Worldly Wisdom: Great Books and the Meanings of Life [Hardcover]

James Sloan Allen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 14, 2008

The author engagingly explores some fifty classic works (mainly but not exclusively from the West) to elucidate their contents and draw out ideas valuable for understanding human life in this world and for living that life well. Worldly Wisdom has a distinctly humanistic slant, with a suggestion of a thinker's self-help book.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

A cultural historian, essayist, and critic, Jim Allen received his doctorate from Columbia University. He has taught at Columbia, Haverford College, Brigham Young University, the New School, and the Juilliard School, where he was academic vice president. For several years he has been teaching a Great Books class for adults in New York City. A longtime New Yorker, he now resides with his wife in Honolulu and Philadelphia.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 576 pages
• Publisher: Frederic C. Beil Publisher; First edition (October 14, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1929490356
• ISBN-13: 978-1929490356
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.5 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,008,708 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

A cultural historian, essayist, and critic, James Sloan Allen received his doctorate from Columbia University. He has taught at Columbia, Haverford College, Brigham Young University, the New School, and the Juillard School, where he was academic vice president. For several years he has been teaching a Great Books class for adults in New York City. A longtime New Yorker, he now resides with his wife in Honolulu and Philadelphia.

For more information, see the publisher's website: www.beil.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the Most Insightful Books I Have Ever Read, January 18, 2009

By 

Douglas Broehl "Delafield Doug" (Delafield, Wis.) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Worldly Wisdom: Great Books and the Meanings of Life (Hardcover)

I absolutely love this book! I have read MANY books about "Great Books," and this stands out, by far, as one of the most profound and insightful. A rare and sober depth of insight permeates this whole book, qualities which are often lacking in so many others. The author discusses about 30 or so works, and he attempts to distilled the essential humanistic life wisdom that lies embedded in each work. His goal is to make clear what each work says about what it means to be human, and how to live a meaningful life. He gives a 10 - 15 pages discussion of each book, illuminating the wisdom about life that each author conveys in his or her work. At the end of each section he lists the essential life teaching of each work. His ability to discern, pull out, and explicate the central wisdom of each book is simply amazing. For example, the first chapter is on Homer's Iliad, in which the author shows that the Iliad is not really about war, it's about how humans cope with and respond to tragedies that beset all human existence. Later he discusses "Don Quixote," and shows how Cervantes' major work is not just a fanciful collection of tales about a fictional character; rather, the book is about ideals, the power and positive use they have in human life. The ultimate test for me when reading an author discuss a classic book is whether they state the obvious, or go beyond the obvious, go beyond the surface, and bring to light the underlying or hidden teaching. James Sloan Allen does this on every page of this masterful tome. If you like books like Harold Bloom's "The Western Canon," or Dirda's "Classics for Pleasure," you will absolutely love this book also. I have a Master's in Philosophy, and so I have read many books; I can unequivocally say that aside from the "Great Books" themselves, this is one of the best books I have ever read. It is filled with wisdom about books and about life itself - it is rare and wonderful.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Whos's scared of A big fat book about the classics?, November 21, 2008

By 

Louis Postel "Designbard" (Lexington, MA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Worldly Wisdom: Great Books and the Meanings of Life (Hardcover)

Hey, I was...scared.

But then I opened Worldly Wisdom and couldn't put it down.

What a surpisingly readable, page-turning thrill. Blind Homer a thrill? How about Nietsche?

Actually yes; count them as thrills -- because WW shows how these classics can change your life -- make it more meaninful in spite of terrible odds.

Memo to author James Allen: Where the heck were you when I was in college?

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars World Wisdom, June 24, 2009

By 

John L. Mudgett (California, Bay Area) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Worldly Wisdom: Great Books and the Meanings of Life (Hardcover)

For an insight into how one should live this life, it is hard to beat this selection of the profound ideas of many of the greatest minds who have pondered the question reaching back over 3000 years.