8 ms·

Harvard Classics Bookshelf

127 points by flatline 15y ago

cli 15y ago
I wonder why War and Peace was not included.
- smhinsey 15y ago
  I'd say Anna Karenina is a good alternative. It's always been my personal favorite of his.
- cf 15y ago
  Anna Karenina is the better book.
devindotcom 15y ago
I've got a few of these. Worth having, some of them, but they're not always the best translations or editions. Nice to dip into on short notice, but if you want to read any in full, better to pick up a newer edition or at least peep a few before committing to a bunk translation or poor annotation.
shii 15y ago
I collect these with their original Harvard binding and soft leather covers from thrift stores, usually the Salvation Army, at a great killing. Really nicely prepared and bound books. And they look nice in the study.
- w1ntermute 15y ago
  > "See!" he cried triumphantly. "It's a bona fide piece of printed matter. It fooled me. This fella's a regular Belasco. It's a triumph. What thoroughness! What realism! Knew when to stop too--didn't cut the pages. But what do you want? What do you expect?"
jeremymcanally 15y ago
eBay has these for a really good price. I just picked up a nearly complete set of first editions in crazy good condition for $60. Most of the sets cost more, but they're usually complete (this one is missing 4-5 volumes of 51).
Alex3917 15y ago
It’s a triumph. What thoroughness! What realism! Knew when to stop, too — didn’t cut the pages.
MaxGabriel 15y ago
I'm thinking his original premise was a little overstated--that list would take a lifetime at fifteen minutes a day.
- johnswamps 15y ago
  I don't think that's true. There's 51 volumes of 400-450 pages, or ~23,000 pages. Let's say you can read half a page a minute, or 7.5 pages per day (at 15 minutes of reading per day). (23,000 pages)/(7.5 pages / day) = ~3,000 days or a bit over 8 years.
  - hugh3 15y ago
    Or to put it the other way around, supposing you have seventy years of reading (from the day you learn to read 'til the day your eyes give out), then you'd only have to read 0.89 pages per day to read the whole thing. If it takes you fifteen minutes to read less than a page then you really need to work on your reading speed.
    - aik 15y ago
      Or, take 4 months out of your life, go somewhere remote with the collection, and spend about 4-5 months reading 6-8 hours a day to complete it. Or, perhaps this could be a business -- host a Harvard Classics Resort where everything is taken care of. You supply the ideal environment for reading (whatever that may be), including a small community to discuss the books with. You could teach a few speed-reading and self-study courses for an additional cost.
      - jacques_chester 15y ago
        > Or, perhaps this could be a business -- host a Harvard Classics Resort where everything is taken care of. St John's College has this angle covered. http://stjohnscollege.edu/ http://stjohnscollege.edu/
        15y ago
hugh3 15y ago
I've recently committed myself to reading all the books on that supposed "BBC book list" that has been floating around (largely as a facebook meme) recently. http://fashionabroad.wordpress.com/2011/03/30/bbc-book-list-challenge/ http://fashionabroad.wordpress.com/2011/03/30/bbc-book-list-... I'd already read 32 of 'em, but I'm working my way through two more (Brideshead Revisited, which I'm enjoying, and The Wasp Factory, which I'm really not [and I don't think you're supposed to]). There's some absolute crap on the list as well (Bridget Jones' Diary? The Five People You Meet In Heaven?) but most of it is pretty good, and I think it'll expose me to a lot of good stuff that I wouldn't have read otherwise.
- michael_dorfman 15y ago
  I don't want to rain on your parade, but that list is a pretty crappy list. As you probably figured out, it has nothing to do with the BBC-- it is actually a list that was voted on by readers of the Guardian, and it shows some serious evidence of being a user poll; besides the absolute crap you mentioned, there is a lot of things that are there only because they are on the British school curriculum (like all of that Thomas Hardy, which is mostly awful.) There are some absolute gems on the list, don't get me wrong-- but if your goal is to read 100 good books you haven't read before, you could do a lot better. (And I say this as someone who has read 90 of the 100 titles listed.)
  - luminarious 15y ago
    Is there a better list available that you'd recommend? Because the idea of a curated list of books to read appeals to the lazy side in me. I like reading but not researching what to read..
    - michael_dorfman 15y ago
      Well, here's a list proposed by Det Norske Bokklubben (who happens to be a competitor of mine, but I have to give credit where credit is due): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_100_Best_Books_of_All_Time http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_100_Best_Books_of_All_Time You'll notice that it's much less heavily biased toward 20th Century English-language literature. If you want to stick to things originally written in English, the Modern Library list is a pretty good one: http://www.modernlibrary.com/top-100/100-best-novels/ http://www.modernlibrary.com/top-100/100-best-novels/ I mean "The Board's List", of course--comparing "The Board's List" to the "The Reader's List" is enough to make one cry.
chalimacos 15y ago
In mobi format: http://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/Harvard_Classics_Available_at_MobileRead http://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/Harvard_Classics_Available_a...
killerswan 15y ago
Wow, 1909 was a long time ago, in literature!
wccrawford 15y ago
I'm guessing most or all of these are available for free for the Kindle... Has anyone compiled a list of links for that?
rudle 15y ago
I whipped a little ruby script to download the kindle versions. https://gist.github.com/1056111 https://gist.github.com/1056111 The URLs are really, really, nice. You can substitute "kindle.noimages" for any other format you'd like.
ajays 15y ago
The University of Buffalo publishes a list of books called "unrequired reading". The idea is to encourage an undergraduate student to read one book a month for the duration of the (assumed 4-year) course, totaling 48 books. I first came across this list in 1993. It is still being maintained; definitely worth checking out: http://library.buffalo.edu/48goodbooks/books/ http://library.buffalo.edu/48goodbooks/books/
pragmatic 15y ago
"compiled and edited by Harvard University president Charles W. Eliot" Could you imagine a university president of today doing something like this? As opposed to serving on corporate boards, making speeches, raising money _full time_.
jeffchuber 15y ago
A wonderful accomplish for people learning everywhere

127 points by flatline 15y ago

cli 15y ago

I wonder why War and Peace was not included.

smhinsey 15y ago
I'd say Anna Karenina is a good alternative. It's always been my personal favorite of his.
cf 15y ago
Anna Karenina is the better book.

devindotcom 15y ago

I've got a few of these. Worth having, some of them, but they're not always the best translations or editions. Nice to dip into on short notice, but if you want to read any in full, better to pick up a newer edition or at least peep a few before committing to a bunk translation or poor annotation.

shii 15y ago

I collect these with their original Harvard binding and soft leather covers from thrift stores, usually the Salvation Army, at a great killing. Really nicely prepared and bound books. And they look nice in the study.

w1ntermute 15y ago
> "See!" he cried triumphantly. "It's a bona fide piece of printed matter. It fooled me. This fella's a regular Belasco. It's a triumph. What thoroughness! What realism! Knew when to stop too--didn't cut the pages. But what do you want? What do you expect?"

jeremymcanally 15y ago

eBay has these for a really good price. I just picked up a nearly complete set of first editions in crazy good condition for $60. Most of the sets cost more, but they're usually complete (this one is missing 4-5 volumes of 51).

Alex3917 15y ago

It’s a triumph. What thoroughness! What realism! Knew when to stop, too — didn’t cut the pages.

MaxGabriel 15y ago

I'm thinking his original premise was a little overstated--that list would take a lifetime at fifteen minutes a day.

johnswamps 15y ago
I don't think that's true. There's 51 volumes of 400-450 pages, or ~23,000 pages. Let's say you can read half a page a minute, or 7.5 pages per day (at 15 minutes of reading per day). (23,000 pages)/(7.5 pages / day) = ~3,000 days or a bit over 8 years.
- hugh3 15y ago
  Or to put it the other way around, supposing you have seventy years of reading (from the day you learn to read 'til the day your eyes give out), then you'd only have to read 0.89 pages per day to read the whole thing. If it takes you fifteen minutes to read less than a page then you really need to work on your reading speed.
  - aik 15y ago
    Or, take 4 months out of your life, go somewhere remote with the collection, and spend about 4-5 months reading 6-8 hours a day to complete it. Or, perhaps this could be a business -- host a Harvard Classics Resort where everything is taken care of. You supply the ideal environment for reading (whatever that may be), including a small community to discuss the books with. You could teach a few speed-reading and self-study courses for an additional cost.
    - jacques_chester 15y ago
      > Or, perhaps this could be a business -- host a Harvard Classics Resort where everything is taken care of. St John's College has this angle covered. http://stjohnscollege.edu/ http://stjohnscollege.edu/
      - 15y ago

hugh3 15y ago

I've recently committed myself to reading all the books on that supposed "BBC book list" that has been floating around (largely as a facebook meme) recently. http://fashionabroad.wordpress.com/2011/03/30/bbc-book-list-challenge/ http://fashionabroad.wordpress.com/2011/03/30/bbc-book-list-... I'd already read 32 of 'em, but I'm working my way through two more (Brideshead Revisited, which I'm enjoying, and The Wasp Factory, which I'm really not [and I don't think you're supposed to]). There's some absolute crap on the list as well (Bridget Jones' Diary? The Five People You Meet In Heaven?) but most of it is pretty good, and I think it'll expose me to a lot of good stuff that I wouldn't have read otherwise.

michael_dorfman 15y ago
I don't want to rain on your parade, but that list is a pretty crappy list. As you probably figured out, it has nothing to do with the BBC-- it is actually a list that was voted on by readers of the Guardian, and it shows some serious evidence of being a user poll; besides the absolute crap you mentioned, there is a lot of things that are there only because they are on the British school curriculum (like all of that Thomas Hardy, which is mostly awful.) There are some absolute gems on the list, don't get me wrong-- but if your goal is to read 100 good books you haven't read before, you could do a lot better. (And I say this as someone who has read 90 of the 100 titles listed.)
- luminarious 15y ago
  Is there a better list available that you'd recommend? Because the idea of a curated list of books to read appeals to the lazy side in me. I like reading but not researching what to read..
  - michael_dorfman 15y ago
    Well, here's a list proposed by Det Norske Bokklubben (who happens to be a competitor of mine, but I have to give credit where credit is due): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_100_Best_Books_of_All_Time http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_100_Best_Books_of_All_Time You'll notice that it's much less heavily biased toward 20th Century English-language literature. If you want to stick to things originally written in English, the Modern Library list is a pretty good one: http://www.modernlibrary.com/top-100/100-best-novels/ http://www.modernlibrary.com/top-100/100-best-novels/ I mean "The Board's List", of course--comparing "The Board's List" to the "The Reader's List" is enough to make one cry.

chalimacos 15y ago

In mobi format: http://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/Harvard_Classics_Available_at_MobileRead http://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/Harvard_Classics_Available_a...

killerswan 15y ago

Wow, 1909 was a long time ago, in literature!

wccrawford 15y ago

I'm guessing most or all of these are available for free for the Kindle... Has anyone compiled a list of links for that?

rudle 15y ago

I whipped a little ruby script to download the kindle versions. https://gist.github.com/1056111 https://gist.github.com/1056111 The URLs are really, really, nice. You can substitute "kindle.noimages" for any other format you'd like.

ajays 15y ago

The University of Buffalo publishes a list of books called "unrequired reading". The idea is to encourage an undergraduate student to read one book a month for the duration of the (assumed 4-year) course, totaling 48 books. I first came across this list in 1993. It is still being maintained; definitely worth checking out: http://library.buffalo.edu/48goodbooks/books/ http://library.buffalo.edu/48goodbooks/books/

pragmatic 15y ago

"compiled and edited by Harvard University president Charles W. Eliot" Could you imagine a university president of today doing something like this? As opposed to serving on corporate boards, making speeches, raising money _full time_.

jeffchuber 15y ago

A wonderful accomplish for people learning everywhere