Done.
Done, done, done, done, done.
Volume IV of The Story Of Civilization, The Age Of Faith, runs to 1,086 pages, with more than another hundred pages counting photographs, bibliography, and index. The book is so fat that reading becomes a bit of a chore.
But finished it I have. For the last few sessions, Durant served up a review of Scholasticism, science in the late Middle Ages, the romances of the poets and troubadours and Goliards, and a splendid chapter on Dante and The Divine Comedy.
Done, done, done, done, done.
Volume IV of The Story Of Civilization, The Age Of Faith, runs to 1,086 pages, with more than another hundred pages counting photographs, bibliography, and index. The book is so fat that reading becomes a bit of a chore.
But finished it I have. For the last few sessions, Durant served up a review of Scholasticism, science in the late Middle Ages, the romances of the poets and troubadours and Goliards, and a splendid chapter on Dante and The Divine Comedy.
Sometimes this project of finishing Durant in a year may seem a year may strike some as crazy, or at least a waste of time. After all, as I said from the beginning, I am not studying the books but reading them, turning the pages as one might go through a novel. I do mark with a yellow highlighter certain passages, and occasionally add a comment, but for the most part I just read, 25 to 45 minutes per day.
So what benefits come from this reading?
First, of course, I am daily dipping into history. My forays into the past not only allow me to increase my knowledge, but also give me an antidote to the headlines and articles of the Internet. The history puts our own age into perspective, often to its shame. People fighting starvation or the plague, for example, or who are eking out a living from the soil, are little concerned with gender issues.
Durant’s writing is also an inspiration and a pleasure. The man—he will eventually be joined by his wife Ariel—could roll out the sentences. Some readers would doubtless find him sonorous and dull, but I find in his syntax and word choice a rhythmic prose delightful in its supple strength.
Finally, Durant has become a sort of medicine for me. Through my own actions, the last few years have brought some difficulties into my life. Reading Durant for half an hour a day doesn’t take away those difficulties, but it does take me away from them. For those minutes, I visit the wars, arts, and philosophies of the past, which temporarily act as a curtain against the otherwise hard realities of my day.
On to Volume V: The Renaissance.
So what benefits come from this reading?
First, of course, I am daily dipping into history. My forays into the past not only allow me to increase my knowledge, but also give me an antidote to the headlines and articles of the Internet. The history puts our own age into perspective, often to its shame. People fighting starvation or the plague, for example, or who are eking out a living from the soil, are little concerned with gender issues.
Durant’s writing is also an inspiration and a pleasure. The man—he will eventually be joined by his wife Ariel—could roll out the sentences. Some readers would doubtless find him sonorous and dull, but I find in his syntax and word choice a rhythmic prose delightful in its supple strength.
Finally, Durant has become a sort of medicine for me. Through my own actions, the last few years have brought some difficulties into my life. Reading Durant for half an hour a day doesn’t take away those difficulties, but it does take me away from them. For those minutes, I visit the wars, arts, and philosophies of the past, which temporarily act as a curtain against the otherwise hard realities of my day.
On to Volume V: The Renaissance.