Listservs and Electronic Discussions Related to the Great Books

Interactive Chats That Discuss the Great Books

• JollyRoger.com's The Great Books Live Lighthouse Chat

  Every day fans of the Great Books from around the world gather here to participate in a live chat centered about the Great Books of The Western Canon and American Classics. The chatroom is generally most active between 6:00 PM and 12:00 PM EST every night, but literary wayfarers can be found passing on through at all moments throughout the day.

• Malaspina "Great Books" Chat Room

  Are you interested in letting off some "Great Books" steam? These chat sessions are entirely live, unmoderated, and unregulated. No formal records of the conversations at the chat room are kept so you need not be worried about gaffs or mistakes. The only "rule" -- keep the discussions on books -- you can interpret that in any way you wish. The Chat Room is open 24 hours a day and may accomodate any number of simultaneous conversations. It could be a neat place to refine your arguments for more formal postings to the Malaspina Great Ideas Forum.

• Escondido Tutorial Service's Great Books Tutorial (Requires a registration fee)

  The Great Books Tutorial has been designed to develop Christian minds that will understand and discern the influences that have shaped our culture. Western history is a tremendously rich saga. Studying the great books gives us the opportunity to see first hand the ideas that have directed our cultural history. The reading of the great books culminates a good classical education as it requires all the skills that classical education aims to develop in a child.

  The Great Books Tutorial is offered through the Internet. The tutorial meets for two hours a week and we discuss the readings listed in the curriculum guide. I will act as tutor and guide the discussion so that the necessary fundamentals are understood from each work. It is expected that the students will have done their readings with enough care that they are ready to articulate and discuss their understanding of the texts.

• Schola Classical Tutorials's Great Books Tutorial (Requires a registration fee)

  If you could take only ten books to a deserted island on which you were to be marooned for the rest of your life, what would they be? As Mortimer Adler says, this is no game--we are all in precisely that position. We are simply unable to read all the books there are; therefore, we had better choose well. Some books exercise our minds by their rigor and move our spirits by their beauty with every reading, some books help us communicate with our culture because they have been a common element in education for centuries, some books aid our understanding of the physical world by a clear exposition of careful observations by powerful minds, but only a very few books do any of these things well. And as C. S. Lewis says, old books give us a radically different perspective on life and our assumptions, and no modern books can do this at all, no matter how good they are.

  As Christians, we understand that ours is an historical faith, one that originated, developed, and grew in certain times at certain places. To study and understand the long stream of history and thought, and to comprehend our place in that stream, is to increase our appreciation of our cultural inheritance, our ability to use wisely and build faithfully upon that inheritance, and our ability to understand and respond to God's work in history.

  The conclusion we may draw from all of this is that the old books are best, and the best of the old books are the best of all. That is why we read the Great Books.

  The first year covers the great works of the ancient Greeks, the second year those of the ancient Romans, the third year those of the medieval and renaissance periods, and the fourth year those of the last three centuries. The students will be expected to read the assignments carefully, to participate fully in discussions, to write essays based on the reading, and to have the required editions of the books.

Listservs and Mailing Lists That Discuss the Great Books

• GB-BookClub

  GB-BookClub is dedicated to a scholarly discussion of some of the most important books in Western literature.  Subscribers to the list follow a reading list from Encyclopedia Britannica's Great Books of the Western World.  Anyone interested in this discussion is welcome to join.

  Subscribers to GB-BookClub are asked to read in a scheduled manner.  A period of three to six weeks will be given to each selection.  During this time subscribers are invited to participate in a discussion of the featured work.  Questions, insights, and responses to other's postings may be posted to the list via e-mail.  A posted message is sent to each subscriber of the list.

• The Western Canon Mailing List

  The Western Canon Mailing List is a mailing list for those interested in discussing the great books and topics related to the great books. Each month a work will be selected for discussion, and this will be the primary focus of the list. Consideration of topics related to the great books in general is also encouraged.

Web-based Bulletin Boards That Discuss the Great Books

• The Discovery Channel's Great Books Forum

  Ken Zelasko is the Subject Area Manager for the Great Books theme within the Discovery Channel School Forum. This forum encourages participation in this discussion group from a wide variety of education professionals, and also the sharing some of favorite resources about this theme. This forum work best with many active participants, so please take a moment to leave a message or review contributions by other educators.

• Ethics Updates Discussion Forums

  The Ethics Updates Discussion Forum is a WWWBoard-based discussion group. There are a few basic rules of conduct for participating on this board. These forums are provided in order to facilitate serious and reflective dialogue on difficult moral issues. Please be respectful in your comments. Profanity, hate speech, abusive language, and the like are not welcome in these forums.

• The Great Books of Western Civilization Café

  Stop by for a cup of coffee and stay for the stimulating conversation. This area is for dissemination of information concerning the Great Books. Topics can include discussions of the "canon," individual "great books," various Great Books Programs, etc.. This is a web-based discussion area using a modified version of the WebBBS script.

• JollyRoger.com's Great Books Campfire

  Avast! Report all sightings of the White Whale on your contemporary Odyssey. Post a poem, a link to a your favorite Great Books site, or an opinion inspired by masterpieces ranging from The Odyssey to Antigone to The Catcher in The Rye.

• Malaspina Great Ideas Forum

  Welcome to the Liberal Studies Great Ideas Forum at Malaspina University-College. This forum is designed for students and other first time readers of Great Books from around the world. This forum is a place where you can share your reactions and questions about these books. There are no "right" or "wrong" responses. Completely fresh interpretations of Great Books emerge every day -- that is one of the reasons Great Books are "Great." They are alive! Your contribution here can take the form of a one line response, a simple question, or a thoughtful argument -- that's up to you.

• Senior Net's Great Books Roundtable

  Whether you are reading our selections for the first time or the hundredth, we hope you'll join us in our exciting new attempt to immerse ourselves in, and to really understand and appreciate, some of the world's greatest literature. Everyone is Welcome!

• Triple Point: Web Discussion Board

  "Triple Point" originated as a FidoNet conference dedicated to the critical examination of belief systems. The Fido conference is currently local to the Omaha area, though the newer Web version obviously has a much wider potential audience.

• Western Canon University

  At www.westerncanon.com you'll find the world's largest collection of Lecture Halls and Live Recitation Chats devoted to the Greats. Books, like life, gain their fullest glory as a shared experience, and the founders hope that the lecture halls of Western Canon University will foster the world's greatest conversation. Many of the over one hundred and fifty authors at westerncanon.com possessed diametrically opposing views, and the prudent student shall seek to acquaint their minds with all philosophies, while arguing for the good and refuting the bad. So welcome to Western Canon University, where the professors are the Great Books of the Western Heritage, the lecture halls extend throughout the watery globe, and the daily homework assignment is to live one's life in the context of the Greats. All students will be expected to adhere to gentlemanly standards of conduct while ruggedly pursuing the Truth with a sense of honor equalled by a sense of humor.

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