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Title: Climbing Parnassus: A New Apologia for Greek and Latin by Tracy Lee Simmons, William F. Jr. Buckley ISBN: 1-882926-73-0 Publisher: ISI Books Pub. Date: April, 2002 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $24.95

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Average Customer Rating: 4.43 (7 reviews)

Rating: 5
Summary: Never Too Late for Latin & Greek!
Comment: I cannot add much more to the great 5-star reviews here, except to say this book has given hope that even older adults can, and should, begin learning Greek and Latin immediately.

We were robbed of a true education. But that's no excuse not to try in a lifetime to finally read these classics in the original language. I was twelve years old when I first realized how cool it would be to read and hear ancient Greek. I was intimidated out of that fancy. Now I know the rest of the story.

Thank you for your precise and elegant prose, and--by the way--very readable book. It has been an inspiration, in all the true senses and history of that word.

Rating: 5
Summary: a first rate apologia
Comment: Having studied Latin (and a little bit of Greek, not nearly enough), I totally agree with his major argument that both Latin and Greek are worth studying for their own sake. This elegantly written and well-argued book is a first rate defense of the classics even though it "stands on the shoulders of giants." The intelletual history of humanism and classicism through the ages is worth the price alone, not to mention the terrific quotes he finds from avid classicists like Nock and CS Lewis (whose essay The Parthanon and the Optative was one of the highlights of the cited works). Although he could have been even more damning, I laughed out loud at how silly he makes some of our "modern" educational ideas look (as in "responding" to works we cannot possibly understand) -- more emphasis on the hard work and less on the "feel good" part of academia and our students would be a lot more capable. The central fact of the book is that even those who don't remember a word of Greek and Latin manage to keep and foster a lifelong appreciation for learning and an ability to understand and digest complex texts. This is one of the most cogent arguments for the classics that I've come across and should be mandatory reading for educational reformers who seem bent on dumbing down an already weak curriculum.

Rating: 1
Summary: unreadable
Comment: I tried to read this book, but got so frustrated by his rambling, flowery writing that i returned it to the public library (good thing i didn't buy it...). He does a good job of making Classics inaccessible to the average reader. I'm reminded of a phrase from Shakespeare: "More words, less art...". If you want to read a book on this topic (a topic i highly recommend), try "Who Killed Homer?" by Hanson and Heath.

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