The Great Books series began with the work of Dr. Mortimer Adler, while at the University of Chicago. The Great Books work their way from ancient times to the present looking at the works of great people in their respective time.
1. Gateway to the Great Books (Call Number: AC1.G3 vol. 2-10)
"The works in that set [the Great Books] have a certain magnitude, but they also occupy a unique place in the formation and development of Western Culture. Each of them represents a primary, original, and fundamental contribution to man's understanding of the universe and of himself. It has been said of them that they are books which never have to be written again, that they are inexhaustibly re-readable, that they are always contemporary, and that they are at once the most intelligible books (because so lucidly written) and the most rewarding to understand (because they deal with the most profound and important subjects). It has also been said of them that they are the repository and reservoir of the relatively small number of great ideas which man has forged in his efforts to understand the world and his place in it; and that they are over everyone's head all of the time, which gives them the inexhaustible power to elevate all of us who will make the effort to lift our minds by reaching up to the ideas they contain." (from the introduction)
2. Great Ideas Today (Call Number: AY59 1961-1998) - this "series of volumes (is) designed to supplement Great Books of the Western World... Great Ideas for Today seeks to focus the wisdom of the great books and the light of the great ideas on the problems of the day. Its aim is to illuminate, not merely to report, the year's events and developments. As its title indicates, The Great Ideas Today brings the perennial into contact with the current, in order to reveal the timeless and abiding elements which are always present in the contemporary and the transient." (from the first edition in 1961).
3. Harvard Classics (Call Number: AC1.G3 v.1-10). "The most comprehensive and well-researched anthology of all time comprises both the 50-volume “5-foot shelf of books” and the the 20-volume Shelf of Fiction. Together they cover every major literary figure, philosopher, religion, folklore and historical subject through the twentieth century" (from Bartleby.com). The books comprising this series can be searched at Bartleby.com.
4. Great Books of the Western World
There is no better way to own and appreciate the world's greatest written works. Great Books of the Western World series is one of the most acclaimed publishing feats of our time. Authoritative, accurate, and complete, this collection represents the essential core of the Western literary canon, compiling 517 of the most significant achievements in literature, history, government, philosophy, and science into a color-coded set as handsome as it is affordable. From the ancient classics to the newest masterpieces of the 20th century, Great Books traces the ideas, stories, and discoveries that have shaped modern civilization. Volumes 2 and 3 of this collection are the Syntopicon, a unique two-volume guide that enables you to investigate a particular idea and compare what different authors have to say about it (throughout history). The Syntopicon comprises a new kind of reference work -- accomplishing for ideas what the dictionary accomplishes for words and the encyclopaedia accomplishes for facts. (Amazon.com)
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HCU Moody Library Call Number: AC1.G72 (if you wish to browse). Using this link, you can view the available books in the series which are cataloged individually but can be can be searched as a series.
The series covers great ideas throughout history including approximately 450 works by numerous major authors and writers. In addition, these writing are related to 103 of the most significant ideas throughout history such as art, beauty, citizen, courage, democracy education, fate, God, happiness, honor, knowledge, liberty, logic, love, philosophy, progress, reasoning, soul, plus more. This is a significant collection for liberal arts education.