0001-The Well-Educated Mind: A Guide to the Classical Education You Never Had

So where will Bookgeekism begin this new journey at?  It begins with a book by Susan Wise Bauer.

• The Well-Educated Mind:  A Guide to the Classical Education You Never Had.
• Susan Wise Bauer
• ISBN: 978-0393050943
• Released Date: 08-01-2003
• Published By: W.W. Norton & Company
• Pages 432

This text is actually comprised of 2 real parts.  The first part discusses the 4 basic parts of Bauer's technique for attaining the classical education.  The second part discusses the different genres of text she has choses, Fiction ( Literature), History, Autobiographies, Poetry and Verse.  Bauer makes interesting points and her steps are pretty basic really.  My only real issue with her approach is that she recommends for beginning that one only reads the books she recommends for 30 minutes a day, four days a week.  I did not agree as a reader this was a sufficient amount of time to delve into a book.  maybe if you are not a reader by nature and are more casual in your approach to reading that may be of more use to really help one focus on the text.  This is also more true if you have never really been exposed to critical analysis of books.   The only other fault I find with the  book, is Bauer synopsizes each of the text she recommends and gives away essential plot points.  It would be best if you only really look at the book title and author, and then which edition Bauer recommends.   She also tends to refer back to Mortimer Adler's text, How to Read a Book. ( Which I will admit I also now have sitting on my to be read pile. )  I did like this text a great deal and actually have passed it along to my mother to read and given a copy of the text to a friend to read.  I do highly recommend this book.

This book was a game changer for me in the sense that it really helped me realize that in the absence of completing college (for now)  I really needed to focus on classically educating myself so as to keep my mind acute and not let it fall into atrophy.  I (and my mother who I have also recruited in this path of self education --for she desires to better her understanding of literature)   have even begun reading the first text Bauer recommends under fiction which is Don Quixote, which I will admit has always been an intimidating book due to its sheer size, that I now find myself looking forward to reading. 

A change in direction for BookGeekism.com

I have taken a lengthy sabbatical from blogging due to some unforeseen issues that occurred in my personal life.  If you will excuse me I would prefer not to go into detail in these matters at this time and only apologize for the lack of any substantial update.  Now on to what I really intend to say at this juncture in time.  I have spent the last week really thinking about this blog which I have neglected for far too long mainly because as I sat and looked at the plethora of books that lay stacked and unread on my bookshelves I discovered a sorrow that even now I cannot articulate.  This 3 week vacation I have taken from work due to a medical issue has left me with the ultimate question, why had I abandoned this blog for so long?   Why had I cast my love of books as reading by the wayside?   Why did I allow myself to become entrenched in trite dilemmas that had left me feeling academically and socially hollow?  After a lengthy period of self examination i found  I had the desire rekindled in me to refocus on my reading, my own effort in self education and the betterment of the mind.

During this introspective period I had a discussion with a close friend of mine that allowed me to really think about the idea of self education.  My friend and I came from the same educational background which I will elaborate on.  (Note: Dear reader, if what I am about to explain changes your opinion of me and the validity of my reviews and criticism of literature I do apologize, but as we learn in literary theory...we must always question  "what is literature?" .  Please do not let my explanation lead you to believe that I am unqualified to offer a layperson's review of books.)

My educational background along with my friends is mostly a high school diploma and a smattering of college classes interspersed through these last 13 years of adulthood. Most of my education has been self taught, through literature and textbooks I have purchased, along with magazines and journals in topics that I have always had an interest in.    In these past few months, as my friend and I were discussing, I found that I had almost totally abandoned my pursuit of self education and allowed those things which had always been of keen interest in me to fall along the side of the road, cast aside by more vain pursuits that left me feeling sort of hollow and empty. (Note:  One should not try to change their identity to conform to what someone else whats of them or what others expect of them. Society and Media have always dictated that we should look and behave a certain way.  Falling prey to this leads one to lose sight of themselves.)  So after this rather deep discussion with my friend I found myself reoriented, directing myself back to the original path that I had always followed but due to a lapse in judgement I allowed myself to deviate from.   So here I am book geek girl renewing myself .. my original self so to speak..

And in this rambling I guess I should ultimately explain what I intend to do here, and in sincerest hopes to make it manifest.  Bookgeekism.com is in for a change.  the 1001 books idea has kind of been discarded but not entirely.  This book blog will still focus on reviews but it is going to take on a new sort of direction. I still will review books, classics and newly published or more current novels, but I will also be blogging about my journey through the path of self education.

Certain Books have lead me along this newly navigable path of academic enlightenment.  I will no longer approach books as some obstreperous child choosing books and devouring them without gleaning any real education from them.  Dear reader please do not thing I intend to force my own intellectual observations on books on you, I will continue to review them and if anyone is interested in discussing them I am considering creating a forum to discuss said books if anyone has read them or after one reads them.