Customer Reviews

A World of Ideas Lee Jacobus

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In this collection, Jacobus includes some of the most inspirational and intriguing ideas from great thinkers of antiquity and today. Not only does the anthology include selections from the bedrock of Western philosophy, science, social theory and religion, it also includes selections connected to Buddhism, Islamic thought and other topics celebrating diversity.

I've used this reader in advanced freshman composition classes for three years, and I have found it to be the most thought-provoking text I have ever encountered. Too often, today's college freshmen are exposed to a shotgun blast of diverse, modern writers concentrating on social issues of our day. How easy is it to understand Brent Staples or bell hooks without first knowing about Martin Luther King or Frederick Douglass? Is it possible to intelligently discuss David Boaz with no knowledge of Thoreau, Jefferson, or Rousseau??

Unfortunately, many of today's incoming freshmen have none of the background knowledge in liberal arts that many instructors take for granted at the college level. Jacobus' collection can provide that background, while at the same time bringing out timeless issues for writing and spirited discussion.

This is one book that every college student MUST read.
It is a very resourceful book, introducing you to the many of the world's greatest thinkers...ancient,modern, and contemporary.
It is one of those books that makes you REALLY think about stuff (about the world, humanity, and existence).
What's really beautiful about this book is that it combines philosophy with literature. Reading this book, you will not only analyze about the ideas themselves, but also how the ideas are presented (rhetorical and literary technique).

This is, quite simply, the best textbook I have ever run across, in any subject, in 20 years of teaching. Anyone who has not read these selections by the likes of Freud, Jung, Plato, the Dalia Lama, Marx and Machiavelli most certainly should. This is a concise and insightful history of ideas.

The book was in perfect condition and arrived within one week. I will use this book source again.
It would be helpful to know which edition you are buying.

I received item earlier than expected. Packaged with care and well taken care of.

I have used A WORLD OF IDEAS several times in college composition courses that I have taught. It is a book with many strengths. The readings are rigorous, well-chosen, and provocative. Students often struggle to understand them and write about them, but I believe that struggling with great ideas is a good thing for a college student to do. I have observed, time after time, that real personal and intellectual growth comes with this struggle. My problem with this text, though, is that it gives very short shrift to ideas that are not part of the Western tradition. In the current edition, only three or four readings do not come from America or Western Europe. Only one of these (Selections from Lao Tzu) occur in any chapter other than the one on religion. Compare this with Norton's new text, READING THE WORLD: IDEAS THAT MATTER, which I just began teaching with this year--this is also substantial great-ideas reader, but it is one in which 35 out of 70 readings come from China, Japan, Africa, Latin America, and the Islamic world. It would be more honest of Jacobus to drop the token readings from Lao Tzu and the Buddha and simply re-title this collection A CONTINENT OF IDEAS.

Ordered this book for summer school and its still hasn't showed up and I'm going into my third week of school. This wouldn't be a problem in the regular semester but there's only six weeks in the summer session. If you plan on ordering make sure to do it at least two weeks before school starts or you'll be behind waiting for a book never seems to be coming.