Vintage Reading: From Plato to Bradbury: A Personal Tour of Some of the World's Best Books
3.5/5
()
About this ebook
From St. Augustine's Confessions to Dorothy Parker's Stories, Kanigel presents a unique collection of essays unlike any other stuffy attempt at introducing the modern reader to Great Books.Vintage Reading is welcoming. It opens the door to eighty good books rather than post stern-faced guards around them.
Before writing his critically acclaimed titles The Man Who Knew Infinity and The One Best Way, Kanigel penned these essays to guide time-starved bibliophiles to important books they may have missed. The essays appeared in such publications as Baltimore's Evening Sun, Cleveland's Plain Dealer, and The Los Angeles Times.
Vintage Reading brings eighty of the world's most unforgettable books out from behind the high castle walls, lowers the drawbridge, and welcomes readers inside. With lively and concise commentary, award-winning author Robert Kanigel throws an arm around the reader and becomes the tour guide to:
• Books That Shaped the Western World
• Books on Everyone's List of Literary Classics
• Books on Many a List for Burning
• Lighter Fare: Good Reads, Best Sellers
• One-of-a-Kinds
• "But I Know What I Like": Books on Aesthetics & Style
• Making Hard Work Easy: Great Works of Popularization
• Not Robinson Crusoe...Lesser Known Classics
• The Realm of the Spirit: Holy & Human
From St. Augustine's Confessions to Dorothy Parker's Stories, Kanigel presents a unique collection of essays unlike any other stuffy attempt at introducing the modern reader to Great Books.Vintage Reading is welcoming. It opens the door to eighty good books rather than post stern-faced guards around them.
Before writing his critically acclaimed titles The Man Who Knew Infinity and The One Best Way, Kanigel penned these essays to guide time-starved bibliophiles to important books they may have missed. The essays appeared in such publications as Baltimore's Evening Sun, Cleveland's Plain Dealer, and The Los Angeles Times.
Robert Kanigel
Robert Kanigel is the author of six previous books. He has been the recipient of numerous awards, including a Guggenheim Fellowship and the Grady-Stack Award for science writing. His book The Man Who Knew Infinity was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. His work has appeared in numerous publications, including The New York Times Magazine, The New York Times Book Review, Harvard Magazine, and Psychology Today. He has just retired as Professor of Science Writing at MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts and now lives in Baltimore.
Related to Vintage Reading
Related ebooks
The Books That Changed My Life: Reflections by 100 Authors, Actors, Musicians, and Other Remarkable People Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of Reading Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Great Books Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Don't Know Much About Literature: What You Need to Know but Never Learned About Great Books and Authors Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Partial Portraits Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Oxford Book of American Essays Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A Simple Soul Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5History of English Literature (Vol. 1-3) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe New York Public Library Literature Companion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5What to Read and Why Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Tale Of Two Cities Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCharles Dickens: The Complete Novels + A Christmas Carol (Centaur Classics) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHow to Read Novels Like a Professor: A Jaunty Exploration of the World's Favorite Literary Form Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5By the Book: Writers on Literature and the Literary Life from The New York Times Book Review Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Celebrate the Classics: Why You Can and Should Read the Great Books Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Orthodoxy in Massachusetts 1630-1950 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBooks and Reading: A Book of Quotations Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Browsings Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsReading as a Philosophical Practice Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Old Wives' Tale Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Secret Library: A Book Lover's Journey Through Curiosities of Literature Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Shadows on the Rock Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Whole Five Feet: What the Great Books Taught Me About Life, Death, and Pretty Much Everthing Else Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Read a Poem Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Do Things with Books in Victorian Britain Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Read This Next: 500 of the Best Books You'll Ever Read Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Richard Lederer's Classic Literary Trivia: From Mythology, Shakespeare, and the Bible Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Creators: From Chaucer and Durer to Picasso and Disney Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Literary Criticism For You
The Art of Seduction: by Robert Greene | Conversation Starters Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Letters to a Young Poet Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5SUMMARY Of The Plant Paradox: The Hidden Dangers in Healthy Foods That Cause Disease and Weight Gain Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The 48 Laws of Power: by Robert Greene | Conversation Starters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/512 Rules For Life: by Jordan Peterson | Conversation Starters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Man's Search for Meaning: by Viktor E. Frankl | Conversation Starters Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Book of Virtues Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Circe: by Madeline Miller | Conversation Starters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Power of Habit: by Charles Duhigg | Conversation Starters Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Secret History: by Donna Tartt | Conversation Starters Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsVerity: by Colleen Hoover | Conversation Starters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself by Michael A. Singer | Conversation Starters Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Summary of Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain | Conversation Starters Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5One Hundred Years of Solitude: A Novel by Gabriel Garcia Márquez | Conversation Starters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Court of Thorns and Roses: A Novel by Sarah J. Maas | Conversation Starters Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Bad Feminist: Essays Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Just Kids: A National Book Award Winner Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Paperbacks from Hell: The Twisted History of '70s and '80s Horror Fiction Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Vintage Reading
15 ratings2 reviews
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A little too verbose and grammatically pretentious for my liking; however, I did glean helpful insights that I will definitely put into practice when reading classical literature in the future.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Somewhat interesting collection of recommendations. I added seventeen to my reading list. The essays are short enough to provoke or denounce interest within the first few sentences and the essays do not give away too much of the stories they review.