Great Books of the Western World Year One

Great Books of the Western World Ten Year Reading Plan - Year One

Great Books of the Western World is a series of books originally published in the United States in 1952 by Encyclopædia Britannica Inc. in an attempt to present the western canon in a single package of 54 volumes. The series is now in its second edition and contains 60 volumes. It retails for US$1,195 (GB£585 or €861). (Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Books_of_the_Western_World)

The following is the first year of the suggested ten year reading plan for the Second Edition, linked to public domain versions of each of the readings. Note that preference is given to completed audio versions on LibriVox. If there is no completed audio version but the work is in progress, then a link is provided to the forum thread. If there is no version in progress, then a link is provided to a public domain text source.

Plato: Apology, Crito

Apology - Text - http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/1656

Crito - Text - http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/1657

Aristophanes: The Clouds, Lysistrata

The Clouds - Text - http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/2562

Lysistrata - Text - http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/7700

Plato: The Republic [Book I-II]

Text - http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/150 and http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/1497

Aristotle: Nicomachean Ethics [Book I]

Text (?) - http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/8438

Aristotle: Politics [Book I]

Text (?) - http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/6762

Plutarch: The Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans [Lycurgus, Numa Pompilius, Lycurgus and Numa Compared, Alexander, Caesar]

Text - Complete - http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/674

Text - Individual Volumes - http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/14033, http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/14114, and http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/14140

New Testament [The Gospel According to Saint Matthew, The Acts of the Apostles]

The Gospel According to Saint Matthew - http://librivox.org/book-of-matthew-web/

The Acts of the Apostles - Text - King James - http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/8044

The Acts of the Apostles - Text - World English Bible - http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/8271

St. Augustine: The Confessions [Book I-VIII]

In Progress - http://librivox.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2150

Machiavelli: The Prince

http://librivox.org/the-prince-by-niccolo-machiavelli/

Rabelais: Gargantua and Pantagruel

Text - Complete - http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/1200

Text - Individual Volumes - http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/8166, http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/8167, http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/8168, http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/8169, and http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/8170

Montaigne: The Essays [Of custom, and not easily changing an accepted law; Of pedantry; Of the education of children; It is folly to measure the true and false by our own capacity; Of cannibals; That the taste of good and evil depends in large part on the opinion we have of them; Of some verses of Virgil]

Text - Complete - http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/3600

Text - Individual Volumes - http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/3581, http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/3582, http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/3583, http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/3584, http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/3585, http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/3586, http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/3587, http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/3588, http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/3589, http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/3590, http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/3591, http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/3592, http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/3593, http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/3594, http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/3595, http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/3596, http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/3597, http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/3598, http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/3599

Shakespeare: Hamlet

In Progress - http://librivox.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2889

Locke: Concerning Civil Government [Second Essay]

Text - http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl302/texts/locke/locke2/2nd-contents.html

Rousseau: The Social Contract [Book I-II]

Text - http://www.constitution.org/jjr/socon.htm

Gibbon: The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire [Ch. 15-16]

Volume I - http://librivox.org/the-decline-and-fall-of-the-roman-empire-vol-i-by-edward-gibbon/

Volume II - In Progress - http://librivox.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5658

Volume III - In Progress - http://librivox.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6960

Volume IV - Text - http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/734 and http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/893

Volume V - Text - http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/735 and http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/894

Volume VI - Text - http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/736 and http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/895

The Declaration of Independence, The Constitution of the United States, The Federalist [Numbers 1-10, 15,31,47, 51, 68-71]

Declaration of Independence - http://librivox.org/us-historical-documents/

Constitution of the United States - http://librivox.org/us-historical-documents/

The Federalist - http://librivox.org/the-federalist-papers-by-alexander-hamilton-john-jay-and-james-madison/

Smith: The Wealth of Nations [Introduction-Book I, Ch. 9]

Text - http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/3300

Tocqueville: Democracy in America [Vol I, Park II, Ch. 6-8]

Volume I - In Progress - http://librivox.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4902

Volume II - Text - http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/816

Marx-Engels: Manifesto of the Communist Party

http://librivox.org/the-communist-manifesto-by-karl-marx-and-friendrich-engels/

Ibsen: The Master Builder

Text - http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/4070

Schrodinger: What is Life (published 1944 - likely still in copyright.)

Other years' list can be found here