I\u2019m a sucker for books about books and book lists. On my shelves are titles like Gladys and Mark Hunt\u2019s \u201cHoney for a Child\u2019s Heart: The Imaginative Use of Books in Family Life\u201d; George and Karen Grant\u2019s \u201cShelf Life\u201d; and James Mustich\u2019s \u201c1,000 Books to Read Before You Die.\u201d Give me a cup of coffee, an hour of time, a comfortable chair, and Nick Hornby\u2019s \u201cTen Years in the Tub: A Decade Soaking in Great Books,\u201d and you would be hard-pressed to find a happier man within a hundred miles.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Which brings me to John Senior\u2019s \u201cThe Thousand Good Books<\/a>.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Senior<\/a> was a writer and teacher whose impact is still felt today. He is especially noted for his work as a professor at the University of Kansas, where he co-founded and taught the Integrated Humanities Program (IHP). Because of complaints that IHP students were \u201cbecoming proponents of objective truth,\u201d with some converting to Catholicism, the university shut down the project after a decade.\u00a0<\/p>\n Yet Senior\u2019s teaching and books led to the founding of colleges like Wyoming Catholic and schools like Gregory the Great Academy in Pennsylvania and the newly-founded St. Andrew\u2019s Academy in Kentucky.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n At the end of his book \u201cThe Death of Christian Culture,\u201d Senior affixed an Appendix, \u201cThe Thousand Good Books.\u201d Shorn of any description except authors and titles, this instructive inventory is divided by categories of age ranging from two to 20. Containing few books of history, theology or philosophy, the list is largely a wonderful collection of Western literature. Some of these are what we call the \u201cGreat Books,\u201d like Tolstoy\u2019s \u201cWar and Peace\u201d and Hugo\u2019s \u201cLes Miserables,\u201d while others, like Walter De la Mare\u2019s \u201cSongs of Childhood,\u201d Edgar Wallace\u2019s \u201cThe Man Who Knew,\u201d and Louisa May Alcott\u2019s \u201cSpinning-Wheel Stories,\u201d long ago disappeared from library bookshelves.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Senior\u2019s choices for this tally of authors and titles \u2013 why pick over 30 books by James Fenimore Cooper, or 14 by H. Rider Haggard? \u2013 might baffle readers until we consider the title of his list. He chose many of these good books because they were either once popular or simply tell great stories. Moreover, most of Senior\u2019s selections come from the 19th and early 20th centuries.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n In an invaluable preface<\/a> to this Appendix, Senior explains more about his choices along with some insightful comments about literature and reading in general. He notes that the \u201cGreat Books\u201d of the post-World War II era fizzled out not because of the featured works by authors like Plato and Thomas Aquinas, but because \u201clike good champagne in plastic bottles, they went flat.\u201d To read them with competence, Senior contends, we must first have at our disposal an abundance of \u201cfables, fairy tales, stories, rhymes and adventures.\u201d And while the distinction between great and good is fuzzy, Senior helps us out: \u201cGreat books call for philosophical reflection; good books are popular, appealing especially to the imagination.\u201d Hence, \u201cThe Thousand Good Books.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Senior tells us upfront that his is only a partial list of such works, revealing right away that mark of any good teacher: honesty. He notes that most of these selections belong to that time \u201cbefore which cars and electric light had not yet come to dominate our lives and the experience of nature had not been distorted by speed and the destruction of shadows.\u201d Regarding the books he has chosen, he observes that his compilation is designed for \u201cthe amateur\u2014the ordinary person who loves and enjoys what he reads\u2026.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n One great pleasure of this list is the adventure in reading it promises. Scores of titles were new to me, as well as some authors, and I suspect the same will be true for others who scout out this catalogue of literature. I\u2019d heard of the British writer Edgar Wallace, for example, but I\u2019ve never read a word of his writing. Ditto for Wilkie Collins, Zane Gray, Alain Le Sage, Richard Blackmore, and more.\u00a0<\/p>\n Like many of you readers, I have neither the time nor the inclination to attempt too many of Senior\u2019s reading picks, but I do plan on coming back to this list on occasion, selecting a few titles, and seeing what I can dig up at the library or online. I\u2019ll be looking for an escape from today\u2019s headlines \u2013 always a healthy motive for a news hound \u2013 and for some fun and delight in the printed word.\u00a0<\/p>\n Take a look at Senior\u2019s list<\/a> and see what you think.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Jeff Minick is a father of four and grandfather to many. A former history, literature, and Latin teacher, Jeff now writes prolifically for The Epoch Times, American Essence Magazine, and several other publications.<\/p>\n This culture article was made possible by The Fred & Rheta Skelton Center for Cultural Renewal<\/strong>, a project of 1819 News.\u00a0To comment on this article, please email [email\u00a0protected]<\/a>. The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the policy or position of 1819 News.<\/p>\n