To the editor:
Unfortunately these Great Books programs are mostly philosophy oriented. I found that they were greatly deficient in two areas: (1) science and math: only Darwin’s Origin of Species made it. One of the great works, both Newton and Einstein saying that it had a huge impact on them, was Euclid’s Elements. I recommend everyone reading through Book I, at least. Then to see Newton in action, students need to read the first book of Principia, plus the system of the world at the end; the influence of these two works on our world view has been immense; (2) there was a woeful lack of history writing: only The Peloponnesian Wars. I would throw in Plutarch and Herodotus, for a start. Gibbons Decline and Fall is very insightful.
Royal Skousen
Spanish Fork, Utah
