Book reviews from MaxWeismann

A Great Idea at the Time

by Alex Beam

The subtitle should have read, Every Negative Fact and Innuendo I Could Dredge Up Although he was not particularly unkind to me in the book, I found virtually every page to be a smart-alecky and snide diatribe of the worst order against the Great Books, Adler, Hutchins, et al. Plus the book is replete with errors of commission and omission. As an effective antidote, I prescribe Robert Hutchins' pithy essay, The Great Conversation. If the Great Books crusade is as bleak as Beam purports, then happily, not many will read his invective book. Max Weismann, President and co-founder with Mortimer Adler, Center for the Study of The Great Ideas Chairman, The Great Books Academy