What I Wish I'd Read Earlier - Year Two

This is almost a continuation of yesterday's post.  I'm going to write about what pieces of the list I wish I had read earlier in life.  Note: this isn't necessarily my favorite ones or the ones I would most recommend.  In fact, some of the best stuff, I actually had read earlier so it won't be on this list.  It might be best to think of this as a shorter list I wish I'd given my teenage self.

• Herodotus - I've read some of 'The History' but not all of it and not as completely as I did this time.  Some great stuff in there.
• Aristotle - The one I mean here is 'Poetics'.  This is essential reading for writers and dramatists and I didn't know about it at all.
• Marcus Aurelius - I wish I'd done some work on his 'Meditations' when I was younger.  I wonder what my teenage self would have thought of some bracing Stoic philosophy?
• Milton - The 'Areopagitica' should be required reading for high schoolers.  
• Pascal - There are a number of Pensees that would have done me some good at an earlier age.  
• Swift - And I feel almost foolish for not reading 'Gulliver's Travels' before now.  This will be on the list of books that I try to get my kids to read when they're teenagers.
• Mill - I feel about Mill's 'On Liberty' the same way I do about 'Arepagitica'.  We need to arm the young against those who would try and wall off speech and thought.

I went back and forth about including the early Greek plays here.  Yes, they should be read, and probably early, but they weren't quite as WOW as the other things on this list.  

Reflections on Year Two

I don't know that the second year had as simple a 'theme' as the first year, but that's ok.  What it did have was some pretty large blocks of related writings.

• The first block was of Greek literature.  This started out with the 'Iliad' and moved on to five different Greek plays.  I'm putting Herodotus here too.  His 'The History' is sometimes fact and sometimes fiction but is clearly literature.  Aristotle's 'Poetics' belongs here too, even though it came up later in the list.  Among these pieces are the foundations of western story-telling, history and theater.  
• The next block had to do with philosophies of life.  In here is Lucretius, Marcus Aurelius and Pascal.  Each of them give a fairly full 'code' to live by.  Marcus Aurelius and Pascal are even closely related in how their writings are grouped.  
• Next I would put the Enlightenment writings on the relationship between citizen and state.  Here we get Hobbes' 'Leviathan', Milton's 'Aeropagitca', Rousseau's 'Discourse on Inequality' and Milton's 'On Liberty'.  You could put together a pretty good study course on this era of writing alone.  I'd throw Swift in here too, since 'Gulliver's Travels' is about comparing different forms of government and peoples.   

This doesn't cover all of the things that were read, nor do I mean that the other things weren't worthwhile but these were the things that seemed to more naturally group together.  

The Rest of Year Two

I thought it might be handy to post the list for the rest of the year, in case anyone wants to work out of order.  It looks like each year of the reading list includes at least one long piece of literature, and you can see that 'Gulliver's Travels' is coming up in October.  I haven't read it before (shame on me!) but it looks like good beach reading.  The political stuff (Hobbes, Milton and Mill at least) all look very good.  And I'm very curious about Pascal and his many Pensees.
Should be exciting work!

July
Marcus Aurelius: Meditations link

August
Hobbes: Leviathan (Part 1) link
Milton: Areopagitica link

September
Pascal: Pensees (72, 82-83, 100, 128, 131, 139, 142-143, 171, 194-195, 219, 229, 233-234, 242, 277, 282, 289, 298, 303, 320, 323, 325, 330-331, 374, 385, 392, 395-397, 409, 412-413, 416, 418, 425, 430, 434-435, 463, 491, 525-531, 538, 543, 547, 553, 556, 564, 571, 586, 598, 607-610, 613, 619-620, 631, 640, 644, 673, 675, 684, 692-693, 737, 760, 768, 792-793)* link
Pascal: Treatise on the Arithmetical Triangle link
*think of these as being like 'proverbs'

October
Swift: Gulliver's Travels link

November
Rousseau: A Discourse on the Origin of Inequality link
Kant: Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysic of Morals link

December
Mill: On Liberty link

Year Two Readings

Here is the list again:

January
Homer: The Iliad link

February
Aeschylus: Agamemnon, Choephoroe, Eumenides link, link, link
Sophocles: Oedipus the King, Antigone link

March
Herodotus: The History (Book 1 and 2) link

April
Plato: Meno link
Aristotle: Poetics link
Aristotle: Ethics (Book 2, Book 3 Ch. 5-12, Book 6 Ch. 8-13) link

May
Nicomachus: Introduction to Arithmetic link

June
Lucretius: On the Nature of Things (Book1-4) link

July
Marcus Aurelius: Meditations link

August
Hobbes: Leviathan (Part 1) link
Milton: Areopagitica link

September
Pascal: Pensees (72, 82-83, 100, 128, 131, 139, 142-143, 171, 194-195, 219, 229, 233-234, 242, 277, 282, 289, 298, 303, 320, 323, 325, 330-331, 374, 385, 392, 395-397, 409, 412-413, 416, 418, 425, 430, 434-435, 463, 491, 525-531, 538, 543, 547, 553, 556, 564, 571, 586, 598, 607-610, 613, 619-620, 631, 640, 644, 673, 675, 684, 692-693, 737, 760, 768, 792-793)* link
Pascal: Treatise on the Arithmetical Triangle link
*think of these as being like 'proverbs'

October
Swift: Gulliver's Travels link

November
Rousseau: A Discourse on the Origin of Inequality link
Kant: Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysic of Morals link

December
Mill: On Liberty link

I'll write down some end of year one thoughts next week after the holidays. 

Year Two Readings

This is the list for the second year of readings.  Thought it might be nice for people to be able to plan ahead.  I won't be linking to Amazon or B&N any more as it seems that link drift kills off any helpful aspect.  And it isn't too difficult to find the items through their websites.  Instead I'll simply link to the Project Gutenberg edition or similar.
I'm curious which of these pieces people are looking forward to.  Or if any of my more well read fellow travelers have comments on the year ahead.

January
Homer: The Iliad link

February
Aeschylus: Agamemnon, Choephoroe, Eumenides link, link, link
Sophocles: Oedipus the King, Antigone link

March
Herodotus: The History (Book 1 and 2) link

April
Plato: Meno link
Aristotle: Poetics link
Aristotle: Ethics (Book 2, Book 3 Ch. 5-12, Book 6 Ch. 8-13) link

May
Nicomachus: Introduction to Arithmetic link

June
Lucretius: On the Nature of Things (Book1-4) link

July
Marcus Aurelius: Meditations link

August
Hobbes: Leviathan (Part 1) link
Milton: Areopagitica link

September
Pascal: Pensees (72, 82-83, 100, 128, 131, 139, 142-143, 171, 194-195, 219, 229, 233-234, 242, 277, 282, 289, 298, 303, 320, 323, 325, 330-331, 374, 385, 392, 395-397, 409, 412-413, 416, 418, 425, 430, 434-435, 463, 491, 525-531, 538, 543, 547, 553, 556, 564, 571, 586, 598, 607-610, 613, 619-620, 631, 640, 644, 673, 675, 684, 692-693, 737, 760, 768, 792-793)* link
Pascal: Treatise on the Arithmetical Triangle link
*think of these as being like 'proverbs'

October
Swift: Gulliver's Travels link

November
Rousseau: A Discourse on the Origin of Inequality link
Kant: Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysic of Morals link

December
Mill: On Liberty link