Reading the Best Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Did you see this? I know, I know, someone will say "According to whom?" This postmodern quip pretends both to power and wisdom, but it's flat out silly.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/07\/16\/reading-the-best-books\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Reading the Best Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Did you see this? I know, I know, someone will say "According to whom?" This postmodern quip pretends both to power and wisdom, but it's flat out silly.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/07\/16\/reading-the-best-books\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jesus Creed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-07-16T18:51:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-07-16T14:25:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Scot McKnight\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Scot McKnight\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/07\/16\/reading-the-best-books\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/07\/16\/reading-the-best-books\/\",\"name\":\"Reading the Best Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-07-16T18:51:48+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-07-16T14:25:13+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252\"},\"description\":\"Did you see this? I know, I know, someone will say \\\"According to whom?\\\" This postmodern quip pretends both to power and wisdom, but it's flat out silly.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/07\/16\/reading-the-best-books\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/07\/16\/reading-the-best-books\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/07\/16\/reading-the-best-books\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Reading the Best Books\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/\",\"name\":\"Jesus Creed\",\"description\":\"Scot McKnight on Jesus and orthodox faith in the 21st century\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252\",\"name\":\"Scot McKnight\",\"description\":\"Scot McKnight is a recognized authority on the New Testament, early Christianity, and the historical Jesus. McKnight, author of more than fifty books, is the Professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary in Lombard, IL.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/author\/scotmcknight\/\"}]}<\/script>\n","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Reading the Best Books","description":"Did you see this? I know, I know, someone will say \"According to whom?\" This postmodern quip pretends both to power and wisdom, but it's flat out silly.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/07\/16\/reading-the-best-books\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Reading the Best Books","og_description":"Did you see this? I know, I know, someone will say \"According to whom?\" This postmodern quip pretends both to power and wisdom, but it's flat out silly.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/07\/16\/reading-the-best-books\/","og_site_name":"Jesus Creed","article_published_time":"2011-07-16T18:51:48+00:00","article_modified_time":"2011-07-16T14:25:13+00:00","author":"Scot McKnight","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Scot McKnight","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/07\/16\/reading-the-best-books\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/07\/16\/reading-the-best-books\/","name":"Reading the Best Books","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-07-16T18:51:48+00:00","dateModified":"2011-07-16T14:25:13+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252"},"description":"Did you see this? I know, I know, someone will say \"According to whom?\" This postmodern quip pretends both to power and wisdom, but it's flat out silly.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/07\/16\/reading-the-best-books\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/07\/16\/reading-the-best-books\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/07\/16\/reading-the-best-books\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Reading the Best Books"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/","name":"Jesus Creed","description":"Scot McKnight on Jesus and orthodox faith in the 21st century","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252","name":"Scot McKnight","description":"Scot McKnight is a recognized authority on the New Testament, early Christianity, and the historical Jesus. McKnight, author of more than fifty books, is the Professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary in Lombard, IL.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/author\/scotmcknight\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18356","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/197"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18356"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18356\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

{"id":18356,"date":"2011-07-16T13:51:48","date_gmt":"2011-07-16T18:51:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/community\/jesuscreed\/?p=18356"},"modified":"2011-07-16T09:25:13","modified_gmt":"2011-07-16T14:25:13","slug":"reading-the-best-books","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/07\/16\/reading-the-best-books\/","title":{"rendered":"Reading the Best Books"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Did you see this?<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

I know, I know, someone will say \u201cAccording to whom?\u201d This postmodern quip pretends both to power and wisdom, but it\u2019s flat out silly. Reading good books is better than reading bad books, and reading better books is better than reading good books, and if we can find the best books, they are better than even good books. So, I say, read the best books you can. Who knows which are the best books? Consult the wise, the persons you consider wise. They\u2019ll have some top shelf suggestions.<\/p>\n

My sign of a great book is that expands our sense of humanity.<\/p>\n

During his days as Harvard\u2019s influential president,\u00a0Charles W. Eliot<\/a> made a frequent assertion: If you were to spend just 15 minutes a day reading the right books, a quantity that could fit on a five foot shelf, you could give yourself a proper liberal education. The\u00a0publisher P. F. Collier and Son\u00a0loved the idea and asked Eliot to assemble the right collection of works. The result was <\/em>a 51-volume series published in 1909 called\u00a0Dr. Eliot\u2019s Five Foot Shelf. <\/em>Later it would simply be called\u00a0The\u00a0Harvard Classics<\/em>.<\/p>\n
You can still buy an\u00a0old set off of eBay for $399<\/a>. But, just as easily, you can head to the\u00a0 Internet Archive<\/a> and\u00a0 Project Gutenberg<\/a>, which have centralized links to every text included in\u00a0The\u00a0Harvard Classics<\/em> (Wealth of Nations<\/em>,Origin of Species<\/em>,\u00a0Plutarch\u2019s Lives<\/em>, the list goes on). Please note that the previous two links won\u2019t give you access to the actual annotated\u00a0Harvard Classics <\/em>texts edited by Eliot himself. But if you want just that, you can always click here and get digital scans of the true\u00a0Harvard Classics<\/em><\/a>. Please note that the first two volumes appear at the bottom of the page. And, in case you want to deepen your liberal education yet further, don\u2019t forget to check out our collection\u00a0Free Online Courses<\/a><\/strong> \u2014 385 in total, all from top universities.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Did you see this? I know, I know, someone will say \u201cAccording to whom?\u201d This postmodern quip pretends both to power and wisdom, but it\u2019s flat out silly. Reading good books is better than reading bad books, and reading better books is better than reading good books, and if we can find the best books, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[476],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18356","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books"],"yoast_head":"\nReading the Best Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Did you see this? I know, I know, someone will say "According to whom?" This postmodern quip pretends both to power and wisdom, but it's flat out silly.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/07\/16\/reading-the-best-books\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Reading the Best Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Did you see this? I know, I know, someone will say "According to whom?" This postmodern quip pretends both to power and wisdom, but it's flat out silly.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/07\/16\/reading-the-best-books\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jesus Creed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-07-16T18:51:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-07-16T14:25:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Scot McKnight\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Scot McKnight\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/07\/16\/reading-the-best-books\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/07\/16\/reading-the-best-books\/\",\"name\":\"Reading the Best Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-07-16T18:51:48+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-07-16T14:25:13+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252\"},\"description\":\"Did you see this? I know, I know, someone will say \\\"According to whom?\\\" This postmodern quip pretends both to power and wisdom, but it's flat out silly.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/07\/16\/reading-the-best-books\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/07\/16\/reading-the-best-books\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/07\/16\/reading-the-best-books\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Reading the Best Books\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/\",\"name\":\"Jesus Creed\",\"description\":\"Scot McKnight on Jesus and orthodox faith in the 21st century\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252\",\"name\":\"Scot McKnight\",\"description\":\"Scot McKnight is a recognized authority on the New Testament, early Christianity, and the historical Jesus. McKnight, author of more than fifty books, is the Professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary in Lombard, IL.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/author\/scotmcknight\/\"}]}<\/script>\n","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Reading the Best Books","description":"Did you see this? I know, I know, someone will say \"According to whom?\" This postmodern quip pretends both to power and wisdom, but it's flat out silly.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/07\/16\/reading-the-best-books\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Reading the Best Books","og_description":"Did you see this? I know, I know, someone will say \"According to whom?\" This postmodern quip pretends both to power and wisdom, but it's flat out silly.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/07\/16\/reading-the-best-books\/","og_site_name":"Jesus Creed","article_published_time":"2011-07-16T18:51:48+00:00","article_modified_time":"2011-07-16T14:25:13+00:00","author":"Scot McKnight","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Scot McKnight","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/07\/16\/reading-the-best-books\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/07\/16\/reading-the-best-books\/","name":"Reading the Best Books","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-07-16T18:51:48+00:00","dateModified":"2011-07-16T14:25:13+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252"},"description":"Did you see this? I know, I know, someone will say \"According to whom?\" This postmodern quip pretends both to power and wisdom, but it's flat out silly.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/07\/16\/reading-the-best-books\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/07\/16\/reading-the-best-books\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/07\/16\/reading-the-best-books\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Reading the Best Books"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/","name":"Jesus Creed","description":"Scot McKnight on Jesus and orthodox faith in the 21st century","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252","name":"Scot McKnight","description":"Scot McKnight is a recognized authority on the New Testament, early Christianity, and the historical Jesus. McKnight, author of more than fifty books, is the Professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary in Lombard, IL.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/author\/scotmcknight\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18356","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/197"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18356"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18356\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}