With suggestions form influential thinkers and authors, IN PRAISE OF BOOKS can help those who are developing a personal library or reading list. Ralph Waldo Emerson contributed an Atlantic Monthly essay to this volume, in which he recommended his favorite writers and texts. He named Homer, Shakespeare, Herodotus, Dante, Spenser, Bacon, Dickens, and Thackeray as among his most cherished authors. He also listed his three criteria for selecting a book: never read a book that is less than a year old, always read well-known books, and always read topics that one enjoys. Sir John Lubbock also shared his love of books -- "How thankful we ought to be for these inestimable blessings, for this numberless host of friends who never weary, betray, or forsake us!" he wrote -- before recommending the works of Confucius, Aristotle, St. Augustine, Darwin, Goethe, Eliot, and many more. Also included are quotes about reading and books from Socrates ("Employ your time in improving yourself by other men's writings; so you shall come easily by what others have labored hard for"), Niccolo Machiavelli ("I forget every vexation" when reading), Alexander Pope ("At this day, as much company as I have kept, and as much as I love it, I love reading better"), Henry Fielding ("We are as liable to be corrupted by books as by companions"), David Hume ("[I] was seized very early with a passion for literature, which as been the ruling passion of my life"), and other avid readers.
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COSIMO CLASSICS offers distinctive titles by the great authors and thinkers who have inspired, informed and engaged readers throughout the ages.
Covering a diverse range of subjects that include Health & Science, Eastern Philosophy, Mythology & Sacred Texts, Philosophy & Spirituality, and Business & Economics these newly revitalized treasures are now available to contemporary readers.
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Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
It is easy to accuse books, and bad ones are easily found, and the best are but records, and not the tilings recorded ; and certainly there is dilettanteism enough, and books that are merely neutral and do nothing for us. Read the first page Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Earl Spencer Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
It is easy to accuse books, and bad ones are easily found, and the best are but records, and not the tilings recorded ; and certainly there is dilettanteism enough, and books that are merely neutral and do nothing for us. Read the first page Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Earl Spencer Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
2
books
cite this book:
- Dictionary Days by Ilan Stavans on page 29
- Speaking of Books: The Best Things Ever Said About Books and Book Collecting by Rob Kaplan on page 115
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