The Great Books
Why read (on your own)?Reading is the main tool for a self-learner. Self-education relies on reading not only for practical reasons--availability of books, flexibility of reading schedules--but also because it opens up new experiences for the reader that broaden the mind and strengthen the intellect. Reading can be two things. On the simplest level it is the gathering of information. A student cramming for a Moby Dick test using SparkNotes is reading to gather information. The value of reading, however, is not in its relationship to information, but in its relationship to thought. Following the author's thoughts, tying connections to other ideas and experiences, and forming your own opinion are actions that go beyond simply gathering information, but they are also much harder to test.
Which is why even the school assignments that ask for the student to "analyze" a text are written without joy and graded without pleasure. Mandatory writing assignments become just another way for students to pretend to understand and for teachers to pretend to teach. To read outside of school is to make yourself accountable for your own learning and enjoyment. In school, success is an A even if no learning actually occurs. This separation of extrinsic rewards and intrinsic learning is no longer an issue if you focus on reading for the sake of intrinsic learning.
Why read the classics?
Reading classic books is worthwhile simply because there is a higher concentration of good books compared to the vast pool of contemporary bestsellers, most of which will be forgotten in a few years. The passage of time does a very good job of weeding out insignificant books, leaving better ones behind. The correlation isn't perfect--some classics can be a chore to read through for the average person--but it's good enough to merit a concerted effort to go through a list of them.
The classics are also noteworthy from an educational standpoint because they are the progenitors of history's most influential ideas. Reading through them chronologically is an excellent way to learn about all that civilization has known and experienced so far. In fact, some colleges have programs that focus almost exclusively on reading the "Great Books" of the past.
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