For Starters

 A Reliable Source

"Where attainable knowledge could have changed the result, ignorance has the force of vice", says Alfred North Whitehead. There is little excuse for ignorance. Alfred Adler raised the bar, stating that not only law students are too narrowly educated, but all students, and indeed all members of faculties too. He offered  a remedy. In a world fighting culture wars over what ought to be read, the Great Books of the Western World (GBWW) has two qualities: Everything in the series is worth reading and re-reading; nothing prevents reading beyond it. Literary works standing the test of time and founding works in the humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, philosophy, theology, and mathematics, are lined up in a ten year reading program. Each year goes from ancient to modern, the oldest being Homer, the most recent being Freud, in the first edition. Having come full circle twice, eight laps to go, I'd like to risk writing about some thoughts a few of the works have evoked; si fallor, sum.

On Greats, Lesser Greats, and Giraffes

Augustine's si fallor, sum, "if I err, then I exist", is probed in podcast 115 of Peter Adamson's History of Philosophy Without any Gaps (HoPWaG), chapter 51 in the second volume of the parallel book series. If GBWW is a best off collection, HoPWaG also brings attention to thinkers and thoughts traveling in the margin. The trajectory here is not spiraling but straight, starting with the Pre-Socratics and presently, as I write, is mid-flight with Bernardo Telesio born 1509 AD and the dawn of science. It is episode 365, a full year of painless fixes vaccinating against ignorance.

Arche

Typesetting the journal Arche, I receive interesting texts and translations, which often lead to books I was unaware of. Sometimes the reading is deepened when I write an article, but usually it is broadened as the journal is comprehensive, from in-depth scientific writing via interviews to poetry, from the humanities via psychoanalysis to architecture, and much more.

Readers

I follow the themes covered in The Joys of Reading blog, especially what takes place in the book club themes Contemporary, Classic, Swedish, and Spiritual.

My Library's Gaze

Finally, I have no hope of finishing my library, which is liberating. I can simply pick great books for the rest of my days, living only which the question: Which immortal ones should be saved for the coffin?