The St. Johns College Great Books Reading List at a Glance

St. John's College is best known for its reading list and the Great Books curriculum that was adopted in 1937. While the list of books has evolved over the last century, the tradition of all students reading foundational texts of Western civilization remains. The reading list at St. John's includes classic works in philosophy, literature, political science, psychology, history, religion, economics, math, chemistry, physics, biology, astronomy, music, language, and more.

Freshman Year Reading List

Aeschylus: Agamemnon, Libation Bearers, Eumenides, Prometheus Bound Archimedes: “On the Equilibrium of Planes,” “On Floating Bodies” Aristophanes: Clouds Aristotle: Poetics, Physics, Metaphysics, Nicomachean Ethics, On Generation and Corruption, Politics, Parts of Animals, Generation of Animals Avogadro: “Essay on a Manner of Determining the Relative Masses of the Elementary Particles of Bodies” Berthollet: Excerpt from “Essai de Statique Chimique” Black: Extracts from Lectures on the Elements of Chemistry Cannizzaro: Sketch of a Course of Chemical Philosophy Dalton: Extracts from A New System of Chemical Philosophy Driesch: The Science and Philosophy of the Organism Euclid: Elements Euripides: Hippolytus, Bacchae Fahrenheit: Experiments on the Degree of Heat of a Few Boiling Liquids Gay-Lussac: Excerpt from Investigations on the Expansion of Gases and Vapours Harvey: On the Motion of the Heart and Blood in Animals Herodotus: Histories Homer: Iliad, Odyssey Lavoisier: Excerpt from Elementary Treatise on Chemistry Lucretius: On the Nature of Things Mariotte: Essays Mendeleev: “The Periodic Law of the Chemical Elements” Nicomachus: Arithmetic Pascal: Treatise on the Equilibrium of Liquids Plato: Meno, Gorgias, Republic, Apology, Crito, Phaedo, Symposium, Parmenides, Theaetetus, Sophist, Timaeus, Phaedrus Plutarch: “Lycurgus,” “Solon” Proust: Excerpt from “Sur Les Oxidations Metalliques” Ptolemy: Almagest Sappho: Poems 1 and 31 Sophocles: Oedipus Rex, Oedipus at Colonus, Antigone, Philoctetes, Ajax Spemann: “The Organizer-Effect in Embryonic Development” (Nobel Lecture 1935), “Embryonic Development and Induction” Thomson: Extracts from “A System of Chemistry” Thucydides: Peloponnesian War Virchow: Excerpts from “Cellular Pathology” Woolf: “On Not Knowing Greek”

Sophomore Year Reading List

Anselm: Proslogium Apollonius: Conics Aquinas: Summa Theologiae Aristotle: De Anima, On Interpretation, Prior Analytics, Categories Augustine: Confessions Bach: St. Matthew Passion, Inventions Bacon: Novum Organum Behn: “The Disappointment” Bradstreet: Poems Chaucer: Canterbury Tales Copernicus: On the Revolution of the Heavenly Spheres Dante: Divine Comedy Descartes: Geometry, Discourse on Method Donne: Poems Elisabeth: The Correspondence Between Princess Elisabeth of Bohemia and René Descartes Epictetus: Discourses, Manual Haydn: Quartets Kepler: Astronomia Nova Livy: Early History of Rome Locke: Poems Machiavelli: The Prince, Discourses Maimonides: Guide of the Perplexed Marvell: Poems Montaigne: Essays Monteverdi: L’Orfeo Mozart: Operas Murray: Stomping the Blues Pascal: Generation of Conic Sections Plotinus: The Enneads Plutarch: “Caesar,” “Cato the Younger,” “Antony,” “Brutus” Ptolemy: Almagest Sappho: Poems Schubert: Songs Shakespeare: Richard II, Henry IV, The Tempest, As You Like It, Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth, King Lear, Sonnets Stravinsky: Symphony of Psalms Tacitus: Annals Viète: Introduction to the Analytical Art Virgil: Aeneid Beethoven: Third Symphony Wroth: “A Crown of Sonnets Dedicated to Love” Hebrew Bible: New Testament

Junior Year Reading List

Ampère: Essays Austen: Pride and Prejudice, Emma Bernoulli: “On the Vibrating String” Coulomb: Excerpts from “Coulomb’s Mémoires sur l’électricité et le magnétisme” Cervantes: Don Quixote La Fayette: Princess of Clèves La Fontaine: Fables La Rochefoucauld: Maximes Dedekind: Essays on the Theory of Numbers Descartes: Meditations, Rules for the Direction of the Mind Eliot: Middlemarch Euler: “Remarks on the Preceeding Papers by Mr. Bernoulli” Faraday: “Experimental Researches in Electricity” Franklin: Excerpt from several letters to Peter Collinson on the nature of electricity Galileo: Two New Sciences Gilbert: “De Magnete” Hawthorne: The Scarlet Letter Hobbes: Leviathan Hume: Treatise on Human Nature Huygens: Treatise on Light, “The Motion of Colliding Bodies” Kant: Critique of Pure Reason, Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals Leibniz: Monadology, Discourse on Metaphysics, Principles of Nature and Grace, Essays Locke: Second Treatise of Government Maxwell: “On Faraday’s Lines of Force,” “On Physical Lines of Force,” “A Dynamical Theory of the Electromagnetic Field” Milton: Paradise Lost Molière: Le Misanthrope Mozart: The Marriage of Figaro Newton: Principia Mathematica Nollet: “Observations on Several New Electrical Phenomena” Ørsted: “Experiments concerning the efficacy of electric conflict on the magnetic needle” Pascal: Pensées Racine: Phèdre Rousseau: Social Contract, Discourse on the Origin of Inequality Spinoza: Theologico-Political Treatise, Ethics Smith: Wealth of Nations Swift: Gulliver’s Travels Taylor: “On the Motion of the Stretched String” Twain: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Volta: “On the Electricity excited by the mere contact of conducting substances of different kinds” Wagner: Tristan and Isolde Wordsworth: The Two-Part Prelude of 1799 Young: “On the Nature of Light and Colours” Articles of Confederation Constitution of the United States of America Declaration of Independence

Senior Year Reading List

Baldwin: Stranger in the Village, The Fire Next Time Baudelaire: Les Fleurs du Mal Beadle & Tatum: Essays Bishop: Poems Bohr: “On the Spectrum of Hydrogen” Boveri: Essays Broglie: “Matter Waves” Brooks: “The Children of the Poor” Conrad: Heart of Darkness Darwin: Origin of Species Davisson: Essays Beauvoir: The Second Sex Tocqueville: Democracy in America Dickinson: Poems Dostoyevsky: Brothers Karamazov Douglass: Speeches DuBois: The Souls of Black Folk Eliot: Poems Faraday: “On the Absolute Quantity of Electricity Associated with the Particles or Atoms of Matter” Faulkner: Go Down Moses Flaubert: Un Coeur Simple Freud: Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis, Mourning and Melancholia, Beyond the Pleasure Principle Goethe: Faust Hamilton, Madison, & Jay: The Federalist Papers Hardy: “Mendelian Proportions in a Mixed Population” Hegel: Phenomenology of Mind Heidegger: Basic Writings, “The Word of Nietzsche: God is Dead,” An Introduction to Metaphysics Heisenberg: “Critique of the Physical Concepts of the Particle Picture” Husserl: Crisis of European Sciences and Transcendental Phenomenology Jacob & Monod: Essays Kierkegaard: Philosophical Fragments, Fear and Trembling Lamarck: “Zoological Philosophy” Lincoln: Speeches Lobachevsky: Theory of Parallels Marx: Capital, Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of Economic Manuscripts of 1844, The German Ideology Melville: Benito Cereno Mendel: “Experiments with Plant Hybridization” Millikan: “The Electron” Minkowski: “Space and Time” Morgan: “Evolution and Genetics,” “The Chromosomes and Mendel’s Two Laws,” “The Linkage Groups and the Chromosomes,” “Sex-Linked Inheritance,” “Crossing-Over” Morrison: Song of Solomon Nietzsche: Beyond Good and Evil O’Connor: “Good Country People,” “Revelation,” “The Displaced Person” Planck: “The Quantum Hypothesis” Plath: Poems Plato: Phaedrus Rimbaud: Poems Rutherford: “The Scattering of α & β Particles by Matter and the Structure of the Atom” Schrödinger: “Four Lectures of Wave Mechanics—First Lecture” Stevens: Poems Sussman: Essays Sutton: Essays Thomson: “Cathode Rays” Tolstoy: War and Peace Valéry: Poems Wagner: Tristan and Isolde Washington: “Atlanta Exposition Address,” “Our New Citizen,” “Democracy and Education” Watson & Crick: Essays Woolf: Mrs. Dalloway, To the Lighthouse, A Room of One’s Own Wordsworth: The Two-Part Prelude of 1799 Yeats: Poems United States Supreme Court Decisions Aeschylus: Agamemnon, Libation Bearers, Eumenides, Prometheus Bound Ampère: Essays Anselm: Proslogium Apollonius: Conics Aquinas: Summa Theologiae Archimedes: “On the Equilibrium of Planes,” “On Floating Bodies” Aristophanes: Clouds Aristotle: De Anima, On Interpretation, Prior Analytics, Categories, Poetics, Physics, Meta physics, Nicomachean Ethics, On Generation and Corruption, Politics, Parts of Animals, Generation of Animals Articles of Confederation Constitution of the United States of America Declaration of Independence Augustine: Confessions Austen: Pride and Prejudice, Emma Avogadro: “Essay on a Manner of Determining the Relative Masses of the Elementary Particles of Bodies” Bach: St. Matthew Passion, Inventions Bacon: Novum Organum Baldwin: Stranger in the Village, The Fire Next Time Baudelaire: Les Fleurs du Mal Beadle & Tatum: Essays Beauvoir: The Second Sex Beethoven: Third Symphony Behn: “The Disappointment” Bernoulli: “On the Vibrating String” Berthollet: Excerpt from “Essai de Statique Chimique” Bishop: Poems Black: Extracts from Lectures on the Elements of Chemistry Bohr: “On the Spectrum of Hydrogen” Boveri: Essays Bradstreet: Poems Broglie: “Matter Waves” Brooks: “The Children of the Poor” Cannizzaro: Sketch of a Course of Chemical Philosophy Cervantes: Don Quixote Chaucer: Canterbury Tales Conrad: Heart of Darkness Copernicus: On the Revolution of the Heavenly Spheres Coulomb: Excerpts from “Coulomb’s Mémoires sur l’électricité et le magnétisme” Dalton: Extracts from A New System of Chemical Philosophy Dante: Divine Comedy Darwin: Origin of Species Davisson: Essays Dedekind: Essays on the Theory of Numbers Descartes: Geometry, Discourse on Method, Meditations, Rules for the Direction of the Mind Dickinson: Poems Donne: Poems Dostoyevsky: Brothers Karamazov Douglass: Speeches Driesch: The Science and Philosophy of the Organism DuBois: The Souls of Black Folk Eliot: Middlemarch, Poems Elisabeth: The Correspondence Between Princess Elisabeth of Bohemia and René Descartes Epictetus: Discourses, Manual Euclid: Elements Euler: “Remarks on the Preceeding Papers by Mr. Bernoulli” Euripides: Hippolytus, Bacchae Fahrenheit: Experiments on the Degree of Heat of a Few Boiling Liquids Faraday: “Experimental Researches in Electricity,” “On the Absolute Quantity of Electricity Associated with the Particles or Atoms of Matter” Faulkner: Go Down Moses/p> Flaubert: Un Coeur Simple Franklin: Excerpt from several letters to Peter Collinson on the nature of electricity Freud: Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis, Mourning and Melancholia, Beyond the Pleasure Principle Galileo: Two New Sciences Gay-Lussac: Excerpt from Investigations on the Expansion of Gases and Vapours Gilbert: “De Magnete” Goethe: Faust Hamilton, Madison, & Jay: The Federalist Papers Hardy: “Mendelian Proportions in a Mixed Population” Harvey: On the Motion of the Heart and Blood in Animals Hawthorne: The Scarlet Letter Haydn: Quartets Hebrew Bible: New Testament Hegel: Phenomenology of Mind Heidegger: Basic Writings, “The Word of Nietzsche: God is Dead,” An Introduction to Metaphysics Heisenberg: “Critique of the Physical Concepts of the Particle Picture” Herodotus: Histories Hobbes: Leviathan Homer: Iliad, Odyssey Hume: Treatise on Human Nature Husserl: Crisis of European Sciences and Transcendental Phenomenology Huygens: Treatise on Light, “The Motion of Colliding Bodies” Jacob & Monod: Essays Kant: Critique of Pure Reason, Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals Kepler: Astronomia Nova Kierkegaard: Philosophical Fragments, Fear and Trembling La Fayette: Princess of Clèves La Fontaine: Fables La Rochefoucauld: Maximes Lamarck: “Zoological Philosophy” Lavoisier: Excerpt from Elementary Treatise on Chemistry Leibniz: Monadology, Discourse on Metaphysics, Principles of Nature and Grace, Essays Lincoln: Speeches Livy: Early History of Rome Lobachevsky: Theory of Parallels Locke: Poems, Second Treatise of Government Lucretius: On the Nature of Things Machiavelli: The Prince, Discourses Maimonides: Guide of the Perplexed Mariotte: Essays Marvell: Poems Marx: Capital, Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of Economic Manuscripts of 1844, The German Ideology Maxwell: “On Faraday’s Lines of Force,” “On Physical Lines of Force,” “A Dynamical Theory of the Electromagnetic Field” Melville: Benito Cereno</p> Mendel: “Experiments with Plant Hybridization” Mendeleev: “The Periodic Law of the Chemical Elements” Millikan: “The Electron” Milton: Paradise Lost Minkowski: “Space and Time” Molière: Le Misanthrope Montaigne: Essays Monteverdi: L’Orfeo Morgan: “Evolution and Genetics,” “The Chromosomes and Mendel’s Two Laws,” “The Linkage Groups and the Chromosomes,” “Sex-Linked Inheritance,” “Crossing-Over” Morrison: Song of Solomon Mozart: Operas, The Marriage of Figaro Murray: Stomping the Blues Newton: Principia Mathematica Nicomachus: Arithmetic Nietzsche: Beyond Good and Evil Nollet: “Observations on Several New Electrical Phenomena” O’Connor: “Good Country People,” “Revelation,” “The Displaced Person” Ørsted: “Experiments concerning the efficacy of electric conflict on the magnetic needle” Pascal: Generation of Conic Section, Pensées, Treatise on the Equilibrium of Liquids Planck: “The Quantum Hypothesis” Plath: Poems Plato: Meno, Gorgias, Republic, Apology, Crito, Phaedo, Symposium, Parmenides, Theaetetus, Sophist, Timaeus, Phaedrus Plotinus: The Enneads Plutarch: “Caesar,” “Cato the Younger,” “Antony,” “Brutus,” “Lycurgus,” “Solon” Proust: Excerpt from “Sur Les Oxidations Metalliques” Ptolemy: Almagest Racine: Phèdre Rimbaud: Poems Rousseau: Social Contract, Discourse on the Origin of Inequality Rutherford: “The Scattering of α & β Particles by Matter and the Structure of the Atom” Sappho: Poems Schrödinger: “Four Lectures of Wave Mechanics—First Lecture” Schubert: Songs Shakespeare: Richard II, Henry IV, The Tempest, As You Like It, Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth, King Lear, Sonnets Smith: Wealth of Nations Sophocles: Oedipus Rex, Oedipus at Colonus, Antigone, Philoctetes, Ajax Spemann: “The Organizer-Effect in Embryonic Development” (Nobel Lecture 1935), “Embryonic Development and Induction” Spinoza: Theologico-Political Treatise, Ethics Stevens: Poems Stravinsky: Symphony of Psalms Sussman: Essays Sutton: Essays Swift: Gulliver’s Travels Tacitus: Annals Taylor: “On the Motion of the Stretched String” Thomson: “Cathode Rays” Thomson: Extracts from “A System of Chemistry” Thucydides: Peloponnesian War Tocqueville: Democracy in America Tolstoy: War and Peace Twain: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn United States Supreme Court Decisions Valéry: Poems Viète: Introduction to the Analytical Art Virchow: Excerpts from “Cellular Pathology” Virgil: Aeneid Volta: “On the Electricity excited by the mere contact of conducting substances of different kinds” Wagner: Tristan and Isolde Washington: “Atlanta Exposition Address,” “Our New Citizen,” “Democracy and Education” Watson & Crick: Essays Woolf: “On Not Knowing Greek” Woolf: Mrs. Dalloway, To the Lighthouse, A Room of One’s Own Wordsworth: The Two-Part Prelude of 1799 Wroth: “A Crown of Sonnets Dedicated to Love” Yeats: Poems Young: “On the Nature of Light and Colours” Arendt: The Human Condition Borges: Ficciones Camus: The Stranger Duchamp: Essays Einstein: “Relativity” Feynman: QED Flaubert: Madame Bovary García Márquez: One Hundred Years of Solitude Gibbon: History of the Decline and FP21-22all of the Roman Empire Hardy: A Course of Pure Mathematics Hegel: Philosophy of Nature Heidegger: What is Metaphysics? James: The Portrait of a Lady Laozi: Dao De Jing Laxness: Independent People Lorenz: Studies in Animal and Human Behavior Mājah: The Sunan Manet: Art Melville: Moby Dick Morrison: Beloved Mozart: The Marriage of Figaro Nietzsche: Gay Science O’Connor: Wise Blood Piketty: Capital Proust: Remembrance Things Past Rilke: The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge Russell: Mathematical Philosophy Sévigné: Letters Spengler: The Decline of the West Stravinsky: Music Voltaire: Candide Zhuangzi: The Works of Zhuangzi Computation Computing Technology and Human Society