September: Great Books in a Year
Print this page for the fridge or a binder. Your grade-level choice applies when printing too; choose "Show all grades" to print every day. ← August · October → · Print
| Date | Reading | Talk about it | Done |
|---|---|---|---|
| September 1 Day 244 | The Science of Right, Immanuel Kant (part 2 of 2) Read: Chapter Third. Acquisition conditioned by the Sentence of a Public Judicatory. to PART II. PUBLIC RIGHT. Public Right · grades 12–12 Parent note: Dense legal argument; read the Introduction, §§ 1-9, 41-49 with Remarks A and E, and §§ 53-62. Recommended for grades 12–12; read it first or together. | Why does Kant think that my labour on a piece of land is not enough to make it mine? | ☐ |
| September 2 Day 245 | The Founding Documents, Continental Congress and United States Constitutional Convention Read: The Declaration of Independence (1776) to Amendment XXVII · grades 6–12 | What does it mean for a right to be unalienable? | ☐ |
| September 3 Day 246 | The Articles of Confederation, Continental Congress Read: Article I to Article XIII · grades 6–12 | What word in Article II limits the powers given to the United States? | ☐ |
| September 4 Day 247 | The Federalist Papers, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay (part 1 of 2) Read: The Federalist Papers (1787-1788) to FEDERALIST No. 44: Restrictions on the Authority of the Several States · grades 11–12 Parent note: best in selected papers Recommended for grades 11–12; read it first or together. | What view of human nature underlies Federalist 51? | ☐ |
| September 5 Day 248 | The Federalist Papers, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay (part 2 of 2) Read: FEDERALIST No. 45: The Alleged Danger From the Powers of the Union to the State Governments to FEDERALIST No. 85: Concluding Remarks · grades 11–12 Parent note: best in selected papers Recommended for grades 11–12; read it first or together. | How does Madison defend political scale? | ☐ |
| September 6 Day 249 | On Liberty, John Stuart Mill (part 1 of 2) Read: Of The Limits To The Authority Of Society to CHAPTER III. OF INDIVIDUALITY, AS ONE OF THE ELEMENTS OF WELL-BEING. · grades 11–12 Parent note: Recommended for grades 11–12; read it first or together. | Is there any purely self-regarding act, given families, dependants and shared health systems? | ☐ |
| September 7 Day 250 | On Liberty, John Stuart Mill (part 2 of 2) Read: CHAPTER IV. OF THE LIMITS TO THE AUTHORITY OF SOCIETY OVER THE INDIVIDUAL. to CHAPTER V. APPLICATIONS. · grades 11–12 Parent note: Recommended for grades 11–12; read it first or together. | Name a clinical guideline that is followed without its rationale being understood. What happens when it is challenged? | ☐ |
| September 8 Day 251 | Considerations on Representative Government, John Stuart Mill (part 1 of 2) Read: Preface to Chapter VIII--Of the Extension of the Suffrage · grades 11–12 Parent note: Long Victorian argument. Recommended for grades 11–12; read it first or together. | What two tests of good government does Chapter II propose? | ☐ |
| September 9 Day 252 | Considerations on Representative Government, John Stuart Mill (part 2 of 2) Read: Chapter IX--Should there be Two Stages of Election? to Chapter XVII--Of Federal Representative Governments · grades 11–12 Parent note: Long Victorian argument. Recommended for grades 11–12; read it first or together. | Why does Mill think a numerous assembly is unfit to draft detailed laws? | ☐ |
| September 10 Day 253 | Utilitarianism, John Stuart Mill Read: Susceptible · grades 11–12 Parent note: Recommended for grades 11–12; read it first or together. | Who counts as a 'competent judge' of the pleasures of someone with a severe illness or disability? | ☐ |
| September 11 Day 254 | The Life of Samuel Johnson, James Boswell (part 1 of 2) Read: Full Text to Full Text (part 7) · grades 11–12 Parent note: Abridged; 18th-century prose and long conversations. Recommended for grades 11–12; read it first or together. | What does the first meeting in Davies's shop in 1763 show about both men? | ☐ |
| September 12 Day 255 | The Life of Samuel Johnson, James Boswell (part 2 of 2) Read: Full Text (part 8) to Full Text (part 14) · grades 11–12 Parent note: Abridged; 18th-century prose and long conversations. Recommended for grades 11–12; read it first or together. | What image does Johnson use in the letter to describe a patron? | ☐ |
| September 13 Day 256 | Elements of Chemistry, Antoine Lavoisier (part 1 of 2) Read: Opening to PART II. · grades 10–12 Parent note: 18th-century chemistry; tables and procedures. | Why did a metal's gain in weight when it burned trouble the theory of phlogiston? | ☐ |
| September 14 Day 257 | Elements of Chemistry, Antoine Lavoisier (part 2 of 2) Read: PART III. Description of the Instruments and Operations of Chemistry. to PART III. Description of the Instruments and Operations of Chemistry. (part 3) · grades 10–12 Parent note: 18th-century chemistry; tables and procedures. | What does the name 'oxygen' claim about the substance it names? Was the claim fully correct? | ☐ |
| September 15 Day 258 | Experimental Researches in Electricity, Volume 1, Michael Faraday (part 1 of 2) Read: Full Text to Full Text (part 8) · grades 11–12 Parent note: Recommended for grades 11–12; read it first or together. | Why did Faraday's coils show a current only at the moment the battery was connected or broken? | ☐ |
| September 16 Day 259 | Experimental Researches in Electricity, Volume 1, Michael Faraday (part 2 of 2) Read: Full Text (part 9) to Full Text (part 16) · grades 11–12 Parent note: Recommended for grades 11–12; read it first or together. | Why did Faraday think the word pole was misleading? | ☐ |
| September 17 Day 260 | Philosophy of Right, G. W. F. Hegel (part 1 of 2) Read: Translator's Preface to Third Part: Ethical System · grades 12–12 Parent note: Highly abstract philosophical prose; OCR text. Recommended for grades 12–12; read it first or together. | Why does Hegel say in the Introduction that arbitrary choice is not yet true freedom? | ☐ |
| September 18 Day 261 | Philosophy of Right, G. W. F. Hegel (part 2 of 2) Read: Third Part: Ethical System (part 2) to Third Part: Ethical System (part 5) · grades 12–12 Parent note: Highly abstract philosophical prose; OCR text. Recommended for grades 12–12; read it first or together. | What does Hegel mean by calling conscience the deepest internal solitude? | ☐ |
| September 19 Day 262 | The Philosophy of History, G. W. F. Hegel Read: The summary, argument and lessons on the library page · grades 11–12 Parent note: Recommended for grades 11–12; read it first or together. | What does Hegel admire in original historians like Thucydides? | ☐ |
| September 20 Day 263 | Fear and Trembling, Soren Kierkegaard Read: The summary, argument and lessons on the library page · grades Adult/Advanced Parent note: hard philosophy Recommended for grades Adult/Advanced; read it first or together. Under copyright: the library page has a summary and guide, not the full text. | Why does Johannes say that if Abraham is not a man of faith he is a murderer? | ☐ |
| September 21 Day 264 | Beyond Good and Evil, Friedrich Nietzsche (part 1 of 2) Read: Table Of Contents Preface Beyond Good And Evil to Choses D'Une Maniere Desinteressee Qu'Il Trouve La Mort Revoltante Et · grades Adult/Advanced Parent note: hard philosophy Recommended for grades Adult/Advanced; read it first or together. | If every philosophy is 'involuntary autobiography', what does Beyond Good and Evil confess about Nietzsche? | ☐ |
| September 22 Day 265 | Beyond Good and Evil, Friedrich Nietzsche (part 2 of 2) Read: Seven Apophthegms For Women to From The Heights · grades Adult/Advanced Parent note: hard philosophy Recommended for grades Adult/Advanced; read it first or together. | How does Nietzsche's view of the self compare with what intrusive thoughts or rumination feel like from the inside? | ☐ |
| September 23 Day 266 | Democracy in America, Alexis de Tocqueville (part 1 of 3) Read: Democracy in America, Volume 1 to Chapter XV: Unlimited Power Of Majority, And Its Consequences—Part II · grades 11–12 Parent note: long; best read in excerpts Recommended for grades 11–12; read it first or together. | How does equality shape personality? | ☐ |
| September 24 Day 267 | Democracy in America, Alexis de Tocqueville (part 2 of 3) Read: Chapter XVI: Causes Mitigating Tyranny In The United States—Part I to Chapter XX: Characteristics Of Historians In Democratic Ages · grades 11–12 Parent note: long; best read in excerpts Recommended for grades 11–12; read it first or together. | What is soft despotism? | ☐ |
| September 25 Day 268 | Democracy in America, Alexis de Tocqueville (part 3 of 3) Read: Chapter XXI: Of Parliamentary Eloquence In The United States to Part II · grades 11–12 Parent note: long; best read in excerpts Recommended for grades 11–12; read it first or together. | Why are associations so important to Tocqueville? | ☐ |
| September 26 Day 269 | Faust, Part One, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (part 1 of 2) Read: Full Text to Full Text (part 2) · grades 11–12 Parent note: Recommended for grades 11–12; read it first or together. | What exactly does Faust bet, and why is he so sure he will win? | ☐ |
| September 27 Day 270 | Faust, Part One, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (part 2 of 2) Read: Full Text (part 3) · grades 11–12 Parent note: Recommended for grades 11–12; read it first or together. | Why does the villagers' praise trouble Faust? | ☐ |
| September 28 Day 271 | Faust, Part Two, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (part 1 of 2) Read: Opening to ACT II. I. · grades 11–12 Parent note: Recommended for grades 11–12; read it first or together. | Why does the court accept the notes so eagerly? | ☐ |
| September 29 Day 272 | Faust, Part Two, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (part 2 of 2) Read: Act III. Before the Palace of Menelaus in Sparta. to ACT V. I. · grades 11–12 Parent note: Recommended for grades 11–12; read it first or together. | What does Homunculus lack, and how does he try to get it? | ☐ |
| September 30 Day 273 | Cousin Betty, Honoré de Balzac (part 1 of 2) Read: Full Text to Full Text (part 5) · grades 11–12 Parent note: Parent note: adultery, seduction and revenge are central; for mature students. Recommended for grades 11–12; read it first or together. | What injuries, real and imagined, does Lisbeth carry from childhood, and does the novel ask us to pity her? | ☐ |