Product Description

How many times have you wished that you'd been taught Latin at school? Or that your history stretched all the way back to Greek and Roman myths and legends? Or perhaps you wish you knew all about the great inventions and medical developments that have made our world what it is today? "A Classical Education" provides all of these classical facts that modern schooling leaves out and many more. Perfect for parents who wish to teach their children and for those who would like to learn or relearn the facts themselves, "A Classical Education" is informative and educational, but in a completely accessible way, including: Latin and Greek; logic and philosophy; natural sciences; art and architecture; poetry and drama; and, history and classical literature. Also including suggestions for further reading and entertaining tit-bits of information on the classics, "A Classical Education" is a must for anyone feeling let down by modern schooling.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #975 in Books
• Published on: 2009-06-11
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 192 pages

From the Author
Why `a classical education'? Who cares? Those were the questions I had to answer when I sat down to write this book. And what I came up with was this.

The Greeks and the Romans certainly didn't invent civilisation - the Chinese, the Babylonians, the Egyptians were all there long before them - but they did have an amazing influence on Western civilisation at we now know it. What we call classical architecture - the buildings in many of our city centres that look solid and reliable - derives from the Greeks. The principles of a logical argument were laid down by Aristotle; the science we learn in school was helped along by Archimedes leaping out of the bath-tub. Even if we have never studied classical mythology, we talk about the Midas touch or a Herculean task. We've heard of Homer, Sophocles and Cicero without actually having read their stuff; we remember that Hannibal crossed the Alps with elephants although we are a bit vague on who Hannibal was; and we know that Julius Caesar was supposed to beware the Ides of March even if we haven't a clue when the Ides were.

Let's not forget the language, either. About half of modern English derives from Latin, and much of that originally came from Greek. This means that knowing a bit of Latin will greatly enrich your vocabulary. Lots of our day-to-day, ordinary words come from Anglo-Saxon, but the fancier ones tend to be from Latin. So yes, of course, you can describe somebody as loud, but every now and then - just for the fun of it - you might want to say that they were vociferous.

And `just for the fun of it' is really what this book is about. The classics are all around us, and this book aims to fill in some of the gaps in our knowledge about them - with, I hope, a few laughs along the way.

Customer Reviews

If only school had been like this
An excellent and entertaining round-up of the key elements of our classical heritage, what we gained from and owe to the Greeks and the Romans. It's informative, very readable, and surprisingly light of touch. It carried me back to the parts of school classics I actually enjoyed. If you want the same to happen to you - or if you just want a "Dummies' Guide" to the classical world (I mean that as a compliment, the Dummies' Guides are a great success for a reason) then this is the book for you. And it's a hardback (none of this modern flimsy paperback stuff for the classics!) and very reasonably priced.

Unputdownable!
This book is truly unputdownable. Be warned if you enjoy reading about the Ancient Greeks and Romans you'll be reading this at the dinnertable at bedtime and at every opportunity. I love the style.

Plugs the Gaps!
If you have an interest in Classics, this is an entertaining book to read. My experiences as school were either neutral or a bit on the wearisome side when it came to Latin/Greek and the related poetry but it was fascinating to read about topics that I had forgotten or barely knew. It also brought back some long lost memories and filled in one or two (well quite a few actually) missing links. Things I didn't know included the origin of the word 'Pygmalion'.

The style of writing is not only informative, but amusing. It is not a heavy text and skims the surface of ancient history, literature and mythology - but that is to the good. If it triggers an interest in the classical world, then so much the better. This is the sort of book that can be dipped into and dipped into again (and again). Many an otherwise idle moment I have spent reading this book and the fascination has not diminished.

Excellent buy, recommended.