The Complete Harvard Classics - ALL 71 Volumes: The Five Foot Shelf & The Shelf of Fiction: The Famous Anthology of the Greatest Works of World Literature Kindle Edition

While I have yet to make sure that every single page from the physical collection is present and accounted for, my cursory searching and errant prodding have yet to yield any issues in terms of fidelity with the original. This digital version of the collection gives you immediate access to so many of the classic works of philosophy, fiction, theology, history, and political science that serve as the foundation of "western" thought and civilization. If you want to familiarize yourself with the works included, here is the wiki page for this collection: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvard_Classics . It should be noted again that this is a collection of "western" thought, and so includes limited perspective from regions of the world outside of Europe and North America. As another disclaimer: many of these works were originally written in a language other than english, and there are likely better translations out there for many of them. The translations that I have looked at so far run from sufficient to well done. There may certainly be some classical works of western thought that you may look for that are not found in this collection, but they will be few and far between (and that issue will likely never arise for anyone doing anything but the most esoteric reading of classic texts).Perhaps most importantly, this digital version is eminently useful. Every volume has a link in the table of contents. That link brings you to a table of contents for that volume, which contains links for the individual works in the volume. Those links then bring you to a table of contents for the individual works of the volume, complete with links for each section therein. Perhaps equally importantly, every table of contents has a link that returns you to mother table of contents from which you came- making navigating to specific works and then back much easier than many other digital collections allow, in a way that does not require one to use the "Go To" feature of the Kindle.If you are interested in having access to nearly all of the essential classics of "western" civilization for a ridiculously cheap price and with a surprising ease of navigation, I recommend this collection without reservation.

Re-visiting old friends from Clerke-Maxwell to Locke at a bargain. At 86 I will not get to the end this time around

You can bypass the "reviewer" who seems to think that this collection is just samples. The reality is that this collection is complete volumes of each book, easily accessible through a comprehensive table of contents. Very nicely done, and a bargain.

Spending time in the library during college, I read this book set frequently for its diversity. Gleaning the known high literary landscape at the time, the translations aren’t too difficult but are rich with history. Many different minds went into this “collaboration “ and those of us today can be grateful to have the actual works instead of revisionist correctness.

The collection is fine, but don't be fooled. Ivy League schools teach a crib-notes class on these classics, just so students have something to talk about at reunions when they are networking. I kid you not. I used to work for an Ivy League school for years and they literally teach a class intended to help students feel smart, informed and analytical by being aware of elements of these books, rather than actually train them to be those things or make them read the books. To quote a graduate, "It's better to make something up with unwavering confidence and win a debate, than to be right."If you want to read a good book, buy the collection. If you think it will give you a classic education, then you are completely overrating and continuing the myth of an Ivy League education. How else can a record number of Ivy graduates with degrees in hyper-local interpretive dance-performance end up earning strong 6-figure incomes on Wall Street right out of their undergraduate education?If you have an Ivy League education, then you know I am right. Any protesting makes my point.

If you have not read the works in this collection, your education is lacking.

I own many of the hardback volumes in this set, which surely would have cost a small fortune when it came out. So I was gob-smacked when this was offered for less than a dollar. There was nothing to lose here! Of course I bought it. You should too. Read it all, and you’ll get the proverbial Classical Education. Buy it!

Varied quality reading. Who needs the latest rom-com. sliptime romance, or mystery?? This is good reading.

According to Wikipedia this set of books was compiled by Harvard President Charles Eliot to indicate a List of Books that would give the Reader a "Liberal Education " by reading for 15 minutes a day. I used to have part of this set. Now I have the whole series on Kindle. Even if you only read a tenth of the content it's a steal at this price. These are all very good and important books to know. I wish I knew more people interested in Classic Literature. How can you not buy this at this price?

Great compilation and formatted well for the Kindle. I would like to educate myself further and reading Benjamin Franklin's autobiography (the first in the volume) was a great start to actually starting the process. A great piece to start out a journey and so insightful. I'm making the endeavor to complete this and will update afterwards to see if the mission of this series is true. If the purpose is to educate, which it is, then I'd like to confirm this process.I love theory and conceptual thinking so it's a very exciting start!

Maybe I missed someone the list but the only women I saw were Jane Austen and George Sand. Also, this collection should be labeled Western Classics.

A lot of reading for the low price. I'm only on the second story.

You get your money’s worth. 71 volumes in one Ebola.