The well educated mind, hardcover/susan wise bauer

The Well-Educated Mind offers brief, entertaining histories of five literary genres--fiction, autobiography, history, drama, and poetry--accompanied by detailed instructions on how to read each type.

The annotated lists at the end of each chapter--ranging from Cervantes to A.

Byatt, Herodotus to Laurel Thatcher Ulrich--preview recommended reading and encourage readers to make vital connections between ancient traditions and contemporary writing.

The Well-Educated Mind reassures those readers who worry that they read too slowly or with below-average comprehension.

If you can understand a daily newspaper, theres no reason you cant read and enjoy Shakespeares Sonnets or Jane Eyre .

But no one should attempt to read the Great Books without a guide and a plan.

Susan Wise Bauer will show you how to allocate time to your reading on a regular basis; how to master a difficult argument; how to make personal and literary judgments about what you read; how to appreciate the resonant links among texts within a genre--what does Anna Karenina owe to Madame Bovary ?--and also between genres.

Followed carefully, the advice in The Well-Educated Mind will restore and expand the pleasure of the written word.