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Two Very Different Book Lists

by Sylvia Sikeston

There is a mind-hunger in us that seeks more than the cotton candy input of the daily media. Every culture, in somewhat different ways, offers food to satisfy that hunger. Often, the food is only cotton candy in different packaging, with different marketing (organized religions, political, economic, scientific, and philosophical ideologies). But mind-food is available offers real sustenance. The sieve of time, while far from perfect, is pretty good at removing superficialities and at the same time preserving the entire range of worthwhile thought.

The dominant European male culture some time ago codified its best stuff into the often-derided canon of penis-bearing greats and spread it around the world. The left-hand column below is an approximation of that canon, in roughly chronological order. We drew up the list by combing through and combining seven different such condifications.

Are these works important? Yes.

Are they biased? Yes, but what human effort isn't? This standard canon has one redeeming quality: It is so large that it contains a very wide range of biases. Meaning: Read around in these books and your mind will be stretched, and stretched again, often in surprising directions.

Are there vital omissions from the standard canon? You bet. If it ain't European, it ain't there. If it ain't in one way or another patriarchal, it ain't there. If it ain't "rational," it ain't there.

The right-hand column is our modest attempt to fill some of the gaps resulting from those biases.

Is our own list biased? Yep. Toward women, homosexuals, non-white skin, non-European cultures, thinking beyond the "rational", and more.

Are these works important? The old ones, for sure. The recent ones, maybe.

Write to us here about works you think should be included.

END

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