Vintage Reading: From Plato to Bradbury: A Personal Tour of Some of the World's Best Books
3.5/5
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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.
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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.