What is a Great Book?

What makes a book great? Fred Sanders at Biola College puts books to the test every year as he and others select the books to be read in the honors program. Sanders has some good criteria with which to choose the books. He lists this out in eight steps. And explains them in this article. This is a summarized list. 

1. A great book speaks from an important original setting.
2. A great book is written in a way that is relevant for readers today.
3. A great book is well-crafted.
4. A great book is one that provokes excellent discussion.
5. A great book is inexhaustible, so no reading of it is the final reading, and no discussion ever runs it dry.
6. A great book is time-tested. People from multiple generations have had their hands on it, and have judged it to be worth passing along.
7. A great book is weird. It’s got angles, edges, textures, and stuff sticking out that you wouldn’t have predicted.
8. A great book is smarter than the best teacher, but within reach of the average student.

Now I would agree with most of these eights steps and certainly if you followed these guidelines you would end up with some great books. But I must critique and possibly add some elements which I think are missing here. To start off let me divulge the points that I think Sanders gets right. In his criteria a “great book” is one which “is inexhaustible” and “provokes excellent discussion”. I think these two factors are very true and a great book will certainly lead you to a re-read. I myself have read the Narnia series about eight times through and each time I find another “smattering of wisdom” that I missed before. I would also agree that a book has to be relevant and well crafted. If I can digress for a moment, I was just discussing with one of my professors last week about books from the Fathers of America like Ben Franklin and so forth. The interesting thing that he stated was that if you take a book from the 18^th and 19^th century and compare it to a modern book today, you will see that the words used have become increasingly simple. It’s a sad day when you can’t write a book with words of more than three syllables for fear of “losing” your audience. 

Now for the critique part, one thing I noted in Sanders article was that he stated he was reluctant to pick a book that was newer or modern, he states “Somebody might have written a truly great book (in our Socratic sense) yesterday, but we won’t know for another 50 to 100 years”. He goes on further to say “for all we know they might pass from usefulness before many more decades”. There are two problems with this statement. First, to say “we won’t know a good book is a good book until it is at least 50-100 years old” is bordering nonsense. Furthermore to say a book cannot be selected because it may “go out of style” so to speak, is a flagrant flaw in this criterion. A great book may have been written yesterday and all we can do is let it sit on our shelf for another hundred years? Hmm I think the point that is missing here is that great books inspire people to action. To say that a book for instance, “uncle Tom’s Cabin” isn’t a great book because it only dealt with the issues of civil rights during a specific period would be a major fallacy. 

I think that Sanders might want to broaden his “horizon” a little bit, after all isn’t a great book one that evokes the reader to change, not just discuss? Now I may be wrong, but I think that if a person were reading a book and they got to the last page, looked up and with a happy smile said “now that was a great book”, then set the book down and continued on their day I would have to conclude that the book may not in fact be all that “great”. But if a person got to the last page and then slowly set it down and just simply sat there until you would ask “so how was it?” “Oh it was great” they would reply “but I think I may have to start doing things differently”, Now based on that, I might conclude that the book in question was indeed a “great book”.   
Sure, I could put a list of my “top ten favorites” but that would be a matter of opinion and let us not loose site that this article is a matter of opinion. I have read “great books” in my life that truly inspired me and were profound, but then again what “worked” for me may not “work” for you. I think that we must understand that each individual person has hopes, dreams, aspirations and questions about life that need answering. Now how a book may go about that? Certainly great books can answer difficult questions about life, or at the very least get you thinking. But the criterion for which a book impacts us depends largely on where we are in life. So to say a book criterion is an “objective” way to classify a book would be inconsistent with the reality that great books come in all shapes and sizes. So I won’t divulge a top ten, not even a personal favorite, the only way to find great books is to read one and judge it for yourself. Of course, thats just my opinion.

Multiculturalism

America has long been known as the “melting pot” of cultures. Immigration has been happening since the beginning of our nation.  But in a recent post RLC stated “A nation, to be a nation, needs cohesion, and it cannot achieve cohesion when its citizens are constantly reminding everyone how very different they are from each other.”

What America has done is something very different from most other countries, and this could be its downfall. Today Americans can be seen from all different kinds of backgrounds. We have; Europeans, Jews, Irish, Polish, African American, Latino, Russian, German, Just to name a few. And all of these bring with them their “heritage” and their culture. Now what America has done is set up a nation that enforces toleration of all these cultures, religions etc, so that people can live in America but maintain their own distinctiveness. Now I’m not saying that this is wrong, on the contrary each person should have their own identity, after all this is a democracy not a dictatorship. No, where I see the flaw is in America’s view of multiculturalism or rather the consequences of it.  

In a recent press interview The German Chancellor Angela Merkel stated that “Germany's attempt to create a multi-cultural society has failed completely” adding that “immigrants should integrate and adopt Germany's culture and values.” Furthermore, said the chancellor "We feel tied to Christian values. Those who don't accept them don't have a place here". Now what is interesting here is Germany’s admission that their “melting pot” system does not work. It breaks down social values and ends up being a battle of religious and cultural rights rather than a unified society.

Should America be wary of this news? Is this perhaps a foreshadowing to the mounting tensions we find here in the U.S.? To get back to my point I want to reiterate that America’s flaw is its consequences of multiculturalism. Now by multiculturalism I mean the idea of having a nation with many different cultures all seeming to co-exist with each other. But that doesn’t happen now does it.... At least not on the whole, no instead what ends up happening is that we are all being forced into closed off communities. Why is this so dangerous? Firstly, when you force a society into closed off communities it creates tension between societies. Every major city has a “china town” or an Irish or Italian “bloc”, the list goes on and on.  

What this means for America is disunity and sometimes even open hatred. So what does America do with this? It creates its own “culture” and that culture can be found in industrialization. Here we see that the “American Dream” is to be successful. But is this really a helpful alternative? So we have a common goal, but what happens when that goal is not based on any culture, religion, or moral values?  What America has done is systematically made a country where the objective goal to being American is to “get ahead” in the marketplace. Basically the only thing holding America together at this point is materialism. Hmm it’s a sad state that we find ourselves in today. Maybe we should pay more attention to our German neighbors and eat a slice of “humble pie” before we too are forced to declare that American society has gone “bankrupt”.  What America needs is a true culture, not this fabricated pop-star American Dream.  So how do we do this? Only time will tell.

The Battle of Morality

We are in a war. I'm not talking about a physical war but a war of morality. The fact is that we must choose who we are. One day we will find ourselves at the crossroads of choice. The choice of being a person of success or character. We can live for ourselves or we can choose to live for others. You can deny it, avoid it, or accept it. But like it or not, this is the situation. With so few who stand up for the poor, meek, the socially bankrupt it is easy to lose heart, lose faith and accept defeat. But there are those that fight. Those that others rally to, taking up the battle cry alongside them, unified, strong. These people are called Champions. They are the ones who stand unwavering against the foe. The ones who do not except defeat against impossible odds. the jeers the taunts the insults and more importantly they are the servants. The people who choose to put others before themselves. Who battle not for prestige or glory, but to defend those who would otherwise have no defense against the dark foe. Champions have become rare these days. Almost on the brink of extinction. But still there is hope. Because new Champions are being born. You may ask how, where, who? The answer is starring you right in the face. The mark of a Champion is in you, you just don't realize it yet.

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.” ~Theodore Roosevelt.

Now you have begun to see, now you have begun to realize that it is not you who should be watching the fight, but you who should be the fighter. Somewhere inside of you there is this sense of passion, of courage, and valor, And with it, the willingness to stand against those who would oppose it. Every era has strife. But in every era there are hero's that stand and oppose it, those that fight for freedom, goodness and love. are you going to spend you life on yourself or on a worthy cause. The only question left is this. What are you waiting for? Break free, become a Champion and I will meet you on the battlefield.

I know that some of us face these decisions every day in our schools, colleges, university's and professions. The popular trend in our culture is one of fame, fortune, and having a good time. Basically this means that culture is giving us a free pass to disregard anybody who doesn't help us get what we want. Today even the meaning of the term "favor" has changed. When somebody asks for a favor the oft-herd reply is "whats in it for me?" people this should not be so. Today we acknowledge man's accomplishments rather than his character. So to those who wish to say "no" to the social norm, to those who just don't want to be another "statistic" I ask you to look within yourself and make the decision to become a champion of today.

changed my blog name and url

Hey I've changed my name and url you can now find me at http://dropincoffeecup.blogspot.com/

Stirring the Imagination

    The American Education System finds itself at a crossroad in the 21^st Century.  The problem is the road they are taking seems to be the wrong one.  Thomas Spence in this article  says that the flaw in the education system is that kids and especially boys are spending too much time playing video games and engaging in electronic media. The solution then he promotes is thus. “The secret to raising boys who read, I submit, is pretty simple—keep electronic media, especially video games and recreational Internet, under control (that is to say, almost completely absent). Then fill your shelves with good books.”

Although this is good and sound advice I think that there is something missing in the equation of why the literacy rate of students has been dropping. It is not just the home life of a student that affects literacy but the teacher’s performance as well. Now I know that Mr. Spence thinks that this is a problem as well when he writes “A considerable number of teachers and librarians believe that boys are simply bored by the "stuffy" literature they encounter in school. According to a revealing Associated Press story in July these experts insist that we must "meet them where they are"—that is, pander to boys' untutored tastes.” So we see that the problem does not simply stop with electronic media but with the teachers methods as well and this can be part (if not even more so) of the problem students are facing.

Now I realize that this may seem that I’m making excuses video games but I’m not. I agree that students spending a lot of their time engaged in media instead of reading will show a deficiency in their reading, I just don’t think that this is the main problem as Thomas Spence does. Nor do I think that the “facts” of video games replacing books is objectively true. I myself know plenty of “gamers” who do online gaming and LAN parties and the next day are reading Ernest Hemingway. It wasn’t even two weeks ago that I found myself leaving the store with a new video game in tow, oh and guess what..two days later I left another shop after having just bought the complete classic works of Jules Verne. Who says that the new and old can’t mix? I think it works just fine. But I digress; let us get back on the path of the American Education System.  

The main problem is the Education System coddling their students. I don’t think enough emphasis is put on the affect that teachers and educators have on their students. Furthermore, when you get right down to it, isn’t the job of educators to prepare students to be successful in the marketplace. I’ve never heard of a school solely teaching so that a person could learn trivia, no a school is established to prepare kids to go out into the workforce and gives them the skills to be successful. Isn’t that what the American Dream is all about? Through hard work and education can’t a person be who they want to be? Why then are educators lowering the bar of excellence? Even more disturbing than that, is the fact that teachers are treating kids and especially boys like children. If a teacher treats a boy like a boy, then he will stay a boy. If a teacher treats a boy like a man, then he will grow into one.

When I was in eighth grade I had a teacher who I can say changed my life and outlook on school. The difference between him and my other teachers was simple. He treated us with respect and likewise expected it from us. Instead of calling us “boys” he called us “gentlemen” “because” he explained “that’s what you are and that’s how you will be treated”. What happened? Well we started acting like real gentleman, always responding with a “yes sir”. Amazing isn’t it when you teat someone with dignity they actually respect you. Now there’s a novel idea!  What is more he didn’t pile loads of books for us to read, just a simple few, but those few books included works like C.S. Lewis and Jack London. So you see I would rather a student read one book of something intelligible than a hundred “grossology” books.

All that to say while I agree with the post of Thomas Spence and R.L. Cleary  I think the quest goes a bit deeper than that. I think the problem of students is really a lack of good educators who “pander” their students. So although I think video games can be a part of the problem. I think too many people are running towards blaming the “electronic age” than addressing the real problem. Whatever happened to teachers being role models? And what happened to the teacher’s sense of duty? I know that giving a kid a less demanding book is easier but then where is the education? Where is the encouragement to excel? Henry Irving put it best when he says "Let us consider the nature of true greatness in men. The people who can catch hold of men’s minds and feelings and inspire them to do things bigger than themselves are the people who are remembered in history. . . . those who stir feelings and imagination and make men struggle toward perfection.” Maybe the American Education System could do with a little “stirring of the imagination” themselves.

Time and Life

 Time is a funny thing. the more time goes on the more it breaks down walls and rusts away what we once thought invincible. Now we stand on the very moment that everything else depends on. "The Present" it is simple yes.. what we did is the past and cannot be undone, the future holds no promise of tomorrow for it is a mystery. It is today that is so special... today you can live life. Forget all those schemes that look to future wealth and prosperity, for that will never lead to the success I'm talking about. No nothing can be greater than how you live out each day. How you really spend your years as they slip by. No in the end I imagine that each of us should abandon the grand schemes and elaborate prizes we hunt to feed our pride. No I think that life's story should be lived out in a happiness. The happiness that comes from thinking each day is full of opportunities and trials. And each day we can seize life and find happiness in the all the quirks and mistakes we find ourselves in everyday. Each day is meant to be lived in the present for it is only in the present that we have the power to change the course of time and ourselves. But wait... can we be truly happy if we abandon all plans, dreams, goals etc...? Does living for the moment mean abandoning something worth striving for? what happens when we find the one thing worth hanging on to. The one hope, that we can't simply live without. For in this lifetime some of us inevitably find that one thing that makes sense of the world we live in. And to those that are still searching for that...I can only express my sympathy for you. I hope that you will find what I have...something worth living for. It is in this that I realize that maybe life isn't made to be lived at minute by minute, but maybe...just maybe we live because we have purpose. A purpose that we couldn't foresee but one that we invariably find ourselves in. So here's the moment where you must ask yourself...what is your purpose..what is your life....are you waiting for something to happen or did you already find something worth living for, something that time cannot rust, something that is pure, noble, true....so now here comes the advice...wake up...start living your life. Start living for a purpose....that's it...times up.