Go West, Young Man!

As an engineering student I did not get the opportunity to do any really interesting assigned readings in literature or culture at university. So I started reading outside of professional texts as soon as I completed my college studies. My favorites included books on the topics of history, science fiction and mystery. Even there I knew that I was limiting myself. I once picked up a summary of "The 100 Greatest Books" but found that less than satisfying.  

Getting quickly to the point of this essay I would like to pass along a recommendation by Professor Nail Ferguson, the Lawrence A. Tisch Professor of History at Harvard University and William Ziegler Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School.  The recommendation comes from his book CIVILIZATION: THE WEST AND THE REST (The Penguin Press, New York 2011);

Ferguson asks  "But what are the foundational texts of Western civilization, that can bolster our belief in the almost boundless power of the free individual human being?"(P. 324)

He offers the following in answer to the question:

The King James Bible

Isaac Newton's Principia

John Locke's Two Treatises on Government

Adam Smith's Moral Sentiments and Wealth of Nations

Edmund Burke's Reflections on the Revelation in France

Charles Darwin's Origin of the Species

William Shakespeare's plays

Abraham Lincoln selected speeches

Winston Churchill selected speeches 

That's my reading list now.