How do you select the works and authors listed?
What do the bracketed letters mean next to some of the work titles?
What do the graphic symbols in the index mean?
What do the abbreviations in the Reading Lists index stand for?
Why don't you list in the language index all the languages you have works linked in?
How do you select the works and authors listed?
The core works and authors listed on this site were taken from some of the reading lists which are indexed on the site -- the Great Books Foundation adult reading program, the reading list in the back of How To Read A Book (Mortimer Adler's classic text on intelligent reading), the Great Books of the Western World collection, and the Great Ideas program. I am also planning on checking my site against the Harvard Classics series.
Beyond that, some works were added because of their reputation, some because of a personal feeling that they should be included, and others because they were suggested by visitors to the site.
What do the bracketed letters mean next to some of the work titles?
These are "inclusion codes" which indicate the source or reason for inclusion of that work. As an example, let's look at the header of the listing for Freud's Civilization and its Discontents:
The [GBF,GBWW,HTR] at the end are the inclusion codes. The following codes are used:
- HTR / htr
Stands for How To Read a Book, Mortimer Adler's classic on intelligent reading. Works with the code HTR are included specifically in the list in the back of this book; works with the code htr are included because a generic reference was made to all of the author's works, or all works of a given type (such as plays, poems, etc).
- GBWW
Stands for Great Books of the Western World, the famous collection published by Encyclopaedia Britannica. Works with this code are included, in whole or in part, in this collection. I have not yet added listings for works in the expanded GBWW collection (volumes 55-60).
- GBF / GBF(50) / gbf(HS) / etc.
Stands for the Great Books Foundation, an organization devoted to promoting the discussion of the Great Books by people from all walks of life. Works with this code are included, in whole or in part, in one of the Foundation's reading lists; GBF indicates a work included in the Adult Reading and Discussion Program; gbf indicates a work included in one of their various other reading and discussion programs, but not in the adult program. If the work is included in one or both of the other programs, they will be noted in parentheses - (50) for the 50th Anniversary reading program, (HS) for the High School reading program
- GI
Stands for the Great Ideas Program. Works with this code are mentioned, in whole or in part, in this collection.
- HC
Stands for Harvard Classics, Harvard University's collection of classic works. Works with this code are included, in whole or in part, in this collection. I have not finished listing these works yet.
Please note that this site is constantly under construction - not all works will be coded, or coded completely. So, a work might be included in all of the collections/books/lists above, but only have one code, or none. If you note a discrepancy, please let me know.
What do the graphic symbols in the index mean?
The symbols indicate the availability of the work through this site.
For an author, the symbol refers to any work. So, an author with five listed works will be markedOn-line version linked.
Only incomplete on-line versions available, and none from Amazon.com
Only incomplete on-line versions available, but can buy through Amazon.com
No on-line version linked, but can buy through Amazon.com
No links to on-line version or to Amazon.com
No links to on-line version or to Amazon.com under that name; work may be known under another name for which on-line and/or Amazon.com links exist.
if any one of his or her works has an etext linked.Again, these only refer to the availability of the work through this site. If you know of an online version of a work which we have few or no etexts linked for, please let me know about it. Also, if you note any discrepancies between the symbols in an index and the actual listing of the work, please let me know.
What do the abbreviations in the Reading Lists index stand for?
- "Core" - The Core Reading List is of my own design. Any work which appears in three of these four sets of reading lists is included: Great Books Foundation (includes GBF, GBF-50, and GBF-HS); Britannica (includes GBWW and Great Ideas); How to Read a Book (HTR); and Harvard Classics (HC).
- "Major" - All works included in any of the four major reading lists, namely the Great Books Foundation Adult Reading Series (GBF), Britannica's Great Books of the Western World (GBWW), How to Read a Book (HTR), and the Harvard Classics (HC).
- "GBF" - The Great Books Foundation's adult reading and discussion list.
- "GBF-50" - The Great Books Foundation's 50th Anniversary adult reading and discussion list.
- "GBF-HS" - The Great Books Foundation's high school reading and discussion list.
- "GBWW" - The contents of Britannica's Great Books of the Western World collection.
- "Great Ideas" - The contents of the 10-volume set of the Great Ideas Program (a supplement to Great Books of the Western World).
- "HC" - The contents of the Harvard Classics.
- "HTR" - The list from the appendix of Mortimer Adler's classic text on intelligent reading, How to Read a Book.
Why don't you list in the language index all the languages you have works linked in?
As a rule, I only list a language in the index if I have works from at least two different authors available in that language.
