Monday, January 15, 2007

The 306 Greatest Books #56 - The Republic

I am going back and posting all of my previous book reviews so that they are listed on my site in chronological order. The reviews are dated for the time when I read the book, hence the reason many of them will be listed for times before this website existed. 

The next up on my reading of the 306 greatest books is The Republic by Plato. This book can be found on the Sybervision Book List.


Of all of the books on my lists, the "Science and Civilization" section of the Sybervision book list is the hardest to get through. That is for multiple reasons but mostly because the texts are often dry and uninteresting. Although, they do have bright spots here and there if you know where to look. I had started and read most of The Republic within my undergraduate Humanities class in college, which helps greatly in the understanding of these historical works. While a historically important work of literature that delves into topics such as justice and different forms of government, this is not meant to be read as entertainment. However, I am not reading this list for a history lesson and I found the text to be extremely difficult to comprehend, even with the aid of a professor. So I would have to say this is a strong not recommended for anyone reading these stories for fun. Overall, the reason for reading this is more for educational purposes than relaxation. Proceed at your own risk.