July: Great Books in a Year
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| Date | Reading | Talk about it | Done |
|---|---|---|---|
| July 1 Day 182 | New Atlantis, Francis Bacon Read: Full Text · grades 9–12 | Why does Bacon give a member of Salomon's House, not a priest, the task of declaring the pillar a true miracle? | ☐ |
| July 2 Day 183 | Rules for the Direction of the Mind, Rene Descartes Read: The summary, argument and lessons on the library page · grades 11–12 Parent note: Rules I-XII suit a logic course; Rules XIII-XXI assume algebra and some geometry. Recommended for grades 11–12; read it first or together. | Why does Descartes reject the comparison between the sciences and the arts of the hand? | ☐ |
| July 3 Day 184 | Discourse on Method, Rene Descartes Read: And Seeking Truth In The Sciences to Part VI · grades 11–12 Parent note: Recommended for grades 11–12; read it first or together. | Is it possible to doubt everything at once, or only one belief at a time? | ☐ |
| July 4 Day 185 | The Geometry, Rene Descartes Read: The summary, argument and lessons on the library page · grades 11–12 Parent note: Needs Euclid Book I and algebra through quadratics; Book III suits precalculus students. Recommended for grades 11–12; read it first or together. | Draw Descartes's construction for the product of two segments using a unit length and similar triangles. Why does the result have to be a line? | ☐ |
| July 5 Day 186 | Meditations on First Philosophy, Rene Descartes Read: The summary, argument and lessons on the library page · grades 11–12 Parent note: demanding philosophy; best with guidance Recommended for grades 11–12; read it first or together. | Why does Descartes reject the comparison with madmen but accept the dream argument? | ☐ |
| July 6 Day 187 | Six Metaphysical Meditations, with Hobbes's Objections and the Replies, Rene Descartes Read: Full Text · grades 11–12 Parent note: 1680 spelling and heavy italics; gloss terms such as 'nilling' and 'objective reality'. Recommended for grades 11–12; read it first or together. | Why does the meditator say his doubt concerns speculation and not the conduct of life, and is that limit consistent? | ☐ |
| July 7 Day 188 | Ethics, Baruch Spinoza (part 1 of 2) Read: On The Nature And Origin Of The Mind Preface to Definitions Of The Emotions · grades Adult/Advanced Parent note: hard philosophy Recommended for grades Adult/Advanced; read it first or together. | Does naming and explaining an emotion really reduce its power, in your experience? | ☐ |
| July 8 Day 189 | Ethics, Baruch Spinoza (part 2 of 2) Read: General Definition Of The Emotions to Preface · grades Adult/Advanced Parent note: hard philosophy Recommended for grades Adult/Advanced; read it first or together. | What is gained and lost when emotions are studied without blame? | ☐ |
| July 9 Day 190 | Areopagitica, John Milton Read: Full Text · grades 11–12 Parent note: Milton's ornate 17th-century prose. Recommended for grades 11–12; read it first or together. | What does Milton mean by a fugitive and cloistered virtue, and why will he not praise it? | ☐ |
| July 10 Day 191 | The Shorter Poems and Samson Agonistes, John Milton (part 1 of 2) Read: Opening to BOOK VI. THE ARGUMENT. · grades 10–12 | Why does Patience 'prevent' the murmur before it is fully spoken? What is the poem's attitude to complaint? | ☐ |
| July 11 Day 192 | The Shorter Poems and Samson Agonistes, John Milton (part 2 of 2) Read: BOOK VII. THE ARGUMENT. to BOOK XII. THE ARGUMENT. (part 3) · grades 10–12 | List the pleasures in each poem. What kind of person would choose each day? | ☐ |
| July 12 Day 193 | On His Blindness (Sonnet XIX), John Milton Read: Sonnet XIX: On His Blindness · grades 9–12 | What does the speaker assume God wants from him in lines 1-7? | ☐ |
| July 13 Day 194 | Paradise Lost, John Milton (part 1 of 2) Read: Book I to Book VI · grades 11–12 Parent note: demanding epic verse Recommended for grades 11–12; read it first or together. | Why does the Father insist that foreknowledge does not cause the Fall? | ☐ |
| July 14 Day 195 | Paradise Lost, John Milton (part 2 of 2) Read: Book VII to Book XII · grades 11–12 Parent note: demanding epic verse Recommended for grades 11–12; read it first or together. | How does Satan's boast in Book I compare with his soliloquy on Mount Niphates? | ☐ |
| July 15 Day 196 | Scientific and Mathematical Treatises, Blaise Pascal Read: The summary, argument and lessons on the library page · grades 11–12 Parent note: Physics students can follow the vacuum papers; the triangle and Fermat letters need algebra. Recommended for grades 11–12; read it first or together. | What result on the mountain would have counted against Pascal's view? | ☐ |
| July 16 Day 197 | The Provincial Letters, Blaise Pascal (part 1 of 2) Read: Opening to LETTER X. · grades 11–12 Parent note: Dense theological controversy; best read in selected letters (I, IV, V, VII, XI, XVIII) with notes. Recommended for grades 11–12; read it first or together. | Why does the narrator keep asking for a definition, and why do the doctors refuse to give one? | ☐ |
| July 17 Day 198 | The Provincial Letters, Blaise Pascal (part 2 of 2) Read: LETTER XI. TO THE REVEREND FATHERS, THE JESUITS.[228] to LETTER XIX. FRAGMENT OF A NINETEENTH PROVINCIAL LETTER, ADDRESSED TO PERE ANNAT. · grades 11–12 Parent note: Dense theological controversy; best read in selected letters (I, IV, V, VII, XI, XVIII) with notes. Recommended for grades 11–12; read it first or together. | How does the father's rule change the question from 'What is right?' to 'What may I defend?' | ☐ |
| July 18 Day 199 | Pensees, Blaise Pascal (part 1 of 2) Read: Introduction By to Morality And Doctrine · grades 11–12 Parent note: Recommended for grades 11–12; read it first or together. | What would Pascal make of the smartphone? | ☐ |
| July 19 Day 200 | Pensees, Blaise Pascal (part 2 of 2) Read: Section VIII to Notes · grades 11–12 Parent note: Recommended for grades 11–12; read it first or together. | Is the white coat Pascal's square cap? | ☐ |
| July 20 Day 201 | The School for Wives, The Critique of The School for Wives and Don Juan, Molière Read: The summary, argument and lessons on the library page · grades 10–12 | What does Arnolphe fear, and why does he think ignorance will protect him? | ☐ |
| July 21 Day 202 | The Misanthrope and Other Plays, Molière (part 1 of 2) Read: Tartuffe Or The Hypocrite to Act One · grades 9–12 | Is Alceste right about society? | ☐ |
| July 22 Day 203 | The Misanthrope and Other Plays, Molière (part 2 of 2) Read: Act Two to ACT III. SCENE I · grades 9–12 | Why is Orgon so attached to Tartuffe? | ☐ |
| July 23 Day 204 | The Miser and The Would-Be Gentleman, Molière (part 1 of 2) Read: Opening to ACT V. SCENE I.--HARPAGON, A POLICE OFFICER. · grades 9–12 | List the ways Harpagon's avarice harms each member of his household. Which harm is worst? | ☐ |
| July 24 Day 205 | The Miser and The Would-Be Gentleman, Molière (part 2 of 2) Read: ACT ONE. SCENE I (Music Master, Dancing Master, Musicians, and Dancers) to ACT FIVE. SCENE VI (Madame Jourdain, Monsieur Jourdain, Cleonte, etc.) · grades 9–12 | Is Cléante right to resent his father? Is anything in his own conduct blameworthy? | ☐ |
| July 25 Day 206 | Bérénice, Jean Racine Read: The summary, argument and lessons on the library page · grades 10–12 | Racine says the whole play is drawn from one sentence of Suetonius. What has he added, and what has he deliberately left out? | ☐ |
| July 26 Day 207 | Phaedra, Jean Racine Read: Opening to ACT V · grades 11–12 Parent note: Incestuous passion, a false charge of rape, two suicides and a violent death, all reported offstage. Recommended for grades 11–12; read it first or together. | List the moments where Phaedra says 'do what you will' or its equivalent. What does she gain by not deciding? | ☐ |
| July 27 Day 208 | Principia, Isaac Newton (part 1 of 2) Read: New-York to BOOK II. OF THE MOTION OF BODIES. (part 2) · grades Adult/Advanced Parent note: advanced mathematics; excerpts only before college Recommended for grades Adult/Advanced; read it first or together. | Where does Principia reward patient attention? | ☐ |
| July 28 Day 209 | Principia, Isaac Newton (part 2 of 2) Read: BOOK II. OF THE MOTION OF BODIES. (part 3) to BOOK III. (part 6) · grades Adult/Advanced Parent note: advanced mathematics; excerpts only before college Recommended for grades Adult/Advanced; read it first or together. | What kind of disorder is most dangerous in Principia? | ☐ |
| July 29 Day 210 | Treatise on Light, Christiaan Huygens Read: Opening to CHAPTER VI. ON THE FIGURES OF THE TRANSPARENT BODIES · grades 11–12 Parent note: Geometrical optics with diagrams. Recommended for grades 11–12; read it first or together. | Why, according to the preface, are proofs in physics different from proofs in geometry? | ☐ |
| July 30 Day 211 | Opticks, Isaac Newton (part 1 of 2) Read: Full Text to Full Text (part 4) · grades 10–12 Parent note: Experiments and propositions; 18th-century prose. | What does Newton mean by a 'hypothesis', and why does he distrust them? | ☐ |
| July 31 Day 212 | Opticks, Isaac Newton (part 2 of 2) Read: Full Text (part 5) to Full Text (part 7) · grades 10–12 Parent note: Experiments and propositions; 18th-century prose. | Why does Newton compare colour to sound in a bell or a musical string? | ☐ |