The Gateway to the Great Books

A Collection of Shorter Great Writings

Mortimer Adler is a name that deserves to be better known than it presently is. He was a man who worked tirelessly for the good of his fellow citizens and he did this primarily through making The Great Books of the Western World accessible to everyone. Adler was the chief editor of the collection of books by that name. The G.B.W.W. was originally published by Britannica in 1954 and then later updated and republished in 1990. Adler surveyed the vast literature of Western Civilization and chose the most influential books ever written from Homer to Sigmund Freud. One of the most beautiful features of the G.B.W.W. collection is the Syntopicon, the first two volumes of the set, which allows the reader trace The Great Ideas through the entire set. If you want to know what Homer, Plotinus, Plato, Virgil, Aurelius, Dante, and Chaucer (or any other author contained in the set) think about topics like Free Will, War, Love, or Virtue, then the Syntopicon can show you everything they have to say about these topics (and a great many others). It is, in my opinion, one of the greatest research tools available.

Adler also wrote many books to help people (just like you and me) get everything we can out of these great books. One of his best known works is How to Read a Book (a phenomenally useful text for learning how to get more out of the books we read). He also wrote a book called Aristotle for Everybody which serves as another testament of his desire to see everyone reading the great books and not just “ivory tower” scholars in academia. Adler was known for doing book studies in local libraries and other “in-the-community” locations to bring the Great Books to everyone.

Adler worked hard to see reform in our K-12 educational institutions. He believed that what students desperately needed was a classical, liberal arts education. A liberal education is an education for free people and an education which makes people free. He believed that such an education was fitting for American children who would play their part one day in our Democratic Republic. Since all Americans share in the rule of our land, either by serving in office or by voting for those who do, they should have educations which make them fit to rule. More on this from him can be seen in his book The Paideia Proposal.

There is a lot more good work from Adler than I can mention in this brief post. He has impacted so many people for the good, people just like you and me. His work has helped moms and dads raising their kids, children learning in their schools, teachers teaching at those schools, Lawyers and politicians working for the common good (there have been some they are just usually unpopular), and people in every corner of society.

So here is a gift, for you, from Dr. Mortimer Adler:

The Gateway to the Great Books

This is a collection of shorter works of History, Literature, Philosophy, Politics, Science, and Mathematics which is also curated by Adler. Some of the same authors from The Great Books of the Western World are included herein but there are also many other names and pieces which have no overlap with that other, larger, collection. Click the link above and feel free to download the PDF and add this to your own personal library. It’s a very large file so downloading it and using a PDF reader like Adobe may be helpful. May it be a blessing to you as you do life and think about what matters.