Mortimer Adler is kind of fascinating figure in popular culture of the past. The closest kind of parallel I can think of now to him would almost maybe be someon

Mortimer Adler is kind of fascinating figure in popular culture of the past. The closest kind of parallel I can think of now to him would almost maybe be someone like Maria Popova but that's not entirely a great comparison either. He really did believe all the world's knowledge was contained in the written words of the past & present. He wanted to celebrate it, he wanted people to read them and talk about it but he also wanted to compartmentalize and package it and "sell" it too (Great Books & Encyclopedia collections) Not necessarily a bad thing really. Interestingly the 1972 revised edition of this which is the much expanded one was worked on by Charles Van Doren, the guy who cheated at the TV Quiz show in the 1950s. (The republication of the book was in part a professional/reputational reboot for him w Adler's help)