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/lit/ - Literature

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16911119 No.16911119 [Reply] [Original]

should i buy this????

>> No.16911131

>>16911119
They look a bit beaten up, and you'll have to check and see the books' physical quality.

>> No.16911145

Oh my...... I think I'm gonna..... I'm gonnna....... CONSOOM OH MY GOD I'M CONSOOMING PLEASE SOMEONE HELP ME

>> No.16911152

Doesn’t say what translation, you can get all these books new for less than 250 but they won’t match

>> No.16911174

Haggle

>> No.16911194

>>16911119
i looked them up online and there are cheaper bids on amazon but the average price is around 350

>> No.16911280

>>16911119
The only reason to buy this is a tribute to your ego. To affirm to yourself that you are the reading man you believe yourself to be. To signal to your guests that you are well read. It would take a pretentious prick hole to buy something like this. I would 100% buy it.

>> No.16911282

>>16911119
You never read them anyway.

>> No.16911302

>>16911119
I betcha you could haggle and move it down to $200. Remember they want it gone more than you want it.

>> No.16911306

>>16911119

Yes, but only you them all and destroy the ones you don't like.

>> No.16911378

Offer 200 and buy it

>> No.16911383
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16911383

I wouldn’t pay more than a hundred

>> No.16911448

>>16911119
Not a bad deal, though I would haggle a bit if I can, inspect all the books, and if you can find all of these used in good condition under $10 (you probably can) then dont bother unless those translations are very good and just buy your own shelf with the leftover cash

>> No.16911463

>>16911119
Does the bookshelf come with it?

>> No.16911564

>>16911119
>great books
Based, I think it might even have some collector value.

>> No.16911566

>>16911119
I wouldn't if I were you. The translations are probably old and of god knows what quality, some of the tomes look suspiciously thin (Dante, Rabelais, Homer, Cervantes).

>> No.16911659

>>16911119
I have that exact same collection (inherited from grandfather) but I mostly use it for display purposes in my living room. Any of the books I actually want to read from there I have in a more readable edition in my library.

>> No.16911707

>>16911564
They aren't of great quality, the binding is very roughed up.

>>16911659
This seems to be the consensus, they are good for display but not for reading. I think I shouldn't spend my money on this now, when I have so little. Collecting books seems like a pastime for when I am older and have more discretionary income.

>> No.16911721

>>16911564
At the price they're selling them, probably not

>> No.16911772

>>16911659
Why are they unreadable?

>> No.16911841

>>16911119
Less than 5 dollars a book AND you get a shelf? That's a good deal. The shelf looks to be in good condition too. All the books from that series are worth owning, and the editions have a nice layout. Getting a hardcover of the complete Aristotle alone is pretty pricey among the most common new versions, so also getting the Divine comedy, Shakespeare, all of Plato, it's a great deal. Some people say the translations aren't the best but I've never had any problems from the ones I've picked up

>> No.16911877

>>16911119
Download the complete works of all of them to your ereader for free and without any page vanishing from just touching it

>> No.16911899

>>16911772
No they're very readable. The translations are top-tier. They're not very well formatted though. They're not very comfortable to hold, and the text is formatted in columns, like a newspaper. I have the same collection, and have read many of the books in it, but I would definitely prefer to read from a more properly formatted book if I had it.

>> No.16911918

I bought 75% of these at a library sale for 1 dollar a piece

>> No.16912121
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16912121

>>16911119
Do you have unlimited $?
If not, NO.
Short answer:
Buy this (pic).
Truly great book.
Is it on libgen?
I know everything about Adler, so, Anons, ask away.

>> No.16912442

>>16911119
Wish I lived in a country where these kinds of books are sold. Literature is shit in my country

>> No.16912455

>>16912121
Tell me about that book. Sell me on it.

>> No.16912521

>>16912455
With pleasure.
Best part of Great Books of Western World, is the Syntopicon.
Syntopicon was a massive, autistic undertaking.
Adler had U of C students rummaging through the Canon for his keywords or key concepts.
Saul Bellow was one of the students.
Hutchins was truly a genius and tempered Adler.
That set looks nice, but you could get much better editions.
And print is two-column and antlike.
The pic I showed is Adler rewriting the Syntopicon at the end of his life.
There is a computer version of Great Books of the Western World, and that’s the exception if you can afford that.
In sum:
OP’s set has 2-column hard to read print and the translations are pitiful
However, for those making fun of Adler.
In his prime, he was unbeatable in argument.
He argued against the positivists.
Adler worshipped Aquinas and had his arguments memorized, and applied it in these debates, which were major events at the U of C.
Hope someday to understand Aquinas to the degree where I can see what Adler was doing.

>> No.16912538

>>16911280
This, essentially

>> No.16912562

>>16912521
How does it stack up to Bloom's Western Canon?

>> No.16912629

>>16911280
Maybe there is another reason. Maybe just maybe, someone would actually be interested in reading them.

Crazy, i know

>> No.16912715

>>16912562
Bloom is good.
Adler was an autistic savant who really had a legal mind.
Syntopicon is just like the West keynote system lawyers depend on.
Adler has around 104 great ideas, and on each, he synthesizes all the voices at the table.
It’s fascinating.
I love 4chan and try to be 100% honest:
I’d rate it one of the five or so best books.
Adler and the Van Doren who cheated on Quiz Show also have a book of quotations, which I’d rate second-best of Adler’s books.
Print is extra-tiny though.
Wonder if either that or pic is on libgen.
I tried to check but can’t get on at the moment.

>> No.16912801

>>16912562
Also:
You really made me think.
Bloom is good.
But Adler really is geared toward debate.
Toward arguing like a lawyer about the Canon.
Syntopicon has all the arguments right at your fingertips, for the perennial topics.
Those debates Adler did at U of C during the Hutchins years were huge, and the subject was positivism.

If we could get an Anon, drill him in informal argument, Zarefsky is my favorite, then have him memorize Adler’s Syntopicon, perhaps combined with knowledge of Aquinas’s methods and arguments, we’d have a monster that the gods would take notice of and if we could video his classes at a great university, perhaps we’d have one of the great kinos. :)

>> No.16912861

>>16912801
Nice. I found How To Read A Book great so I'll add Great Ideas to my future reads. It's a very novel idea to compile a book like that.

>> No.16912914

>>16912629
The primary motivation for buying something like this is not in the interest of merely reading and enjoying them.

>> No.16912956

>>16912521
>The pic I showed is Adler rewriting the Syntopicon at the end of his life.
Is it still a reference lexicon, or is it something that's meant to be read from cover to cover? Is it expanded or nutshelled?

>> No.16912970

>>16911145
OH GOD..... I'M.... I'M CONSOOOMIIIIIIIIING

>> No.16912986

>>16911119
I would buy that in a heartbeat

>> No.16913002

>>16911119
The syntopicon reminds me of an old joke, about the schoolboy who picks up "How to Hump" only to be disappointed when he realizes it's a volume of the encyclopedia

>> No.16913063

>>16912956
It lacks the keynotes of the original Syntopicons (plural because I think Adler revised it).
It’s meant to be read cover to cover.
It’s the Syntopicon, but updated by Adler alone at the end of his life.
The Great Books of the Western World are on computer, the ideal format because of hyperlinking, but I never used it.
The great criticism of Adler is Allan Bloom’s Closing of the American Mind.
Basically, Adler reads the Canon like a young Ted Cruz so he can be warlike and win debates.
I think Cruz memorized the Constitution, and he was an extremely experienced Princeton debater, before entering Harvard Law School.
Plus his parents were computer programmers or something like that.
Cruz was a monster at Harvard Law School.
That’s the type of monster Adler was trying to build, but not in law, in the Canon itself.
It’s fascinating but perhaps mad.

>> No.16913114

>>16911119
I mean it's very posh looking but those editions are probably crap and the books themselves are probably deteriorating.

>> No.16913119

>>16911119
How are you even asking this question?
250 dollars for something that would otherwise cost at least double that.
I wish my local bookstore had anything like this

>> No.16913132

>>16911119
YES.

>>16911145
Reminder that Bowden consumes- read broad and large, but always so deeply, yet he was a genius and a great speaker of culture.

>> No.16913168

I confess /lit/, I own a very nice hardbound complete works of Shakespeare in blue with gold letters but I never touch it, if I want to read him I use tatty old paperbacks.

>> No.16913292

>>16913168
I think I have that same one and I never actually read it either, I just hate that thin bible paper so much, same with my Oxford book of English verse

>> No.16913517

>>16911119
No. They're tacky as fuck

>> No.16913583

$4.50 a book with a shelf?
I’d get it. If you don’t like them, you can always put them on eBay for 6-7 a piece and make your money back. Hell, you could get $20-30 for the bookshelf alone. More of you put some work in it

>> No.16913599

>>16913168
I have an Easton press collection I inherited from my grandparents, and I feel guilty if I ever touch them.
I buy ratty copies instead of I want to read them

>> No.16913728

>>16912521
You convinced me anon, just bought a copy

>> No.16913747

>>16911566
No, those are the full books but the text is dense as fuck. It's like two massive columns of text per page.

>> No.16913771

>>16911841
It's not all of Plato technically but the book has all of the confirmed dialogues except for Hippias Minor and Laches.

>> No.16913784

200 yes
250 no if you wont read anything there

>> No.16913891

>>16911119
Those books are all too tall and don't fit comfortably in the hand.

>> No.16914038

>>16913891
>he doesn't sit in an armchair to read
You're as gay as it gets.

>> No.16914045
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16914045

>>16913891
>hand

pleb

>> No.16914048

>>16914045
what is the point of that thing

>> No.16914060

>>16913891
You're supposed to read them in a study

>> No.16914066

>>16914048
touch the pedal books go weee

>> No.16914103

>>16914048
>he doesn't have a book wheel
You're never going to make it

>> No.16914638

>>16911119
I have the chaucer and it's great. It has middle english on one page with a translated modern english version on the next. Highly recommended for esl.

>> No.16914654

>>16914638
I didn't know it had that. I was going to get the Penguin one but I might get this one onstead.

>> No.16915101

>>16914654
Definitely get it. I got mine for like $5 at a used bookstore.

>> No.16915387

>>16914048
you'd know if you actually read, kid

>> No.16915398

>>16911119
Looks pretty based. That'd keep you busy for awhile if you were motivated.

>> No.16915415

>>16911119
>>16915398
Wait, nevermind. Not for $250. It's a bunch of old common beat up books and some wood. They will definitely drop that price unless some pseud buys it. I'd pay $100 max.

>> No.16915494

>>16911383
lol I love that fat dog

>> No.16915501

YES

>> No.16916506

>>16911119
Yes.

>> No.16916929
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16916929

>>16914048
pffft

>> No.16916936

>>16911302
I'd offer even lower. I always say "My money..... your junk".

>> No.16916963

>>16911119
>no marx
>Freud
WTF

>> No.16916975

>>16916963
Look harder.