Emile [Kindle Edition]

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: French

Product Details

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 784 KB
• Publisher: Public Domain Books (April 1, 2004)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services
• Language: English
• ASIN: B000JQUCNA
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,096 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

42 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Note that the translation (Everyman's Library) is abridged., June 18, 2000

By 

Anthony Krupp (Miami, FL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Emile (Everyman's Library) (Paperback)

(Ignore my 2-star rating, I had to put in something in order to get this review online.)

As I cross-checked the passages that most interested me with the French edition, I was surprised to find that *entire paragraphs* are left out of the Everyman's Library English translation. Allan Bloom's translation is complete, and is also quite good. And it's available in paperback. Definitely purchase the Bloom translation instead of this one.

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars simple genius, April 15, 2009

By 

Robert W. Smith "Robert Smith, Ph.D." (Virginia, USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Emile (Kindle Edition)

i read this briskly for my childhood psychology class decades ago. i reread it this week. the author discusses his plentiful observations on raising a child. while some suggestions are really common sense / It is exciting to note how his observations formulated later child and developmental and educational theorists. As a psychologist AND as a dad / this is an essential resource and ought to be read by anyone who studies childhood or works professionally with children and parents. It is unduly wordy as is typical of the era. I give it a solid A and highly recommend it.

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must read, July 19, 2000

By 

Manuel Haas - See all my reviews

This review is from: Emile (Everyman's Library) (Paperback)

Rousseau's "Emile" is a must read for everybody who is interested in education. The book may be more than 200 years old, but many of its insights could come up in any brand new treatise about modern methods of teaching.

"Emile" is the fictitious account of the ideal education of a boy. (Maybe it was Rousseau's way of dealing with his own failures as a father.) Rousseau believes that education must be to blame for the deplorable state of the world, as "Everything is good that the Lord has made, it only degenerates in the hands of man." So Rousseau rejects the drill and cruelty of the schools of his times, he opts for freedom and learning by doing. Much of this is utopian, of course, but in one of his brilliant remarks Rousseau claims that "saying: Suggest something that can be done, is like saying: suggest what we have been doing all along."

This is one of the most brilliant books I have ever read. If you read just one book about education, make it this one, even if you are not prepared to agree with Rousseau.