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The Well-Educated Mind

A Guide to the Classical Education You Never Had
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( 3,856 ratings, 445 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
The Well-Educated Mind by Susan Wise Bauer is a comprehensive guide for adult readers who wish to regain the joy of reading and master the art of literary appreciation. The book explores six key genresβ€”fiction, autobiography, history, drama, poetry, and scienceβ€”offering engaging histories and detailed reading strategies for each. Bauer provides annotated reading lists spanning from classical to contemporary authors, helping readers draw meaningful connections across works and genres. This updated edition also includes standout twenty-first-century works and scientific classics, making complex literature accessible and enjoyable.
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Format: Hardback
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

This book is ideal for adult readers aiming to improve their reading skills, rediscover pleasure in literature, and undertake serious self-education. It benefits those intimidated by classic texts as well as lifelong learners, home-educators, and anyone seeking structured guidance in appreciating a broad range of literary genres.

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An engaging guide to educating yourself in the classical tradition.

Revised and Expanded

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

Have you lost the art of reading for pleasure? Are there books you know you should read but haven't because they seem too daunting? In The Well-Educated Mind, Susan Wise Bauer provides a welcome and encouraging antidote to the distractions of our age, electronic and otherwise.

Newly expanded and updated to include standout works from the twenty-first century as well as essential readings in science (from the earliest works of Hippocrates to the discovery of the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs), The Well-Educated Mind offers brief, entertaining histories of six literary genresβ€”fiction, autobiography, history, drama, poetry, and scienceβ€”accompanied by detailed instructions on how to read each type. The annotated lists at the end of each chapterβ€”ranging from Cervantes to Cormac McCarthy, Herodotus to Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, Aristotle to Stephen Hawkingβ€”preview recommended reading and encourage readers to make vital connections between ancient traditions and contemporary writing.

The Well-Educated Mind reassures those readers who worry that they read too slowly or with below-average comprehension. If you can understand a daily newspaper, there's no reason you can't read and enjoy Shakespeare's sonnets or Jane Eyre. But no one should attempt to read the Great Books without a guide and a plan. Bauer will show you how to allocate time to reading on a regular basis; how to master difficult arguments; how to make personal and literary judgments about what you read; how to appreciate the resonant links among texts within a genreβ€”what does Anna Karenina owe to Madame Bovary?β€”and also between genres.

In her best-selling work on home education, The Well-Trained Mind, the author provided a road map of classical education for parents wishing to home-school their children; that book is now the premier resource for home-schoolers. In The Well-Educated Mind, Bauer takes the same elements and techniques and adapts them for the use of adult readers who want both enjoyment and self-improvement from the time they spend reading. Followed carefully, her advice will restore and expand the pleasure of the written word.

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Praised as a clear, intelligent, and timeless guide, The Well-Educated Mind is celebrated for its practical advice and well-balanced reading programme. Critics highlight its accessibility for most readers, even those who read slowly or with limited comprehension. Reviewers from Library Journal, Kirkus Reviews, Publishers Weekly, and School Library Journal commend its disciplined approach to critical reading and its usefulness for self-motivated learners seeking to deepen their engagement with classic literature.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780393080964

Publisher: WW Norton & Co

Format: Hardback

Date Published: 16 November 2015

Country: United States

Imprint: WW Norton & Co

Edition: Updated and Expanded

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 41.0mm

Width: 163.0mm

Height: 244.0mm

Weight: 882g

Pages: 512

About the Author

Susan Wise Bauer is the best-selling author of the Story of the World series and The Well-Trained Mind, among other works. She lives in Virginia.

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