Wednesday 9 November 2011

The Complete Self Educator

I'm addicted to books, barely a week goes past when I don't pick another two or three. It's amazing how many you can pick up for so cheap. Most charity shops have bins full of paper and hardbacks all going for a pound or less, many in multi buy deals.

Markets, especially the flea variety. Can be brilliant, however the quality can be patchy. There's a distinct lack of quality control when people are selling their old junk off a wallpaper paste table than compared to a shop. Some of my best books have come form flea markets, including a second copy of Mikhail Bulgakov's 'The Master and the Margarita' (a book so fantastic I had to buy a second copy, and then several others of his books.) and a quite eclectic mix of fiction and fact. However the best little find has to be 'The Complete Self Educator'.

It's a good two inch's thick, very heavy and bound in something that could either be fake leather, actual leather or human skin. I'm not quite sure which. It's old that much is plain, but lacks a print date. What really sold it too me is four little words scrawled in red ink on the inside cover. 'Study all this book' is the sage advice that somebody in the past had to offer Janet Crowe (the faded pencil on the opposite page.

Essentially 'The Complete Self Educator' is a book of facts and information, not a text book nor a school book but something else entirely. It has fifteen chapters all on different subjects (rather endearingly Janet has ticked off chapters with a pencil, only two however, I don't think she took her advice too seriously) each of the chapters broken down into several subcategories,

English
French
Arithmetic
Biology
Medicine
Physics
Chemistry
Geography
English History
World History
Economics
Psychology
Philosophy
Logic
Intelligence Tests and Problems

Now I have no doubt that most of the information contained within is outdated and obsolete, especially in the case of medicine and psychology. But I have always been enraptured about the idea of a Polymath (polymath n somebody who has a wide range of knowledge), so I've decided to read a chapter a week to broaden my knowledge of the world. I'll be posting my findings up to share the cream of the crop with you. Now if you'll excuse me a number of cats are vying for my attention.