Practical Paideia

by Lindsey Ralls

Having just returned form a summer conference, the title of this post is very much how I’m feeling. There’s so much I want to read but so little time to do it! And I don’t know about you, but for me the summer feels like this little window of opportunity that shouldn’t be wasted. Once school starts, time is at a minimum and the reading gets pushed to the side.

I recently picked up a reading journal. The hope is that I can come back to the key takeaways from the books I read, long after I’ve read the final page. I often find myself remembering the overall idea and the title of the book, but not the specifics. Hopefully this reading journal will help. I’m currently almost through C.S. Lewis’s The Discarded Image and I’ve enjoyed being able to jot a few things down along the way. This is the one I bought, but there are a ton of versions out there if you’re interested.

I thought I’d share with you a few of the books on my list for this summer and I’d love to hear what books make up your own list.

1. Neil Postman – Amusing Ourselves to Death
2. Neil Postman – Technopoly
3. Robert Farrar Capon – The Supper of the Lamb – A Culinary Reflection
4. John Dewey – Experience and Education
5. Aristotle – De Anima (On the Soul)
6. Plutarch – Plutarch’s Lives (Volume I)
7. G.K. Chesterton – What’s Wrong with the World
8. James K.A. Smith – You Are What You Love