Peter Fast

Completed reading · Great Books

Great Books, writing, and discussion.

I completed reading across six historical periods, from ancient texts to contemporary works. The record below shows the books and specific sections I read. Weekly essays, longer papers, and seminar discussion made the reading active work.

Explore what I readWriting and discussion

Study in practice

Read. Write. Discuss. Reconsider.

Reading closely

I worked through literature, philosophy, history, science, theology, and political thought. Where I read selections rather than a whole book, the record names the sections.

Writing an argument

Weekly essays and longer papers required a claim, textual support, and revision of ideas.

Discussion and examination

Seminar discussion and oral examination meant explaining a reading, listening to other interpretations, and answering questions.

Useful habits

The reading practiced close attention, clear explanation, and judgment across differing authors and eras—habits I use in teaching and other work.

A few points of entry

AncientRepublicPlato
MedievalDivine ComedyDante
EnlightenmentUnited States Constitution and AmendmentsAmerican founding
ModernDemocracy in AmericaAlexis de Tocqueville
ModernThe Gulag Archipelago (selections)Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
ContemporaryThe Brothers KaramazovFyodor Dostoevsky

Writing and discussion

Working through an idea on the page and aloud.

My honors coursework included weekly essays, longer writing, and seminar conversations. The reading spans authors whose claims often conflict. That made it necessary to identify an argument, use a text carefully, and respond to another reading of it.

Oral examination added another task: explain an interpretation clearly, listen to questions, and answer from the text.

Primary sources

Constitutional government and civic thought.

These completed readings connect questions about representation, liberty, authority, citizenship, political power, and public argument. Reading differing positions is part of understanding them.

Completed reading

What I read.

Books, essays, speeches, and grouped works across six periods. Specific books, chapters, and selections appear beside each title where relevant; a listed selection does not imply I read the entire work.

98 reading entries across 6 periods

01 / 06Ancient and Old Testament World11 entries
  1. HomerIliad
  2. AeschylusAgamemnon; The Libation Bearers; The EumenidesThree plays
  3. SophoclesOedipus the King; Oedipus at Colonus; AntigoneThree plays
  4. EuripidesThe Bacchae
  5. AristophanesClouds
  6. HerodotusThe Histories
  7. PlatoMeno; Symposium; Phaedrus
  8. PlatoRepublicBooks 1–10
  9. AristotlePoetics
  10. AristotleNicomachean EthicsBooks 1–10
  11. BibleGenesis; Exodus; Numbers; 1 Samuel; 2 Samuel; ProverbsNamed books
02 / 06Roman and Early Christian Worlds16 entries
  1. VirgilAeneid
  2. HoraceOdes
  3. OvidMetamorphosesBooks 1–15
  4. Apostolic FathersEarly Christian writingsSelections
  5. PlutarchLivesSelections
  6. EpictetusHandbook
  7. TacitusAgricola; Germania
  8. EusebiusHistory of the Church
  9. Gregory of NazianzusFive Theological OrationsOrations 28–31
  10. John of DamascusThree Treatises on Divine Images
  11. AthanasiusOn the Incarnation
  12. AugustineConfessionsBooks 1–10
  13. BenedictRule of St. Benedict
  14. AugustineCity of GodBook 1; 3.30–31; books 4–5, 11, 13–15, 22
  15. BoethiusConsolation of Philosophy
  16. BibleLuke; Acts; John; 1 John; Matthew 5–7; James; Galatians; Ephesians; Colossians; PhilemonNamed books and passages
03 / 06Medieval, Renaissance, and Reformation Worlds17 entries
  1. BibleSong of Solomon
  2. Qur’anSelected surahs1–4, 7–8, 17–19, 21, 30, 74, 90–114
  3. AverroesDecisive Treatise
  4. AnonymousBeowulf
  5. Chrétien de TroyesArthurian RomancesLancelot and Percival stories
  6. Thomas AquinasSumma TheologiaeSelected questions and articles
  7. DanteDivine ComedyInferno, Purgatory, Paradise
  8. PetrarchCanzoniereSelections
  9. Geoffrey ChaucerCanterbury TalesGeneral Prologue; Knight’s Tale; Miller’s, Wife of Bath’s, and Nun’s Priest’s prologues and tales
  10. Julian of NorwichRevelations of Divine LoveLong text
  11. Christine de PizanThe Book of the City of Ladies
  12. AnonymousThe Saga of the Volsungs
  13. Niccolò MachiavelliThe Prince
  14. Desiderius ErasmusThe Education of a Christian Prince
  15. Nicolaus CopernicusOn the Revolutions of the Heavenly SpheresIntroduction and Book I introduction and sections 1–11
  16. Martin LutherThe Freedom of a Christian
  17. John CalvinInstitutes of the Christian ReligionChapters across books 1–4
04 / 06Enlightenment World20 entries
  1. BibleEcclesiastes; RomansNamed books
  2. William ShakespeareA Midsummer Night’s Dream; Julius Caesar; Hamlet; Macbeth; The TempestFive plays
  3. Miguel de CervantesDon QuixoteSelected chapters from Parts I and II
  4. John DonnePoemsSelections
  5. Galileo GalileiDialogue Concerning the Two Chief World SystemsReader introduction and selected passages from Days 1–3
  6. René DescartesMeditations on First PhilosophyMeditations 1–6
  7. Blaise PascalPenséesSection 1, The Wager, The Memorial
  8. Isaac NewtonPrincipiaSelections
  9. John LockeAn Essay Concerning Human UnderstandingSelected passages from books 1, 2, and 4
  10. John MiltonParadise LostBooks 1–12
  11. Jonathan EdwardsSelected sermons and essaysThe Way of Holiness; The Pleasantness of Religion; God Glorified in the Work of Redemption; Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God; Heaven Is a World of Love
  12. John WesleySelected sermonsFree Grace; The Almost Christian; Christian Perfection; On Sin in Believers; The Scripture Way of Salvation; The Repentance of Believers
  13. David HumeAn Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding
  14. John LockeSecond Treatise of Government
  15. MontesquieuThe Spirit of the LawsForeword, preface, and selected books and chapters
  16. Edmund BurkePolitical speeches and Reflections on the Revolution in FranceSelections
  17. American foundingDeclaration of Independence
  18. Thomas PaineCommon Sense; Rights of ManSelected portions
  19. American foundingUnited States Constitution and AmendmentsSelected edition pages
  20. Federalist and Anti-Federalist authorsFederalist and Anti-Federalist PapersSelected writings
05 / 06Modern World22 entries
  1. BibleEsther; Colossians; PhilemonNamed books
  2. Immanuel KantGrounding for the Metaphysics of MoralsPreface and sections 1–2
  3. Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William WordsworthLyrical BalladsSelected 1798 poems and 1802 preface
  4. Jane AustenPride and Prejudice
  5. Søren KierkegaardFear and Trembling
  6. Karl MarxSelected WritingsSelections
  7. Alexis de TocquevilleDemocracy in AmericaSelections from volumes 1 and 2
  8. Frederick DouglassNarrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass; What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?Both named works
  9. Abraham LincolnWritings and speechesSelections
  10. Leo TolstoyAnna Karenina
  11. Friedrich NietzscheBeyond Good and Evil
  12. Charles DarwinOn the Origin of Species
  13. Alfred, Lord TennysonIn Memoriam
  14. T. S. EliotThe Waste Land; Four Quartets
  15. Sigmund FreudCivilization and Its Discontents
  16. C. S. LewisThe Abolition of Man
  17. Winston ChurchillThe Gathering StormChapters 1–6, 11–12, 15–17
  18. Dietrich BonhoefferLife Together
  19. Flannery O’ConnorRevelation; Good Country People; Greenleaf; A Good Man Is Hard to FindFour named stories
  20. Aleksandr SolzhenitsynThe Gulag Archipelago; Harvard AddressSelections from The Solzhenitsyn Reader
  21. Martin Luther King Jr.Letter from Birmingham Jail; Strength to LoveLetter; preface and selected chapters of Strength to Love
  22. Karl BarthDogmatics in Outline
06 / 06Contemporary World12 entries
  1. J. R. R. TolkienThe SilmarillionAinulindalë and Valaquenta only
  2. John SteinbeckEast of EdenParts 1–4
  3. Gregory of NyssaLife of Moses
  4. John MiltonSamson Agonistes
  5. William FaulknerAbsalom, Absalom!Selected chapters
  6. G. K. ChestertonThe Man Who Was Thursday
  7. G. W. LeibnizTheodicy
  8. AnselmCur Deus Homo
  9. Fyodor DostoevskyThe Brothers KaramazovParts 1–4
  10. Victor HugoLes MisérablesPart I only
  11. C. S. LewisThe Last Battle
  12. BibleGenesis; Exodus; Numbers; Joshua; Judges; 1 Kings; 2 Kings; Ezra; Nehemiah; Job; Matthew; Acts; 1 Corinthians; Hebrews; RevelationNamed books

Beyond the reading list

Ideas are useful when explained well.

See how study, instruction, and communication meet in my current teaching work.

Teaching and coaching