Rating: 
Summary: LIFETIME COMPANION
Review: perhaps the most concise, cogent and catholic (not in the religious sense!) book of its kind, "the new lifetime reading guide" will become your instant friend and companion for what could well be the rest of your life, leading you to the world's wellspring of must-read, mind-expanding books. of course, several of the selections "write themselves" but many do not. and even those that do are accompanied by brilliant insights and recommendations, e.g. joyce, shakespeare, faulkner and tolstoy. i wonder if i would've picked up, "the adventures of augie march," "stamboul train" and many others if not for this book. for the daunted, see van doren and adler's gem, "how to read a book," chapter 21.
Rating:
Summary: LIFETIME COMPANION
Review: perhaps the most concise, cogent and catholic (not in the religious sense!) book of its kind, "the new lifetime reading guide" will become your instant friend and companion for what could well be the rest of your life, leading you to the world's wellspring of must-read, mind-expanding books. of course, several of the selections "write themselves" but many do not. and even those that do are accompanied by brilliant insights and recommendations, e.g. joyce, shakespeare, faulkner and tolstoy. i wonder if i would've picked up, "the adventures of augie march," "stamboul train" and many others if not for this book. for the daunted, see van doren and adler's gem, "how to read a book," chapter 21.
Rating:
Summary: subtitle: "The Classical Guide to World Literature"
Review: Readers who are not so blinkered by their own preconceptions and unmet needs that they must criticize this book for not including "works in philosophy, praxelogy, axiology, social and scientific history, and political, economic, and scientific breakthroughs" will find much to admire, especially in the revisions that bring a mid-century work more closely up to date. Others might go elsewhere or at least suffer their disappointment in silence.
Rating: 
Summary: A tragic edition
Review: Stick with the second edition. This one has been revised for political correctness in the name of inclusion. The second edition spotlighted the Great Conversation of Western Literature, a written tradition of ideas discussed throughout the ages by top minds. Not because they were from a particular place or race, but because they had the preceding books in common. This is what sets Western Civilization apart, the continual evaluation of the same elemental ideas of existence. The current edition has turned this wonderful work into a list of "good books" by tacking in works that have much to offer, but were not in on the conversation.
Rating:
Summary: A tragic edition
Review: Stick with the second edition. This one has been revised for political correctness in the name of inclusion. The second edition spotlighted the Great Conversation of Western Literature, a written tradition of ideas discussed throughout the ages by top minds. Not because they were from a particular place or race, but because they had the preceding books in common. This is what sets Western Civilization apart, the continual evaluation of the same elemental ideas of existence. The current edition has turned this wonderful work into a list of "good books" by tacking in works that have much to offer, but were not in on the conversation.
Rating: 
Summary: MISPLACEMENT OF EMPHASIS (bookbasher@hotmail.com)
Review: This book deserves one more than one star because of its subject matter. Clifton Fadiman, who also gave us THE WINE BUYER'S GUIDE & THE JOYS OF WINE, shows a sincere love for books, yet he is unfortunately one of the most ridiculous critics I have ever encountered. He consistently sounds far too pompous and misplaces his emphasis left and right. He tells us that Shakespeare should not be studied and is frequently pretentious and obscure; he says that Milton wrote in an often lackluster foreign language; he declares that Dickens is tedious and produced one of his worst novels in A TALE OF TWO CITIES; and he implies that DON QUIXOTE is something you should read in the 50-page version for children. After leaving us a bit ambivalent about those who have long been considered the greatest writers ever, he goes on the exalt Nabokov, Camus, and James Boswell (merely fine writers relative to the former ones).Reading Cliff Fadiman is like listening to a history professor tell you that Jefferson, Lincoln, and FDR were really mediocre presidents, but that Garfield and Coolidge were enlightened and really got a hell of a lot done. I hate to be so negative, but there are just so many better books than Fadiman's on the same subject. If you are looking for a lifetime reading plan and an inspiring critic, I suggest you try Harold Bloom (THE WESTERN CANON, SHAKESPEARE: THE INVENTION OF THE HUMAN, HOW TO READ AND WHY). After you read Bloom's chapters on Cervantes, Milton, Dickens, and above all Shakespeare, go back and read Fadiman's sections on these authors. Talk about Hyperion to a satyr.
Rating:
Summary: MISPLACEMENT OF EMPHASIS (bookbasher@hotmail.com)
Review: This book deserves one more than one star because of its subject matter. Clifton Fadiman, who also gave us THE WINE BUYER'S GUIDE & THE JOYS OF WINE, shows a sincere love for books, yet he is unfortunately one of the most ridiculous critics I have ever encountered. He consistently sounds far too pompous and misplaces his emphasis left and right. He tells us that Shakespeare should not be studied and is frequently pretentious and obscure; he says that Milton wrote in an often lackluster foreign language; he declares that Dickens is tedious and produced one of his worst novels in A TALE OF TWO CITIES; and he implies that DON QUIXOTE is something you should read in the 50-page version for children. After leaving us a bit ambivalent about those who have long been considered the greatest writers ever, he goes on the exalt Nabokov, Camus, and James Boswell (merely fine writers relative to the former ones). Reading Cliff Fadiman is like listening to a history professor tell you that Jefferson, Lincoln, and FDR were really mediocre presidents, but that Garfield and Coolidge were enlightened and really got a hell of a lot done. I hate to be so negative, but there are just so many better books than Fadiman's on the same subject. If you are looking for a lifetime reading plan and an inspiring critic, I suggest you try Harold Bloom (THE WESTERN CANON, SHAKESPEARE: THE INVENTION OF THE HUMAN, HOW TO READ AND WHY). After you read Bloom's chapters on Cervantes, Milton, Dickens, and above all Shakespeare, go back and read Fadiman's sections on these authors. Talk about Hyperion to a satyr.
Rating: 
Summary: Great and Not-so-great Books
Review: This book is an anthology of summaries of the better books written since the time of the scroll and stylus. Unlike its predecessor, the Great Books of Western Civilization, this compendium broadens its horizons to include Eastern literature as well as Western. There's no question that many of the books recommended one read over the course of one's lifetime are truly meritorious, but there have crept in a few books which are interesting only because they appeal to a non-Western reader. Fair enough, but it tends to reduce the important works of civilization to a lower common denominator. Also, there are some serious omissions, as most of the attention is devoted to "literature," and not to works in philosophy, praxelogy, axiology, social and scientific history, and political, economic, and scientific breakthroughs. If one desires a list of the great books in all fields of endeavor, this is NOT the book. Too many books are omitted for that kind of enterprise. Indeed, looking at the Great Books website will provide a better list of books that really deserve our attention, and make our devotion to reading them perennially valuable. However, if literature is one's only interest, then this can be a helpful overview.
Rating:
Summary: A must for the serious reader
Review: This book serves not only as a list of the editors' recommendations for books the serious reader will want to have read by the end of one's life, but as an informal guide to the works themselves. They offer analysis of the works' historical origins and value, as well as things to keep in mind while reading them (their suggestions on reading Shakespeare and James Joyce are splendid!) What's more, they encourage the reader to add upon the suggestions made here; the emphasis above all is placed on the love of reading and the discovery of great literature.
Rating:
Summary: Great book for adolescent readers.
Review: This is a particularly good book for adolsecents.
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