Books like How to think about the great ideas by Mortimer J. Adler

A timeless lecture manual that examines reading through the lens of psychology, offering systematic strategies for adult learners and contributing to a broader understanding of civilization.

"Adler traces 'in the simplest language and with occasional modern analogues, the logic and growth of Aristotle's basic doctrines.'" Publ Wkly "Aristotle taught logic to Alexander the Great and, by virtue of his philosophical works, to every philosopher since, from Marcus Aurelius, to Thomas Aquinas, to Mortimer J. Adler. Now Aler instructs the world in the 'uncommon common sense' of Aristotelian logic, presenting Aristotle's understandings in a current, delightfully lucid way ... Adler offers us a unique path to personal insights and understanding of intangibles, such as the difference between wants and needs, the proper way to pursue happiness, and the right plan for a good life."

Dr. Mortimer J. Adler, director of the Institute for Philosophical Research, author of How To Read A Book, How To Think About War And Peace GREAT IDEAS from the GREAT BOOKS with an introduction by William Benton, Chairman of the Board of Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. Answers are drawn from the wisdom of the past to the problems about which we are most concerned in the world of today

The 2-volume "Syntopicon" of Britannica's Great Books of the Western World, providing a survey and a concordance of the Great Ideas treated in the remaining 51 volumes of the set, is itself one of the most important works of the 20th century. One of the criticisms I've read of the Great Books series is that it is little more than a "reading list" of important works of literature. That criticism might have some justification, if it were not for the Syntopicon, which orients the reader to the content of the Great Books, breaking down the entire set into its 102 component "Great Ideas"—the key topics addressed by Western literature as a whole since its inception.

Voltaire's Bastards: The Dictatorship of Reason in the West is a sweeping and provocative exploration of nothing less than the political, economic, social, and cultural origins of Western society. With great daring and originality, John Ralston Saul dissects the contradictions, delusions, and illusions that have brought the world to the brink of confusion and crisis, and shatters the myths surrounding the icons and institutions that we have been taught to revere and cherish.

xxxviii, 958 p. ; 25 cm

The Educated Mind presents a fresh vision for education, showing how intellectual tools like language shape learning and proposing curriculum changes that align with how children naturally acquire knowledge.

"John Hobson claims that throughout its history most international theory has been embedded within various forms of Eurocentrism. Rather than producing value-free and universalist theories of inter-state relations, international theory instead provides provincial analyses that celebrate and defend Western civilization as the subject of, and ideal normative referent in, world politics. Hobson also provides a sympathetic critique of Edward Said's conceptions of Eurocentrism and Orientalism, revealing how Eurocentrism takes different forms, which can be imperialist or anti-imperialist, and showing how these have played out in international theory since 1760. The book thus speaks to scholars of international relations and also to all those interested in understanding Eurocentrism in the disciplines of political science/political theory, political economy/international political economy, geography, cultural and literary studies, sociology and, not least, anthropology"--