A lovely blog post that takes a look at, among other things, 'How to
Read a Book' by "a guy named Mortimer Adler."

http://www.copyblogger.com/how-to-read/

A Great Idea at the Time
The Rise, Fall, and Curious Afterlife of The Great Books

Alex Beam

Public Affairs Books, Pub date: 11/03/08
 

"Today the classics of the western canon, written by the proverbial "dead white men," are cannon fodder in the culture wars. But in the 1950s and 1960s, they were a pop culture phenomenon. The Great Books of Western Civilization, fifty-four volumes chosen by intellectuals at the University of Chicago, began as an educational movement, and evolved into a successful marketing idea. Why did a million American households buy books by Hippocrates and Nicomachus from door-to-door salesmen? And how and why did the great books fall out of fashion?"

Learning How to Learn

Forbes Opinion

Daniel Born 08.13.08, 6:00 PM ET

 

"To talk to freshmen about the liberal arts as an education for freedom (the Latin liber, as in "free") will strike many as absurd. Liberal arts requirements are the stuff most students try to 'get out of the way' as soon as possible, the grunt work one does prior to shopping for courses that hold real allure."