David Hicks - Norms & Nobility -has anyone read this to the end?

[Bang!Zoom!]

This title is going on my seek list. Has anyone here read this cover to cover?

[prairiegirl]

Yes, I have but it took me three tries. It is heavy duty. I think another read through would be beneficial as I am hoping my brain has gotten a bit bigger since the last time I read it. Even though I don't remember most of what I read, the book lists for Gr. 7 --12 are definitely worth the brain numbing effect this book instills in me.

[ladydusk]

I don't know if this will be helpful or not (and I've only read a little of N&N) but here is a link to an online book club some blog-friends did.

[Bang!Zoom!]

I finally finished a lecture by A. Kern, and in his closing remarks he makes a point (not a suggestion/advice) of saying "Read this book."

 

I took it as almost a command sentence in context. I'm learning not to question or ask "why why why" but just go do it. He did say that this is an extremely difficult text. He says, "This is the most important book on classical education written since C. S. Lewis Abollition of Man."

 

"The mind grows on what it feeds on."

 

I take it this book is quite the buffet for mental discipline. I don't think he throws around platitudes without strong reasons.

 

I looked in WTM and there are several entries in the index which reference this title as well.

 

Thanks for the link & thoughts. :)

Edited January 21, 2012 by one*mom

[Bang!Zoom!]

I'm reading the blog now, and she (Cindy Rollins) cracks me up completely, I feel a strong sisterhood with her when she says: (bolding is mine)

 

 

It is hot outside. I feel languid. The school year is over. I have finished planning out every single day of next school year for my 2 high school students. I also finished the latest Deborah Crombie mystery. I really, really did not feel like wading back into Norms and Nobility. I mean is it really that good? Half the time I don't even know what the guy is talking about, which, as it turns out, is the point. Chapter 6 reminds me that I am reading Norms and Nobility just because I realize that I don't know.

 

The whole concept is so...humbling.

 

I want a do-over. I want to go back in time and hit this stuff as a 6 year old with a fairly fluent ability to read and wonder.

[ladydusk]

Oooh ... I didn't know about that site! Thanks :)

 

Kern's stuff at CiRCE is incredible. I have the last 3 years' conference CDs and, I have to tell you, listening to them is the most challenging, rewarding listening I do. His talk A Contemplation of Nature ($3 download) spun my thinking completely around.

 

Cindy's blog is one of my absolute favorites. She is definitely a BTDT mom, but has a heart to encourage and help us younger ones coming behind her. And she's funny (her latest post about clothing for 9 children is great). And she reads a ton. And she doesn't take herself too seriously.

[Critterfixer]

I read it last year because I'd seen it referenced in TWTM and thought it looked interesting.

It was.

I had a similar experience of wanting to go through school again knowing the things that I missed along the way. (Sigh.) The good thing is that I've still got time and energy to go back and read the things that I never read because of my intense science focus as a child. It helps me to make sure that I try to balance school for the boys. Left to their own devices one would draw and write rather than read and the other would either build things or do math all day.

 

And I loved those lists.

[elizabeth]

Jacques Barzun is far better and less sanctimonious. I have read all of his books and actually enjoyed doing so. Hicks made me want to go all Oedipus on his wooden prose self so I could NOT finish his self aggrandizing tome. What a blowhard.