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Add to the five-foot shelf

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One hundred years ago, Harvard President Charles Eliot declared that all the books you need for a complete liberal arts education could fit on a five-foot shelf. Last week, we asked listeners to come up with some updates. Anchor Jeb Sharp reads a couple of the suggestions. We’ll reveal more on Friday. Listen

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JEB SHARP: While you’re there, don’t forget to add your top picks for the best books of the last century. We started last week on the 100th anniversary of Charles Eliot’s, Five Foot Shelf. Eliot was president of Harvard in 1909, when he proclaimed that all the books you need for a complete liberal arts education could fit on a five-foot shelf. Do you agree with listener Larry Montello that Nabokov’s Lolita should be up there, alongside Orwell’s 1984, recommended by Sally Wunsch? Give us your picks, and your thoughts. We’ll review the suggestions on air with The World’s book critic, Christopher Merrill, on Friday.

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Discussion

2 comments for “Add to the five-foot shelf”

  • http://www.gelawgroup.com Chuck Teixeira

    Please add to the five-foot shelf, the nonfiction title, MAN HIMSELF MUST CHOOSE, a dialogue between the British historian, Arnold Toynbee, and the Japanese educator, Daisaku Ikeda.

    Thank you very much,

    Sincerely,

    Chuck Teixeira

  • Robin Fisher

    This shelf would not be complete without all 3 books of “The Lord of the Rings” by JRR Tolkein and “The Fountainhead” by Ayn Rand – my 2 favorite books!!!