The Book of Great Books: A Guide to 100 World Classics

While some of the books listed may not be the most popular choice for many readers, there is some title that would appeal to most all readers. The material offered for each book is a great help for students as well as teachers, and for anyone who enjoys reading classic literature.

For those of us who do not have time to read 100 of the most famous books, this collection of Campbell's is a godsend. For each book, there is a one-sentence summary, then a one- or two-page summary, followed by analysis of the writing style, major themes, important characters, etc. As a die-hard Jeopardy! fan, this books is a must-have for having a working knowledge of the most important works of fiction. I'd recommend it to anyone who wants to broaden their knowledge of great literature.

This book was instrumental in helping me as a new literature teacher construct lesson plans for my English classes. I have shared it with other literature teachers, and they also have appreciated its concise, yet thorough analysis of some of the great literature of our culture.

In "The Book of Great Books," W. John Campbell provides an overview of 100 of the world's greatest classics, both fiction and nonfiction. It includes only American and European authors, from ancient to modern times. This is an arbitrary list, of course, and some of your favorite classics may not be included. Out of curiosity, I compared these titles to those on the Random House list of the 100 best novels. 20% of the Random House titles were included here. This volume is a sort of abridged Cliff's Notes in that it covers the historical background, summary, major characters and themes, symbolism, style, and a critical overview of each title. Reading this book is no substitute for reading the great classics themselves. Instead, this is a good reference book to consult when you are trying to recall the name of a character or a detail from the plot of a book you read a while ago. This book is now back in print as a Barnes & Noble publication.

Let's face it. Who is the most likely reader of THE BOOK OF GREAT BOOKS by W. John Campbell? Probably the same people who buy Monarch Notes, Cliff's Notes, and the like. That is students in high school and college who doubt that they lack the time, inclination, or ability to plow through a series of novels, poems, plays, and essays. What Campbell's book does is to break down what seems an imposingly difficult work of literature so that after ten minutes a reader can get a sense of the 'big picture.' Campbell has chosen 100 of the generally accepted classics of English, American, European, and Greek and Roman works that have survived the test of time to be called that. Each work is divided into a plot summary, a handy picture that connects the major characters in terms of how they relate, the background, key characters, themes, symbols, style, structure, and critical overview. The level of detail and the degree of analysis is just enough to permit the reader to follow the work and still retain the joy of reading the original. Nowhere does Campbell bog the reader down in detail sufficiently heavy to cause him to wonder why he bought TBGB in the first place. One of the problems that I had in reviewing this book is that Campbell makes no attempt to discuss exactly what a great book is and why he chose the one hundred that he did. I would have appreciated an introduction which could have clarified those two points. As it is, TBGB is simply a valuable addition to the bookshelf of anyone who likes to think that he is a reader of the classics.