Why Should We Read Old Books?

And where to begin...

“Western philosophy is but a series of footnotes to Plato.”

So goes the famous saying.

I’ve often felt that only reading modern books, no matter how good they are, is like trying to join a conversation halfway through. Indeed, the Western canon of literature is sometimes referred to as a “Great Conversation” through time — by reading the classics, you can enter this great dialogue.

G.K. Chesterton once made a similar claim to the above: “What we call the new ideas are generally broken fragments of the old ideas.”

You’ve probably encountered this argument — that there are “no new ideas” — several times before. However, arguments are best made with real examples.

In an essay, Chesterton made a brilliant case that reading the classics is essential because it allows us to put supposedly new or “revolutionary” ideas in their proper place, whenever they come knocking.

For example, in the 19th century, Nietzsche put forward his apparently novel idea of “slave morality”: that ordinary, altruistic morality came from a “slave” way of thinking. It was merely a trick invented by the weak to suppress the strong, who would otherwise naturally rule over them.

Chesterton writes:

Nietzsche, as everyone knows, preached a doctrine which he and his followers regard apparently as very revolutionary; he held that ordinary altruistic morality had been the invention of a slave class to prevent the emergence of superior types to fight and rule them. Now, modern people, whether they agree with this or not, always talk of it as a new and unheard-of idea. It is calmly and persistently supposed that the great writers of the past, say Shakespeare for instance, did not hold this view, because they had never imagined it; because it had never come into their heads.

But what if Shakespeare had in fact already thought of it?

As it turns out, we’re only fully equipped to encounter Nietzsche if we’ve already read Richard III. 250 years before Nietzsche was born, Shakespeare writes:

Conscience is but a word that cowards use,

Devised at first to keep the strong in awe.

-King Richard; Act V, Scene 3

Shakespeare clearly had conceived of “slave morality” centuries before Nietzsche. But, says Chesterton, “he weighed it at its proper value and put it in its proper place. Its proper place is the mouth of a half-insane hunchback on the eve of defeat.”

Chesterton continues:

What we call the new ideas are generally broken fragments of the old ideas. It was not that a particular notion did not enter Shakespeare’s head; it is that it found a good many other notions waiting to knock the nonsense out of it.

The reason we read the classics, then, is to expose us to the “full picture” of truth, and not just whichever ideas happen to be fashionable in the present moment. This helps us to avoid becoming products of our time, or as Chesterton put it, prevents us from being “merely modern”…

Where to Begin?

Ever since leaving university, I’ve sorely missed having somewhere to go to discuss the great books with others. I’ve failed to find a society or book club where I really feel I belong.

And so… I’m incredibly excited to tell you all that I’ve started one myself!

A few months ago, I got together with a couple of close friends to set up the Athenaeum Book Club. I haven’t announced it too widely yet because we’ve been working on making it better first.

In short, we are an independent, online community studying the great texts of the Western canon — slowly, together. We’re reading a broad range of classic works, from Homer to Hemingway, in dialogue with each other. That’s it.

Here’s how it works:

• We read a new classic text from the Western canon every month (unless it’s something longer that requires more time)

• We meet every 2 weeks to discuss

• Between sessions, we discuss inside our community chat room

• Once we’ve finished a book, we vote on what to read next

If you’d like to read along with us, there are two main ways of participating:

• Join our biweekly live streams on Substack — free for all to watch

• Join the discussions directly in our “inner circle” via Zoom — paid members only

Our core reading group has become really strong in recent weeks, and the discussions have been so fruitful lately. Now is a brilliant time to join if this interests you.

Our real mission at Athenaeum is to spread our love of classic literature widely — to encourage others to pick up the great books at a time when it is desperately needed.

That’s why most of what we put out on Athenaeum is completely free.

However, if you want to participate fully in the discussions and join our inner circle, please consider a paid membership for a few dollars per month. It helps our small team to work hard introducing others to the Great Conversation…

P.S. Here is a FAQ page explaining some more of the specifics of format, cadence, reading list, etc.