR]

Not a stupid question. :) This link should give you an idea.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Books_of_the_Western_World

[Sumiller]

Here is a link for one website that lists them by time period.

 

http://www.classical-homeschooling.org/celoop/100a.html

[Hunter's Moon]

Thank you both :D

[Ester Maria]

"Great Books" is a pretentious label for what's usually referred to as "the canon" of the western civilization. I personally loathe the label and prefer to talk about "the books that became part of the canon".

 

Regarding the actual list, it's not the uniform one. There are some pretty "standard" readings that you will find in pretty much any list that attempts to list the most influential book as well as those deemed to have the greatest "artistic value", but a lot of the lists themselves will still be culture-specific and language-specific, as "western culture" is too broad term to talk on that level.

[TerriMI]

Here's a list of books arranged by historical period that are included in the Great Books of the Western World collection printed by the Encyclopedia Brittanica people. http://greatbooksdiscussions.org/highschool-readings.htm

 

The Well Trained Mind chapters are arranged by categories of Great Books. For example she has history books in one chapter and poetry books in another. Each chapter is arranged chronologically.

 

If you do a google search you could find more on the web, I'm sure. Most people in Classical Education today seem to focus on the western civilization books for a foundation for students in their own culture.