You’ve probably heard it said: “it doesn’t matter what you read, just read something.” It’s a popular sentiment among teachers and librarians who earnestly want to inspire a life-long literary habit among the younger generations.

They have a noble aim, but there’s just one problem: their advice is dead wrong.

In actuality, what you read is extremely important. And if you’re reading in order to better understand the world, reading a bad book vs. a good one is the difference between believing outright falsehoods and seeing the world as it really is. The act of reading a book doesn’t shield you from the nonsense that’s present in any other form of media. Bad information is bad information, regardless of the source.

If you look at the bookshelves of any bookstore today or browse the trending category of online sellers, you’ll see a constant influx of new, enticing covers that promise you life-changing information. New tricks and techniques that have only just been discovered recently. You might think you’re missing out by not reading these books, but in most cases you’re better off completely ignoring them.

Your best bet of finding anything worth reading — information that is actually life-changing — is by looking back to books that were written long before you were born. You’ll learn that most new books aren’t really telling us anything new at all. At best they’re repeating watered down versions of what the ancients already told us, and at worst, spouting complete nonsense.

Here are three reasons why old books are where you should focus your time— and I’ll even give you some recommendations to get started.

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Survivorship Bias

The first reason that you should read old books over new ones is for the very fact that we still have them around at all.

What do I mean?

If a book is worthless, it doesn’t stay in circulation for more than a few years. You don’t remember all the forgettable books you read when you were younger for the very reason that they were forgettable. They were useless or didn’t provide any real insight. You read them, but you didn’t retain anything from them, and you certainly didn’t recommend them to others..

Now imagine the flip side. Good books have staying power. They stay in circulation a long time, and are passed down for generations. If you read a good book as a child, it stays with you. You might even remember the cover, the illustrations, and the characters. You also remember how the book made you feel, and maybe have suggested it to others or plan on letting your children or future children read it.

Now imagine how useful or important a book has to be to be remembered hundreds or even thousands of years after it was written. So many people have read it and recommended it that it has been preserved for generations.

This is called survivorship bias. We only have the very best of the ancient books (in general) because they were the very best. They are not good because they are old. They are old because they are good. Something about them speaks to the human spirit or shed light on a vital topic that remains relevant generation after generation.

Shakespeare is still taught 400 years after his death because his characters embody human nature. We still read Machiavelli because his formula to obtain power remains relevant for leaders today. And we keep coming back to Aristotle and Plato after two millennia because they took on the big questions that we still wrestle with.

This is a humbling realization when you understand that even the great historical figures were reading the ancients, and those ancients were reaching back even further in time to read authors long before them. The same books have been shaping our civilization throughout its existence — generations have been reading and building upon the same canon of literature until only recently.

For example, Napoleon was obsessed with the work of Plutarch, Alfred the Great personally translated Boethius, and George Washington had a massive library of over 900 books, many of them historic works of the ancients. We’re continuously looking back to the same works because they’re timeless – they’ve stuck around so long for good reason.

I’d say it’s a good idea to continue this tradition and read what the greats did before us. Let’s reclaim this literary lineage. If a book has been around for a long time, it’s probably for a good reason.

Time Gives You a Wider Perspective Than Distance

The second reason you need to focus on old books is that the authors back then will give you a wider perspective on the world. Why?

The older an author is, the more likely it is that he or she will have had a life experience vastly different than yours or any other modern person. This means by reading them, you will gain a more exotic viewpoint than by reading someone similar to yourself.

Think of an ancient like Herodotus, whom Cicero called the “Father of History”. Instead of being an armchair historian, conducting his research via the internet, he personally travelled all over the Mediterranean world to collect first-hand accounts. His travels included Egypt, Persia, Syria, Babylon, and the Black Sea region.

Keep in mind this was a time when travel was extremely difficult and meant encountering dangerous situations like stormy seas, bandits, hunger, or disease — you couldn’t just hop a plane and arrive at your destination in a few hours. This breadth of experience made his writing much more in tune with his subject matter, and represents a worldview shaped by an environment vastly different than today.

A modern historian can’t relate to a classical Athenian, but Herodotus could — so by reading him you’ll gain an authentic classical Athenian perspective. That’s more valuable for understanding the human condition than just another modern attempt at making the ancients sound relatable.

Contrast this with the uniformity of thought today:

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Tolkien had good reason to be a bitter nihilist and materialist.

Losing both his parents before adulthood, no one would have blamed the young Tolkien for taking up a dark view of the world. Add to this early tragedy the horrors of the Great War and — somehow — what you end up with is not a Tolkien bent on tearing down the old ideas of Good and Evil, bu…

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Young Napoleon was bullied by his aristocratic peers. He was aloof, spoke French with a funny accent, and was considered of low nobility due to his Corsican origin.

But he sought refuge in books — igniting a lifelong obsession with reading. It eventually became a “matter of power” for him, shaping how he commanded armies and ruled his empire. According to Louis Sarkozy, author of Napoleon’s Library, books were crucial to his early formation and later military acumen: “…they molded his adolescent mind and influenced his statesmanship. They made him the general he would become and accompanied him to his grave.” Later, his official portraits even reflected his love of reading as he’s often depicted in front of books and libraries.

Though Napoleon read on a wide range of topics, it was history in particular — especially accounts of the great conquerors before him — that gave him an edge in life and on the battlefield.

Here’s how books, and learning about the great men of history, guided Napoleon’s every move…

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A Refuge Among Conquerors

Born on the island of Corsica in 1769, Napoleon inherited an interest in reading from his father Carlo, a learned man of minor nobility who rose to become Corsica’s representative to the court of Louis XVI. As a young boy, he emigrated to mainland France and was enrolled at a religious school in Autun to improve his French.

Here his love of reading blossomed out of sheer necessity. At his new school, Napoleon struggled to fit in with other boys his age. He was described as melancholic and reserved, so in lieu of a large friend group he found solace in books. Sarkozy writes:

“The great conqueror discovered reading first as a safe haven…At the tender age of 12 he had already dozens of authors, principally, those of antiquity, which left a lasting impact on his perception of the world.”

He read about geography, philosophy, and astronomy, but his great love was history. Specifically, Plutarch’s famous work Parallel Lives had more of an impact on the future emperor than perhaps any other. A series of biographies of the greatest men of antiquity, it explores the vices and virtues of its subjects in an effort to reveal the character traits that contributed to their successes and failures. Plutarch endeavored “not to write histories, but lives.”

Napoleon especially drew inspiration from the lives of Julius Caesar and Alexander the Great, figures who he continues to be compared with today. At the time, though, he dreamed of measuring up to them, fascinated by Alexander’s lightning conquest or how Caesar occasionally slept in his chariots. From Plutarch’s legendary accounts, Napoleon learned a formative lesson:

“The world is for the taking. Ambition and determination are the means of achieving it. Imitate great men of history, and the world can be yours.”

A Tool For Victory

Besides the merely aspirational benefits, Napoleon’s abilities as a statesman and general were heavily influenced by his reading, too. He took an immensely practical approach to reading as he saw it as a means to an end — a way to extract valuable information that he could use to further his ambitions. Sarkozy writes:

“His many literary adventures, at least as an adult, revolved around the practical. He wanted to quickly get to the nucleus of a book and then move on.”

For this reason, Napoleon never stopped reading. Even on military campaigns, he brought books along, commissioning travel libraries which were assembled by his personal librarian Antoine-Alexandre Barbier. These contained volumes on military tactics, history, and geography. The emperor’s generals benefited from his propensity to read on campaign, too, as they were gifted their own book sets.

Much of Napoleon’s leadership style was imprinted on him by literature. The way he interacted with his men was directly motivated by his books. To inspire his troops, he told them they were the “heirs of the great phalanxes of Alexander and the legions of Rome”. He believed he and his men were a continuation of the ancient conquerors he’d read about.

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In 1962, the magazine The Christian Century posed a question to C.S. Lewis: “What books did most to shape your vocational attitude and your philosophy of life?”

Lewis came up with a list of ten works, ranging from epic poetry to deep theological explorations. Despite the wide variation in his list, one theme jumps out — most of his selections contemplate the nature of the relationship between man and God. It’s easy to see how Lewis’ own works reflected this theme. The Chronicles of Narnia series became well-known for its Christian allegory and most of his best selling works dealt with spiritual matters, too.

So let’s explore the ten books that shaped Lewis into the deeply spiritual and thoughtful writer he became. It’s a list of time-honored classics and rare gems...

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1. The Consolation of Philosophy, Boethius

The Consolation was penned by a persecuted Roman official, Boethius, during a tumultuous time in the empire’s history. Reflecting on the fickleness of fortune, Boethius laments his unjust suffering but is rescued from his despair through conversation with the personification of philosophy, Lady Philosophy.

Through their dialogue Boethius arrives at a surprising conclusion: misfortune can actually be a good thing, and God has ordered the universe so that all — even the wicked who rule with impunity — are given their due.

Boethius serves as a bridge between the Roman mind and the medieval Christian ethos. It’s no surprise his work was one of the most widely read publications of the medieval world.

2. Theism and Humanism, Arthur Balfour

Based on a 1914 lecture, Balfour explains why the philosophy of naturalism— the view that all things can be explained by purely physical laws — is insufficient to ground the values humans hold most dear. He contends that if our cognitive faculties are just tools for survival rather than truth-seeking, we have no reason to trust our scientific or intellectual conclusions in the first place.

Additionally, Balfour challenges naturalists to explain phenomena like art, human reason, and human rights. He states his purpose for writing the work as “My desire has been to show that all we think best in human culture…requires God…”

3. Descent into Hell, Charles Williams

Written by one of Lewis’s fellow “Inklings” — the literary group both he and Tolkien attended — the novel is a spiritual tale about humans who isolate themselves due narcissism, making it impossible to truly love one another. Due to their inability to love, they find themselves in Hell.

The characters’ spiritual fates shed light on Williams’s Doctrine of Substituted Love, which is the belief that because all human beings are spiritually interconnected, they can literally carry one another’s emotional, physical, and spiritual burdens. It is based on the biblical command in Galatians 6:2: “Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.”

The themes of Williams’ work are reminiscent of Lewis’ novels The Great Divorce and The Screwtape Letters.

4. The Life of Samuel Johnson, James Boswell

Thomas Carlyle once called it “beyond any other product of the eighteenth century” and is widely considered one of the greatest biographies in the English language. It details the life of English writer Samuel Johnson, “one of the most distinguished men of letters in English history”.

Boswell’s work revolutionized the biography genre by moving beyond a dry record of dates to capture Johnson’s wit and wisdom through verbatim dialogue and personal anecdotes. Having befriended Johnson in 1763, Boswell spent two decades recording his mentor’s passionate opinions on everything from religion to tea-drinking.

5. The Idea of the Holy, Rudolf Otto

Otto’s work had a big impact on religious studies in the 20th century. It explores a phenomenon called “the numinous” — a “non-rational, non-sensory experience or feeling whose primary and immediate object is outside the self.” He argued that religious language is merely shorthand for experience that words cannot capture. By identifying the numinous as the non-rational core of faith, Otto provided a framework for understanding why multiple religions share a common sense of awe.

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Though many might (mistakenly) call the early part of this period the “Dark Ages”, the middle ages were perhaps the richest time period for great Christian writings. Ranging from neck-deep philosophical treatises on theology to practical guides for prayer, these books built on the foundations laid by early fathers of the Church and cemented Christianity…

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Perhaps the only place where Tolkien truly failed was in his efforts to avoid religious allegory in The Lord of the Rings. Despite his stated ignorance of its Christian elements in its first writing, Tolkien nonetheless could not resist a conscious intertwining — in a subtle, elegant way — of Christian themes into his world of Middle Earth during his re…

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The Western story is shaped not only by battles and treaties but also by influential books — those that articulated visions of society, faith, and governance so compelling they moved entire populations to action or retroactively explained to the wider world the motives of the stirred population. While the terms “reformation” and “revolution” may be a ma…

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The evil in the world — with so much in just the past few weeks — feels surreal, like a lead-up to an apocalyptic battle between good and evil. Often it feels like modern chapter in The Lord of the Rings, with the forces of Sauron in constant struggle with the forces that uphold all that is true, good and beautiful. But why does The Lord of the Rings’ i…

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The Consolation of Philosophy was penned by a persecuted man in a dying empire.

Boethius, the author of the work, is sometimes considered the “last Roman philosopher” — a prominent, well-educated Roman subjected to imprisonment, and eventually, execution. His death marks an endpoint to not only his own earthly life but an era. The classical world effectively ended with Boethius.

Just as Rome’s fall may have seemed pointless and unnecessary, so too Boethius viewed his circumstances shortly before his death. He lamented his unjust suffering in his magnum opus.

But in his deeply personal exploration of the fickleness of fortune, he discovers something revelatory: misfortune can actually be a good thing.

It sounds crazy, but it’s a discovery that reveals the truth about God, fate, and goodness…

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Rise and Fall of the Last Roman Philosopher

To call Boethius' plight a “fall from glory” would be an understatement. Born to a wealthy political family in 480 AD, he rose through the ranks much as his father had done before him, becoming a senator and consul by his early thirties. And in 522 he was appointed Master of Offices, one of the highest offices in the empire, by Theodoric the Great.

Boethius was far from your typical career climber, though. An avid reader of Greek philosophy, he wrote that he was originally inspired to go into politics by Plato:

“...philosophers should take part in politics in order to prevent the state from falling into the hands of the stupid and the wicked…”

Boethius’ crowning achievement, though, was the appointment of his two sons as consuls that same year. In the Consolation, he remembers celebrating their appointment “as if it were a military triumph…”

Boethius had reached the height of Roman politics, but the glory didn’t last. Shortly after entering his new position in Theodoric’s court, he became embroiled in political controversy. He was accused of treason by a rival after defending a fellow politician from the same crime.

Boethius believed it was his unflinching loyalty toward the truth that was his downfall. He writes:

“I found myself inevitably opposing the plans of selfish and unprincipled men, and in the effort to keep my conscience clear and do what was lawful and right, I offended a lot of people who were more powerful than I was.”

So Boethius found himself in a jail cell lamenting his hardship, and it was here where one of the most influential works in Western literature was penned. Great works of art always begin with magnificent struggle, right?

Fortune’s Cruel Wheel

In The Consolation, Boethius dialogues with the personification of philosophy, Lady Philosophy, about his plight while addressing larger philosophical questions like the existence of evil and the nature of happiness.

But first, Boethius wrestles with the tension between God’s Providence and the role of Fortune in life — a deeply personal conundrum for him as he lingered in his jail cell. Why was he, a virtuous man, pushed from such a height while dishonest men retained their power?

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The Lord of the Rings has many characters imbued by a Christian ethos and worldview. While Gandalf, Frodo, and Aragorn jointly represent Christ, their friends and allies demonstrate the depth of Christian archetypes in Tolkien’s world.

Repentant heroes, steadfast friends, and superhuman elves — in subtle glimpses and Tolkien’s mastery of phrasing — show…

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Perhaps no other topic has been written about in the West more than Christianity. In the past 2,000 years, tomes on the faith have been written by kings, monks, and laymen alike. No other faith has inspired as much great literature as Christianity.

And though there is a misconception that there wasn't much literature being passed around in the early chur…

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J.R.R. Tolkien’s legacy-defining book The Lord of the Rings is not an explicitly Christian work. In fact, Tolkien disliked on-the-nose allegory, when fiction conforms to a historical or religious arc and permits a message to lead the story.

Nonetheless, in a 1953 letter responding to a Father Robert Murray, Tolkien admitted the following of his magnum o…

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The greatest minds often steeped in the classic histories — great men were made first by reading and understanding the toil of great historians.

Much of what we know of the past three thousand years relies largely on the great historians of the millennia. Through excellent scholarship, tedious compilation, clear prose, and entertaining color commentary (…

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A generation before Christ’s birth, the Roman poet Virgil wrote a poem about the coming of a divine savior to lead the world into paradise.

Little did he know, his poetry would become prophecy.

Around 42 B.C., Virgil set to work on his first major work, Eclogues (or Bucolics). Following inspiration from his Greek predecessor Theocritus, Virgil envisioned a Roman mythical poem reflecting the turbulent period during its writing.

Over time since Christianity’s birth, Virgil’s fourth part in his Eclogues has drawn particular interest for its prediction of a boy destined to assume a divine rule over the earth and usher in a period of peace and plenty: in everyone’s mind, Jesus.

However, scholarly opinion on the meaning of the poem varies widely. Some interpretations thought the child to be a descendent of Marc Antony and Octavia the Younger. Modern scholars tend to interpret the poem as metaphorical, with the boy representing Virgil’s own poetry. But the most interesting interpretation of the savior child depicted by Virgil is a foretelling of Christ.

Late Roman and Medieval era figures, such as Emperor Constantine, St. Augustine, and Dante Alighieri believed Virgil to have written a prophetic poem of the Christ to come. Later poets, like the 18^th century’s Alexander Pope, believed the same.

Even modern scholars, nonetheless, admit Virgil’s Fourth Eclogue to contain highly religious language.

Let’s look at how Virgil seemingly predicts Christ on three occasions: through mention of a divine savior, birth by a Virgin, and a return to the Garden.

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The Divine Savior

The central figure of Virgil’s poem is a divine savior: a boy of godly origin who would grow to rule the world and herald paradise. But this wouldn’t just be any hero. Virgil wrote how by this new savior, guilt itself would vanish from the world:

Then shall great months their wondrous course commence
Under thy rule what trace may yet remain
With us of guilt, shall vanish from the earth
Leaving it free for ever from alarm.

In a similar way, of course, Jesus would defeat sin and thereby pay the final price for all humanity’s collective guilt. But Virgil continues further how this new savior wasn’t merely an earthly power, but a life granted by a divine or perhaps heavenly power:

He will accept his life as of the gods
With whom the heroes mingle; seen by them

Lastly, this savior would wield the power given to him by his father, just as Christ would contain the power of the Almighty:

The whole world will he rule, now set at peace
By his great father's power: to him shall bring

For Virgil to write this during a time of Roman Empire’s domination could even be read as suggesting this new savior would conquer Rome itself, which Christ did — not by his earthly power — but by the power he instilled in the Church.

The extension of Christ’s power through the Church would convert the Roman Empire, its soldiers, its emperors, until Rome itself became the Christian seat of power.

Next, we look at the Virgin…

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Good stories develop language, memory, and comprehension skills.

Great stories go much further: they stretch the imagination, teach a deep life lesson, or tell us about the real world in a new way.

Fairy tales do all of these, and strangely, many believe these age-old tales are only fit for children. Adults and children know there is something more to a…

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Mark Twain once said, “A classic is something that everybody wants to have read and nobody wants to read.”

Glancing through great book lists like the Great Books of the Western World or The Harvard Classics, it’s hard to argue with Twain’s sentiment.

The great books often appear daunting, especially for readers new to the classics — many of the books are long, multi-volume works that hardly seem relevant today. Even experienced readers can be turned off from difficult topics, especially philosophy.

So let’s highlight some easier philosophy works that readers can use to get their feet wet.

Here are five philosophy classics that are not only enjoyable reads, but have shaped the field — from antiquity to modern times…

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1. The Apology & Crito by Plato

The first selection is actually a package deal, since both The Apology and Crito address the trial and subsequent execution of Socrates.

The Apology details Socrates’ defense at his trial shortly before his execution in 399 BC. Socrates defends himself from the charges of “corrupting the youth” and teaching falsehoods about the state gods, His accusers are three prominent Athenians.

“Where can we find wisdom?” and “What is truth?” are some of the deep themes explored.

The work is a prime example of the Socratic dialogue in which Socrates displays a masterful knowledge of interrogation techniques toward one of his accusers, Meletus. Because Socrates himself left no writings, the work is essential in understanding the life and teachings of the “Father of Philosophy”.

Likewise, Crito details the final episode of Socrates’s life, and can be approached as a sequel to The Apology. This brief dialogue is a conversation between Socrates and his friend Crito. Here Socrates recounts his arguments during the trial...

The work explains Socrates’ reasoning for accepting his death sentence rather than fleeing the city, exploring the complex relationship between an individual and the state. Like The Apology, Crito is a must read for anyone wishing to learn more about the great Greek philosophers.

2. Meditations by Marcus Aurelius

Never intended for the public, Meditations is a collection of personal insights and observations from Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius, recorded while on military campaign.

This thought-provoking diary is still read widely after nearly two millennia — a testament to its timeless insights. It’s often considered the epitome of stoic philosophy, although Aurelius draws on multiple schools of philosophical thought.

The work is a unique opportunity to peer into the unfiltered thought of a man remarkably positioned as the leader of the greatest empire in history. Great for daily reading and inspiration, Meditations offers the modern reader a wealth of practical wisdom from someone who reached the pinnacle of success.

3. The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli

An oft quoted work, The Prince is a 16th century guidebook instructing rulers on effective governance. It’s considered one of the first works of political philosophy and popularized the term “Machiavellian” to describe politically cunning or scheming behavior.

Notably, Machiavelli drew from his experience as a diplomat in Florence as well as his obsessive reading of history. In a letter to fellow Florentine Francesco Vettori, Machiavelli describes how he learns from the lives of the great figures before him by reading:

“…I enter the ancient courts of rulers who have long since died. There, I am warmly welcomed, and I feed on the only food I find nourishing and was born to savour. I am not ashamed to talk to them and ask them to explain their actions and they, out of kindness, answer me.”

It’s a great read for anyone wishing to understand the motivations and reasoning behind great leaders of the past or savvy politicians today. We explore one of Machiavelli’s deepest insights from the work here.

4. The Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius

The Consolation was penned by a persecuted Roman official, Boethius, during a tumultuous time in the empire’s history. Reflecting on the fickleness of fortune, Boethius laments his unjust suffering but is rescued from his despair through conversation with the personification of philosophy, Lady Philosophy.

Through their dialogue Boethius arrives at a surprising conclusion: misfortune can actually be a good thing, and God has ordered the universe so that all — even the wicked who rule with impunity — are given their due.

Boethius serves as a bridge between the Roman mind and the medieval Christian ethos. It’s no surprise his work was one of the most widely read publications of the medieval world.

5. Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl

Though perhaps more psychology than philosophy, Man’s Search for Meaning reflects upon man’s resilience in the face of adversity and offers the reader a glimpse of how an individual’s personal philosophy can affect their life outcome.

Analyzing how prisoners (including himself) in Nazi concentration camps dealt with their bleak circumstances, Frankl develops his theory of logotherapy, proposing that man’s primary motivational force is to find meaning in life.

At the time of Frankl’s death at the end of the 20th century, the book boasted sales of 10 million copies and was considered one of the most influential books in the United States. Man’s Search for Meaning pushes the reader to ponder the extremes of life, packing a punch that few other works can deliver.

Time to Wrestle

For those who don’t know where to begin reading the great books, this concise list should serve as a launching point into heavier and more consuming works. Each of the works above is relatively easy, but like all great works, they should be approached with attentiveness, allowing the reader to truly converse with the text.

One should approach any work with patience and a willingness to wrestle with the content. By doing this, the reader’s mind will be strengthened by the experience and will better read, comprehend, and digest future works.

Now, time to get reading.

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Niccolò Machiavelli is best known for promoting a realistic approach to governance — one unbounded by pesky moral or ideological restrictions. Often considered a precursor to realpolitik, his political philosophy was constructed from observations during his career as diplomat in 15th and 16th century Florence and from his obsessive reading of history. I…

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