I started The 10 Year Reading Plan for the Great Books of the Western World in April 2024. I am not going in any particular order and will be picking and choosing based on what books I can locate. The books I am currently reading are in red/italicized and the ones I’ve completed are in bold.
YEAR 1
PLATO: Apology, Crito (Vol. 7, pp 200-219)
ARISTOPHANES: Clouds, Lysistrata (Vol. 5, pp. 488-506, 583-599)
PLATO: Republic [Book I-II] (Vol. 7, pp. 295-324)
ARISTOTLE: Ethics [Book I] (Vol. 9, pp. 339-348)
ARISTOTLE: Politics [Book I] (Vol. 9, pp. 445-455)
PLUTARCH: The Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans [Lycurgus, Numa Pompilius, Lycurgus and Numa Compared, Alexander, Caesar] (Vol. 14, pp. 32-64, 540-604)
NEW TESTAMENT: [The Gospel According to Saint Matthew, The Acts of the Apostles]
ST. AUGUSTINE: Confessions [Book I-VIII] (Vol. 18, pp. 1-61)
MACHIAVELLI: The Prince (Vol. 23, pp. 1-37)
RABELAIS: Gargantua and Pantagruel [Book I-II] (Vol. 24, pp. 1-126)
MONTAIGNE: Essays [Of Custom, and That We Should Not Easily Change a Law Received; Of Pedantry; Of the Education of Children; That It Is Folly to Measure Truth and Error by Our Own Capacity; Of Cannibals; That the Relish of Good and Evil Depends in a Great Measure upon the Opinion We Have of Them; Upon Some Verses of Virgil] (Vol. 25, pp. 42-51, 55-82, 91-98, 115-125, 406-434)
SHAKESPEARE: Hamlet (Vol. 27, pp. 29-72)
LOCKE: Concerning Civil Government [Second Essay] (Vol. 35, pp. 25-81)
ROUSSEAU: The Social Contract [Book I-II] (Vol. 38, pp. 387-406)
GIBBON: The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire [Ch. 15-16] (Vol. 40, pp. 179-234)
The Declaration of Independence, The Constitution of the United States, The Federalist [Numbers 1-10, 15, 31, 47, 51, 68-71] (Vol. 43, pp. 1-3, 11-20, 29-53, 62-66, 103-105, 153-156, 162-165, 205-216)
SMITH: The Wealth of Nations [Introduction—Book I, Ch. 9] (Vol. 39, pp. 1-41)
MARX—ENGELS: Manifesto of the Communist Party (Vol. 50, pp. 415-434)
YEAR 2
HOMER: The Iliad (Vol. 4, pp. 3-179)
AESCHYLUS: Agamemnon, Choephoroe, Eumenides (Vol. 5, 52-91)
SOPHOCLES: Oedipus the King, Antigone (Vol. 5, pp. 99-113, 131-142)
HERODOTUS: The History [Book I-II] (Vol. 6, pp. 1-88)
PLATO: Meno (Vol. 7, pp. 174-190)
ARISTOTLE: Poetics (Vol. 9, pp. 681-699)
ARISTOTLE: Ethics [Book II; Book III, Ch. 5-12; Book VI, Ch. 8-13] (Vol. 9, pp. 348-355, 359-366, 390-394)
NICOMACHUS: Introduction to Arithmetic (Vol. 11, p. 811-848)
LUCRETIUS: On the Nature of Things [Book I-IV] (Vol. 12, pp. 1-61)
MARCUS AURELIUS: Meditations (Vol. 12, pp. 253-310)
HOBBES: Leviathan [Part I] (Vol. 23, pp. 45-98)
MILTON: Areopagitica (Vol. 32, pp. 381-412)
PASCAL: Pensées [Numbers 72, 82-83, 100, 128, 131, 139, 142-143, 171, 194-195, 219, 229, 233-234, 242, 273, 277, 282, 289, 298, 303, 320, 323, 325, 330-331,374, 385, 392, 395-397, 409, 412-413, 416, 418, 425, 430, 434-435, 463, 491, 525-531, 538, 543, 547, 553, 556, 564, 571, 586, 598, 607-610, 613, 619-620, 631, 640,644, 673, 675, 684, 692-693, 737, 760, 768, 792-793] (Vol. 33, pp. 181-184, 186-189, 191-192, 195-200, 203, 205-210, 212-218, 222-225, 227, 229-232, 237-251, 255, 259, 264-275, 277-287, 290-291, 296-302, 318, 321-322, , 326-327)
PASCAL: Treatise on the Arithmetical Triangle (Vol. 33, pp. 447-473)
SWIFT: Gulliver’s Travels (Vol. 36, pp. xv-184)
ROUSSEAU: A Discourse on the Origin of Inequality (Vol. 38, pp. 323-366)
KANT: Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysic of Morals (Vol. 42, pp. 253-287)
MILL: On Liberty (Vol. 43, pp. 267-323)
YEAR 3
AESCHYLUS: Prometheus Bound (Vol. 5, pp. 40-51)
HERODOTUS: The History [Book VII-IX] (Vol. 6, pp. 214-314)
THUCYDIDES: The History of the Peloponnesian War [Book I-II, V] (Vol. 6, pp. 349416, 482-508)
PLATO: Statesman (Vol. 7, pp. 580-608)
ARISTOTLE: On Interpretation [Ch. 1-10] (Vol. 8, pp. 25-31)
ARISTOTLE: Politics [Book III-V] (Vol. 9, pp. 471-519)
EUCLID: Elements [Book I] (Vol. 11, pp. 1-29)
TACITUS: The Annals (Vol. 15, pp. 1-184)
ST. THOMAS AQUINAS: Summa Theologica [Part I-II, QQ 90-97] (Vol. 20, pp. 205-239)
CHAUCER: Troilus and Cressida (Vol. 22, pp. 1-155)
SHAKESPEARE: Macbeth (Vol. 27, pp. 284-310)
MILTON: Paradise Lost (Vol. 32, pp. 93-333)
LOCKE: An Essay Concerning Human Understanding [Book III, Ch. 1-3, 9-11] (Vol. 35, pp. 251-260, 285-306)
KANT: Science of Right (Vol. 42, pp. 397-458)
MILL: Representative Government [Ch. 1-6] (Vol. 43, pp. 327-370)
LAVOISIER: Elements of Chemistry [Part I] (Vol. 45, pp. 1-52)
DOSTOEVSKY: The Brothers Karamazov [Part I-II] (Vol. 52, pp. 1-170)
FREUD: The Origin and Development of Psychoanalysis (Vol. 54, pp. 1-20)
YEAR 4
EURIPIDES: Medea, Hippolytus, Trojan Women, The Bacchantes (Vol. 5, pp. 212-236, 270-281, 340-352)
PLATO: Republic [Book VI-VII] (Vol. 7, pp. 373-401)
PLATO: Theaetetus (Vol. 7, pp. 512-550)
ARISTOTLE: Physics [Book IV, Ch. 1-5, 10-14] (Vol. 8, pp. 287-292, 297-304)
ARISTOTLE: Metaphysics [Book I, Ch. 1-2; Book IV; Book VI, Ch. 1; Book XI, Ch. 1-4] (Vol. 8, pp. 499-501, 522-532, 547-548, 587-590)
ST. AUGUSTINE: Confessions [Book IX-XIII] (Vol. 18, pp. 61-125)
ST. THOMAS AQUINAS: Summa Theologica [Part I, QQ 16-17, 84-88] (Vol. 19, pp. 94-104, 440-473)
MONTAIGNE: Apology for Raymond de Sebonde (Vol. 25, pp. 208-294)
GALILEO: Two New Sciences [Third Day, through Scholium of Theorem II] (Vol. 28, pp. 197-210)
BACON: Novum Organum [Preface, Book I] (Vol. 30, pp. 105-136)
DESCARTES: Discourse on the Method (Vol. 31, pp. 41-67)
NEWTON: Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy [Prefaces, Definitions, Axioms, General Scholium] (Vol. 34, pp. 1-24, 369-372)
LOCKE: An Essay Concerning Human Understanding [Book II] (Vol. 35, pp. 121-251)
HUME: An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding (Vol. 35, pp. 450-509)
KANT: Critique of Pure Reason [Prefaces, Introduction, Transcendental Aesthetic] (Vol. 42, pp. 1-33)
MELVILLE: Moby Dick (Vol. 48)
DOSTOEVSKY: The Brothers Karamazov [Part III-IV] (Vol. 52, pp. 171-412)
JAMES: Principles of Psychology [Ch. XV, XX] (Vol. 53, pp. 396-420, 540-635)
YEAR 5
PLATO: Phaedo (Vol. 7, pp. 220-251)
ARISTOTLE: Categories (Vol. 8, pp. 5-21)
ARISTOTLE: On the Soul [Book II, Ch. 1-3; Book III] (Vol. 8, pp. 642-645, 656-668)
HIPPOCRATES: The Oath; On Ancient Medicine; On Airs, Waters, and Places; The Book of Prognostics; Of the Epidemics; The Law; On the Sacred Disease (Vol. 10, pp. xiii-26, 44-63, 144, 154-160)
GALEN: On the Natural Faculties (Vol. 10, pp. 167-215)
VIRGIL: The Aeneid (Vol. 13, pp. 103-379)
PTOLEMY: The Almagest [Book I, Ch. 1-8]; COPERNICUS: Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres [Introduction—Book I, Ch. 11]
KEPLER: Epitome of Copernican Astronomy [Book IV, Part II, Ch. 1-2] (Vol. 16, pp. 5-14, 505-532, 887-895)
PLOTINUS: Sixth Ennead (Vol. 17, pp. 252-360)
ST. THOMAS AQUINAS: Summa Theologica [Part I, QQ 75-76, 78-79] (Vol. 19, pp. 378-399, 407-427)
DANTE: The Divine Comedy [Hell] (Vol. 21, pp. 1-52)
HARVEY: The Motion of the Heart and Blood (Vol. 28, pp. 267-304)
CERVANTES: Don Quixote [Part I] (Vol. 29, pp. xi-204)
SPINOZA: Ethics [Part II] (Vol. 31, pp. 373-394)
BERKELEY: The Principles of Human Knowledge (Vol. 35, pp. 403-444)
KANT: Critique of Pure Reason [Transcendental Analytic] (Vol. 42, pp. 34-108)
DARWIN: The Origin of Species [Introduction—Ch. 6, Ch. 15] (Vol. 49, pp. 6-98)
TOLSTOY: War and Peace [Book I-VIII] (Vol. 51, pp. 1-341)
JAMES: Principles of Psychology [Ch. XXVIII] (Vol. 53, pp. 851-897)
YEAR 6
OLD TESTAMENT [Genesis, Exodus, Deuteronomy]
HOMER: The Odyssey (Vol. 4, pp. 183-322)
PLATO: Laws [Book X] (Vol. 7, pp. 757-771)
ARISTOTLE: Metaphysics [Book XII] (Vol. 8, pp. 598-606)
TACITUS: The Histories (Vol. 15, pp. 189-302)
PLOTINUS: Fifth Ennead (Vol. 17, pp. 208-251)
ST. AUGUSTINE: The City of God [Book XV-XVIII] (Vol. 18, pp. 397-507)
ST. THOMAS AQUINAS: Summa Theologica [Part I, QQ 1-13] (Vol. 19, pp. 3-75)
DANTE: The Divine Comedy [Purgatory] (Vol. 21, pp. 53-105)
SHAKESPEARE: Comedy of Errors, The Taming of the Shrew, As You Like It, Twelfth Night (Vol. 26, pp. 149-169, 199-228, 597-626; Vol. 27, pp. 1-28)
SPINOZA: Ethics [Part I] (Vol. 31, pp. 355-372)
MILTON: Samson Agonistes (Vol. 32, pp. 337-378)
PASCAL: The Provincial Letters (Vol. 33, pp. 1-167)
LOCKE: An Essay Concerning Human Understanding [Book IV] (Vol. 35, pp. 307-395)
GIBBON: The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire [Ch. 1-5, General Observations on the Fall of the Roman Empire in the West] (Vol. 40, pp. 1-51, 630-634)
KANT: Critique of Pure Reason [Transcendental Dialectic] (Vol. 42, pp. 108-209)
HEGEL: Philosophy of History [Introduction] (Vol. 46, pp. 153-206)
TOLSTOY: War and Peace [Book IX-XV, Epilogues] (Vol. 51, pp. 342-696)
YEAR 7
OLD TESTAMENT [Job, Isaiah, Amos]
PLATO: Symposium (Vol. 7, pp. 149-173)
PLATO: Philebus (Vol. 7, pp. 609-639)
ARISTOTLE: Ethics [Book VIII-X] (Vol. 9, pp. 406-436)
ARCHIMEDES: Measurement of a Circle, The Equilibrium of Planes [Book I], The Sand-Reckoner, On Floating Bodies [Book I] (Vol. 11, pp. 447-451, 502-509, 520-526, 538-542)
EPICTETUS: Discourses (Vol. 12, pp. 105-245)
PLOTINUS: First Ennead (Vol. 17, pp. 1-34)
ST. THOMAS AQUINAS: Summa Theologica [Part I-II, QQ 1-5] (Vol. 19, pp. 609-643)
DANTE: The Divine Comedy [Paradise] (Vol. 21, pp. 106-157)
RABELAIS: Gargantual and Pantagruel [Book III-IV] (Vol. 24, pp. 127-312)
SHAKESPEARE: Julius Caesar, Antony and Cleopatra, Coriolanus (Vol. 26, pp. 568-596; Vol. 27, pp. 311-392)
GALILEO: Two New Sciences [First Day] (Vol. 28, pp. 131-177)
SPINOZA: Ethics [Part IV-V] (Vol. 31, pp. 422-463)
NEWTON: Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy [Book III, Rules], Optics [Book I, Part I; Book III, Queries] (Vol. 34, pp. 270-271, 379-423, 516-544)
HUYGENS: Treatise on Light (Vol. 34, pp. 551-619)
KANT: Critique of Practical Reason (Vol. 42, pp. 291-361)
KANT: Critique of Judgment [Critique of Aesthetic Judgment] (Vol. 42, pp. 461-549)
MILL: Utilitarianism (Vol. 43, pp. 445-476)
YEAR 8
ARISTOPHANES: Thesmophoriazusae, Ecclesiazusae, Plutus (Vol. 5, pp. 600-642)
PLATO: Gorgias (Vol. 7, pp. 252-294)
ARISTOTLE: Ethics [Book V] (Vol. 9, pp. 376-387)
ARISTOTLE: Rhetoric [Book I, Ch. 1—Book II, Ch. 1; Book II, Ch. 20—Book III, Ch. 1; Book III, Ch. 13-19] (Vol. 9, pp. 593-623, 640-654, 667-675)
ST. AUGUSTINE: On Christian Doctrine (Vol. 18, pp. 619-698)
HOBBES: Leviathan [Part II] (Vol. 23, pp. 99-164)
SHAKESPEARE: Othello, King Lear (Vol. 27, pp. 205-283)
BACON: Advancement of Learning [Book I, Ch. 1—Book II, Ch. 11] (Vol. 30, pp. 1-55)
DESCARTES: Meditations on the First Philosophy (Vol. 31, pp. 69-103)
SPINOZA: Ethics [Part III] (Vol. 31, pp. 395-422)
LOCKE: A Letter Concerning Toleration (Vol. 35, pp. 1-22)
STERNE: Tristam Shandy (Vol. 36, pp. 190-556)
ROUSSEAU: A Discourse on Political Economy (Vol. 38, pp. 367-385)
ADAM SMITH: The Wealth of Nations [Book II] (Vol. 39, pp. 117-162)
BOSWELL: The Life of Samuel Johnson (Vol. 44, pp. 49-55, 104-139, 159-173, 247-262, 281-322)
MARX: Capital [Prefaces, Part I-II] (Vol. 50, pp. 1-84)
GOETHE: Faust [Part I] (Vol. 47, pp. 1-114)
JAMES: Principles of Psychology [Ch. VIII-X] (Vol. 53, pp. 130-259)
YEAR 9
PLATO: The Sophist (Vol. 7, pp. 551-579)
THUCYDIDES: The History of the Peloponnesian War [Book VII-VIII] (Vol. 6, pp. 538-593)
ARISTOTLE: Politics [Book VII-VIII] (Vol. 9, pp. 527-548)
APOLLONIUS: On Conic Sections [Book I, Prop. 1-15; Book III, Prop. 42-55] (Vol. 11, pp. 603-624, 780-797)
NEW TESTAMENT [The Gospel According to St. John, The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Romans, The First Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians]
ST. AUGUSTINE: The City of God [Book V, XIX] (Vol. 18, pp. 207-230, 507-530)
ST. THOMAS AQUINAS: Summa Theologica [Part II-II, QQ 1-7] (Vol. 20, pp. 380-416)
GILBERT: On the Loadstone (Vol. 28, pp. 1-121)
DESCARTES: Rules for the Direction of the Mind (Vol. 31, pp. 1-40)
DESCARTES: Geometry (Vol. 31, pp. 295-353)
PASCAL: The Great Experiment Concerning the Equilibrium of Fluids, On Geometrical Demonstration (Vol. 33, pp. 382-389, 430-446)
FIELDING: Tom Jones (Vol.. 37)
MONTESQUIEU: The Spirit of Laws [Book I-V, VIII, XI-XII] (Vol. 38, pp. 1-33, 51-58, 68-96)
FOURIER: Analytical Theory of Heat [Preliminary Discourse, Ch. 1-2] (Vol. 45, pp. 169-251)
FARADAY: Experimental Researches in Electricity [Series I-II], A Speculation Touching Electric Conduction and the Nature of Matter (Vol. 45, pp. 265-302, 850-855)
HEGEL: Philosophy of Right [Part III] (Vol. 46, pp. 55-114)
MARX: Capital [Part III-IV] (Vol. 50, pp. 85-250)
FREUD: Civilization and Its Discontents (Vol. 54, pp. 767-802)
YEAR 10
SOPHOCLES: Ajax, Electra (Vol. 5, pp. 143-169)
PLATO: Timaeus (Vol. 7, pp. 442-477)
ARISTOTLE: On the Parts of Animals [Book I, Ch. 1—Book II, Ch. 1], On the Generation of Animals [Book I, Ch. 1, 17-18, 20-23] (Vol. 9, pp. 161-171, 255-256, 261-266, 268-271)
LUCRETIUS: On the Nature of Things [Book V-VI] (Vol. 12, pp. 61-97)
VIRGIL: The Eclogues, The Georgics (Vol. 13, pp. 3-99)
ST. THOMAS AQUINAS: Summa Theologica [Part I, QQ 65-74] (Vol. 19, pp. 339-377)
ST. THOMAS AQUINAS: Summa Theologica [Part I, QQ 90-102] (Vol. 19, pp. 480-527)
CHAUCER: Canterbury Tales [Prologue, Knight’s Tale, Miller’s Prologue and Tale, Reeve’s Prologue and Tale, Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale, Friar’s Prologue and Tale, Summoner’s Prologue and Tale, Pardoner’s Prologue and Tale] (Vol. 22, pp. 159-232, 256-295, 372-382)
SHAKESPEARE: The Tragedy of King Richard II, The First Part of King Henry IV, The Second Part of King Henry IV, The Life of King Henry V (Vol. 26, pp. 320-351, 434-502, 532-567)
HARVEY: On the Generation of Animals [Introduction—Exercise 62] (Vol. 28, pp. 331-470)
CERVANTES: Don Quixote [Part II] (Vol. 29, pp. 203-429)
KANT: Critique of Judgement [Critique of Teleological Judgement] (Vol. 42, pp. 550-613)
BOSWELL: The Life of Samuel Johnson (Vol. 44, pp. 354-364, 373-384, 391-407, 498-515, 584-587)
GOETHE: Faust [Part II] (Vol. 47, pp. 115-294)
DARWIN: The Descent of Man [Part I; Part III, Ch. 21] (Vol. 49, pp. 255-363, 590-597)
MARX: Capital [Part VII-VIII] (Vol. 50, pp. 279-383)
JAMES: Principles of Psychology [Ch. I, V-VII] (Vol. 53, pp. 1-7, 84-129)
FREUD: A General Introduction to Psycho-analysis (Vol. 54, pp. 449-638)