I usually suggest starting out with Plato, perhaps his Timaeus is the closest to what you moderns call "sci-fi", but it is not on the list, so I can hardly do so.
Along the lines of "free interesting content" it might be interesting to seriously suggest a January book topic thats a classical book, or a non-recent book anyway.
Some decades ago, as a teenage boy, Timaeus might have been a hard sell; on the other hand The Anabasis kind of sold itself and was quite a page turner, I think I read the whole thing in about two sittings, couldn't put it down.
Plutarch's Parallel Lives in total is too much to ask for a month; Just the specific Alexander vs Caesar vs Trump (just kidding about the last... or am I?) would be realistic.
Herodotus is a weird mix of real scholarship and fake news (giant ants? come on...) so that would be cool, but again, would also be too large for a one month discussion.
VLM has read a book? I am impressed. Now if only he would give up the Nazi positions, to prove that the lessons of antiquity have not gone for naught. (BTW, giant ants are real in the desert of the Sind. They are called "camel spiders" by some.)
Along the lines of "free interesting content" it might be interesting to seriously suggest a January book topic thats a classical book, or a non-recent book anyway.
When the SN Book Club was announced I was finishing The Lost World by Arthur Conan Doyle. It is free and beautifully formatted [standardebooks.org] by Standard Ebooks [standardebooks.org].
I look forward to nominate it for the January club pick.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by aristarchus on Monday September 17 2018, @06:55AM (3 children)
I usually suggest starting out with Plato, perhaps his Timaeus is the closest to what you moderns call "sci-fi", but it is not on the list, so I can hardly do so.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by VLM on Wednesday September 19 2018, @09:06PM (2 children)
Along the lines of "free interesting content" it might be interesting to seriously suggest a January book topic thats a classical book, or a non-recent book anyway.
Some decades ago, as a teenage boy, Timaeus might have been a hard sell; on the other hand The Anabasis kind of sold itself and was quite a page turner, I think I read the whole thing in about two sittings, couldn't put it down.
Plutarch's Parallel Lives in total is too much to ask for a month; Just the specific Alexander vs Caesar vs Trump (just kidding about the last... or am I?) would be realistic.
Herodotus is a weird mix of real scholarship and fake news (giant ants? come on...) so that would be cool, but again, would also be too large for a one month discussion.
(Score: 3, Touché) by aristarchus on Friday September 21 2018, @07:53AM
VLM has read a book? I am impressed. Now if only he would give up the Nazi positions, to prove that the lessons of antiquity have not gone for naught. (BTW, giant ants are real in the desert of the Sind. They are called "camel spiders" by some.)
(Score: 1) by Drake_Edgewater on Saturday September 22 2018, @05:09PM
When the SN Book Club was announced I was finishing The Lost World by Arthur Conan Doyle. It is free and beautifully formatted [standardebooks.org] by Standard Ebooks [standardebooks.org].
I look forward to nominate it for the January club pick.