Monthly Archives: June 2021

Inchoate thoughts on Descartes’ Meditations

Posted on June 28, 2021 by Tommy Collison

Back when I read Euclid’s Elements*, I wrote (or maybe just thought) that some of these books were best read in person. Some of the Great Books (the novels, I think?) are easy to digest, while others require more grappling. In … Continue reading →

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Assorted Links, 6/28/21

Posted on June 28, 2021 by Tommy Collison

Hello! Sorry for the break in programming: we’ll blame the summer. I’m just about to finish Meditations on First Philosophy for the InterIntellect. It’s good, but I’m putting it in the same box as Euclid’s Elements: one that’s best read in a group. … Continue reading →

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Assorted Links, 6/18/21

Posted on June 18, 2021 by Tommy Collison

The founder of Trader Joe’s, the grocery chain, wrote a memoir that’s “a lot of fun.” I’d believe it! Incredible saga of a gay ex-priest Latin translator employed by… The Vatican. Chicago Tribune review of Zena Hitz’s Lost in Thought, which … Continue reading →

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What I’ve Been Reading, June 2021

Posted on June 18, 2021 by Tommy Collison

When I started the solo Great Books Project, I laid out the first year and set a goal to read that first list by December 31, 2021. It’s looking less likely that I’ll hit it — I left the ancient world … Continue reading →

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Assorted Links, 6/14/21

Posted on June 14, 2021 by Tommy Collison

Rebecca Futo Kennedy has an open letter to the Society for Classical Studies, which helped me think about “classics programs that prepares students for graduate work & academia” as opposed to “classics programs that feed an interest in the ancient … Continue reading →

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Assorted Links, 6/8/21

Posted on June 8, 2021 by Tommy Collison

Review of “The Book Smugglers.” The war on the Classics: a counterpunch, literally, to the recent Princeton news. “I suspect that Classics is a subject that over more than a millennium, or maybe over two, has actually thrived on the … Continue reading →

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Princeton Classics in The Atlantic

Posted on June 8, 2021 by Tommy Collison

I recently added “amateur Classicist” to my Twitter bio, in the sense that I take a lot of interest in the classics and the Great Books, but have zero formal training. One of the big differentiators between me and an … Continue reading →

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Assorted Links, 6/4/21

Posted on June 4, 2021 by Tommy Collison

High schooler’s essay on intellectual friendship. “…America’s Founding Fathers were, in a sense, a group of intellectual friends who acted on their shared intellectual ideals.” The best books on the industrial revolution. Interesting tidbit for yours truly in this FT … Continue reading →

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Assorted Links 6/1/21

Posted on June 1, 2021 by Tommy Collison

Princeton released a statement about their new language requirements in the classics department (update to my original post). How I Taught The Iliad to Chinese Teenagers. Profiles of Mary Beard continue to be delightful. The New York Times Magazine profiled the “Cambridge classics professor, … Continue reading →

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Early Impressions of The Prince, Machiavelli

Posted on June 1, 2021 by Tommy Collison

The best parts of reading the Great Books is seeing the delta between what you think a book is about versus what the actual text says. I say “what the actual text says” because there really is no substitute to … Continue reading →

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