Project Gutenberg 2004-07-15 Public domain in the USA. 237 Powys, John Cowper 1872 1963 One Hundred Best Books With Commentary and an Essay on Books and Reading E-text prepared by Ted Garvin, Keith M. Eckrich, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreaders Team "One Hundred Best Books" by John Cowper Powys is a subjective guide to literature compiled in the early 20th century. The work stands as a personal selection of books that aims to encourage readers to indulge in the pleasure of reading, rather than solely focusing on canonical "standard learning." It emphasizes the importance of individual taste and reading for enjoyment, serving as a guide for those eager to embark on their literary journey. The opening portion of the text sets the tone for this exploration, presenting the compiler's philosophy on reading and literature. Powys argues against conventional educational methods that encourage rigid adherence to a set curriculum, suggesting instead that reading should inspire personal growth and conversation. He encourages readers to cultivate their preferences for literature based on personal enjoyment rather than societal expectations or pretensions. This segment also introduces his criteria for selecting books, outlining that the upcoming list reflects his own taste and invites readers to grapple with their biases about literature. Overall, it is a passionate defense of reading as an art form and an adventure in self-discovery. (This is an automatically generated summary.) Reading ease score: 59.7 (10th to 12th grade). Somewhat difficult to read. en Books and reading -- Great Britain Best books -- Great Britain Z Text Category: Essays, Letters & Speeches Category: Journalism/Media/Writing 166222 2025-07-05T16:33:51.169988 text/html 166226 166057 2024-11-06T05:17:13.150066 2023-10-06T07:05:29.200053 text/html text/html 138715 2025-07-05T16:33:56.762970 application/epub+zip 138820 2025-07-05T16:33:53.748995 application/epub+zip 123293 2025-07-05T16:33:52.696993 application/epub+zip 272090 2025-07-05T16:33:59.042468 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 255131 2025-07-05T16:33:56.083009 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 230978 2022-09-06T23:10:29.677689 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 145794 2025-07-05T16:33:50.913017 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 125971 2024-10-28T19:57:10 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 17254 2025-07-05T16:33:59.165453 application/rdf+xml 13542 2025-07-05T16:33:53.183986 image/jpeg 3765 2025-07-05T16:33:52.938984 image/jpeg 133967 2025-07-05T16:33:51.182036 application/octet-stream application/zip Archives containing the RDF files for *all* our books can be downloaded at https://book.klll.cc/wiki/Gutenberg:Feeds#The_Complete_Project_Gutenberg_Catalog en.wikipedia