Classics are not that popular. The most downloaded book on Project Gutenberg (Pride and Prejudice) has been downloaded only 32K times. Moby Dick has 15K downl

Classics are not that popular. The most downloaded book on Project Gutenberg (Pride and Prejudice) has been downloaded only 32K times. Moby Dick has 15K downloads and at least 10 of those are mine. I disagree that classics can be understood by osmosis. I'm not discounting the books you read or saying they wouldn't compare to the classics if they were better known. But there is an experience in reading something timeless that can only be experienced by reading it. And there are more experiences to reading them with age that makes them unique. They become richer instead of becoming banal.