by Clifton Fadiman, John S. Major

isbn: 0062702084
subject: Nonfiction, Books
finished: 1/24/2000

The introduction says it all:

The books here discussed may take you fifty years to finish. They can of course be read in a much shorter time. The point is that they are intended to occupy an important part of a whole life.

The first three editions of The Lifetime Reading Plan listed what Fadiman considered to be the most significant authors in Western literature. For the fourth edition John Major, who added many significant books from China, Japan, and India, joined him. For each author, one of the two has written about two pages about the author and his or her historical circumstances and major works. I really enjoyed this book; Fadiman and Major put a lot of their own opinions into the essays, making them much more lively than mere biographical sketches or plot synopses would have been. Recommended, especially to people giving themselves a belated liberal arts education.