Reading the Greats

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UPDATE: The series tickets for both series (one started on January 10, the other February 21) have now sold out. But you can buy era and episode tickets below!

Sophocles, Homer, Plato, Machiavelli, Descartes, Wollstonecraft, Woolf, Brecht.

Join a 15-month adventure, and get a basic knowledge of the Western canon of literature…

A classic does not necessarily teach us anything we did not know before. In a classic, we sometimes discover something we have always known (or thought we knew), but without knowing that this author said it first, or at least is associated with it in a special way. And this, too, is a surprise that gives a lot of pleasure, such as we always gain from the discovery of an origin, a relationship, an affinity.

Italo Calvino

Over the course of 15 Salons, ii Hosts Tommy Collison and David McDougall will be discussing some of the most iconic works in the Western canon and their relevance to our lives today.

Each Salon will pair a discussion topic with significant works from the Western canon. Our goal is to give attendees a shared experience reading and discussing history’s iconic and influential texts. We hope to foster interesting conversations about how the “big ideas” of Western thought have shaped the modern world.

These Salons are designed as freeform discussions rather than panels. Audience members should expect to unmute themselves—questions, comments and discussion points are welcome (even if you haven’t read the book!)

In the same way that people who say that something has “vanished into thin air” are quoting Shakespeare (whether they know it or not), you might be surprised at how much of this is already familiar. 🙂

You are invited but not required to do some or all of the readings in advance. We have suggested a longer primary reading and shorter/lighter ancillary readings. On occasion, we’ll mention other longer works that you might come up in the discussion.

We expect (and hope!) that you’ll find the Salon engaging and rewarding even with little to no familiarity of books under discussion.

All Salons in the Reading the Greats series will be held twice a month, at 2:30 pm NYC time and 7:30 pm London time.

Due to great interest, we are running the series twice, with series 2 starting about a month after series 1. Here all all the dates for both series:

Series 1

Series 2

Time zones:

  • 11:30 am in San Francisco
  • 2:30 pm in New York
  • 7:30 pm in London
  • 8:30 pm in Paris
  • 10:30/11:30 pm in Dubai