My notes are very similar to what has already been said, so I will highlight just some of the most important points I personally gleaned:

1. The concept of a commonplace book, which women historically have used as a tool for developing their own minds by writing about what they were reading.

2. "A well-trained mind is the result of application, not inborn genius."- p.16..

3. "Today, as in Watts's own time, intelligent and ambitious adults feel that they're unprepared to tackle any course of serious reading." I can so relate to that feeling! I have been a total bookworm my whole life, and went to college on a National Merit scholarship, but I feel totally inadequate to tackle these big books in antiquated language.... almost like I am supposed to leave those for the real scholars, because I am "just a mommy" or something...and perhaps it is, as the author suggests, a result of my "indifferent education that didn't teach the basic skills needed for mature reading and writing." I found this passage comforting and helpful in beginning this course of study. When I get overwhelmed, I am just going to remind myself that all I am doing is reading intelligently, thinking about my reading, and talking to my friends about what I have discovered.

4. The idea that sustained, serious reading is at the center of the self-education project. Well, duh, you may say... but I think this point is extrememly salient when I think of how much information and"learning" we count on abridged articles or other media reports to provide for us.

5. The "how to begin" part.... I am uncertain as to my opinion on sticking to one list at a time. I can see clearly that for the purposes of educating oneself in the classics and for the purposes of this partnership, this limiting is necessary. However, I don't know that it will harm things or turn my brain into mush to read other books in my "spare time" (haha, I laugh just reading that phrase!) I may be missing the point totally, she may not be saying that you should not read anything else. But if she is, how is that even realistic? I am doing read-alouds with my daughter, and of course BLOGGING is reading.. hello? LOL! But, seriously, throughout my day I am collecting information, relaxing, and being entertained in a variety of ways and in little snippets of time. I realize that the onslaught of tv, radio, movies, magazines, newspapers, and websites probably creates the kind of chaos that German theologian Friedrich Schleiermacher describes: in fact, were Friedrich Schliermacher exposed to the kind of cacophany that a day holds for me, I daresay his brain might have exploded. ;) But, seeing as though that chaos is here to stay, I kind of fail to see how reading another book is going to create irreparable damage to my self-education beyond what tv, radio, blogging and the rest will. So I will probably set aside the time to read and study deeply just the one book that we are doing, along with the Bible, but will allow myself to read whatever else I want to pick up if I have time.

6. Having gone on that little rant above (sorry, please let me know if that sort of thing is frowned upon, as I have not done a post for the GBRP before).. I now balance with this: probably the most important point in the chapter from my point of view was the admonition of Lydia Sigourney that systematic reading is particularly important when we are dwelling so much on the contemplation of little things. I know that most of my reading material at the current time, probably due to my stage in life, focuses on the so-called "little things": homemaking, organization, homeschooling, menu planning, parenting, running a business, etc... not that those things are little in importance, but only meaning that they do not encourage deep and hard thinking very often...so I agree that I need a program of systematic reading like this! Also, the point about scheduling time to do it was very important.

7. OOH, this book makes me happy too! It feeds the voracious reader in me, the curious kid who wants to know everything! I, too, went on to chapter two- in fact, I read through the whole book! (tsk tsk, I could not help myself.) But, isn't that what Adler says to do anyway? ;)

I have now realized that some of my comments were pretty tongue-in-cheek and less than academically thought-provoking, but it is late and I am not going back to rewrite them. If you can see that I need more clear instruciton on how/what is appropriate to post, please feel free to let me know as I am new to this!

Also, my name is not listed to the side as a partner... please put me on there! :)
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