Customer Reviews

Worldly Wisdom: Great Books and the Meanings of Life

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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.

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?

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.

Worldy Wisdom by James Sloan Allen offers a wealth of knowledge and insight about the art of living found in classic literature from Homer to Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

This book will make you feel smart, almost as if you've read all the works mentioned. Eager to learn from them anew. It lifts one to appreciate, as Allen does so well, wisdom from around the world.

Five stars is simply not enough for this beautifully written, celebratory book by James Sloan Allen. Worldly Wisdom provided me with a perspective on things loved and pursued over a lifetime, but not always fully articulated or put into such sweeping context. I admit to approaching it in a personal rather than chronological fashion, reading the last chapters first (Love in the Time of Cholera being my favorite work of fiction, and Don Quixote: The Uses of Idealism, being too irresistable of a draw). Only then could I move to the poignant beginning with Homer's Iliad and progress through to the party with Mrs Dalloway. The book took my breath away. Many times I had to stop reading just to digest, wrap my head around things a bit or just savor awhile. As one who wanted to be a literature major some 30 years ago, but for practical reasons opting otherwise, I find this book an astonishing resource, not only for what/who I want to read next, but as I reflect on experiences lived and ideas (and ideals) held dear. Years after completing this book, I still find myself rereading favorite chapters, and more significantly, still experiencing it's life-changing, life-enhancing repercussions. A refreshing meditation on some of the greatest literary expressions of the boundless human spirit.

A Great Book about Great Books

Dr. David A. Edwards
Department of Mathematics
University of Georgia
Athens, Georgia 30602
[..][..]

A review of: Worldly Wisdom: Great Books and the Meanings of Life, by James Sloan Allen

Amongst the many books about great books that I have read, this one stands out for its relevance to the inevitable questions, problems and issues of ordinary life, such as love, death, vitality and marriage. Combining the wisdom and insights of forty great classic works with the authors own profound observations, one gets a great self-help book. I was constantly stopping to think and meditate and comment on various passages. It also motivated me to purchase a
number of great books that I hadn't previously read. It has my highest recommendation.