Classical Educator’s Reading List—Top 55 Books
Created by Dr. Christopher Perrin for ClassicalU.com Subscribers
Introductory Books
An Introduction to Classical Education: A Guide for Parents (C. Perrin)
“The Lost Tools of Learning” (essay by Dorothy Sayers)
Recovering the Lost Tools of Learning (Douglas Wilson)
The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home (Susan W. Bauer & Jessie Wise)
The Liberal Arts Tradition: A Philosophy of Christian Classical Education (Kevin Clark & Ravi Jain)
Norms and Nobility: A Treatise on Education (David Hicks)
Wisdom and Eloquence: A Christian Paradigm for Classical Learning (Charles Evans & Robert Littlejohn)
For the Children’s Sake: Foundations of Education for Home and School (Susan Schaeffer Macaulay)
Classical Education: The Movement Sweeping America (Andrew Kern & Gene Veith)
History of Classical Education
The Republic (Plato)
Politics (Aristotle)
Institutes of Oratory (or The Education of an Orator) (Quintillian)
Early Christianity and Greek Paideia (W. Jaeger)
A History of Education in Antiquity (H.I. Marrou)
Education in Ancient Rome (Stanley R. Bonner)
The Love of Learning and the Desire for God: A Study of Monastic Culture (Jean Leclercq)
How the Irish Saved Civilization (Thomas Cahill)
The Rise of the Universities (Charles Homer Haskins)
A Thomas Jefferson Education: Teaching a Generation of Leaders for the 21st Century (Oliver DeMille)
The Great Tradition: Classic Readings on What It Means to Be an Educated Human Being (Richard Gamble, editor)
Modern Education
The Abolition of Man: How Education Shapes Man’s Sense of Morality (C.S. Lewis)
Left Back: A Century of Battles over School Reform (Diane Ravitch)
The Transformation of the School: Progressivism in American Education, 1876-1957 (Lawrence A. Cremin)
The Schools We Need: And Why We Don’t Have Them (E.D. Hirsch Jr.)
Reforming Education: The Opening of the American Mind (Mortimer J. Adler)
American Education: A History (Wayne J. Urban & Jennings L. Wagoner, Jr.)
The Global Achievement Gap: Why Even Our Best Schools Don’t Teach the New Survival Skills Our Children Need–and What We Can Do about It (Tony Wagner)
Philosophy of Education
The Liberal Arts Tradition: A Philosophy of Christian Classical Education (Kevin Clark & Ravi Jain)
The Abolition of Man: How Education Shapes Man’s Sense of Morality (C.S. Lewis)
De Doctrina Christiana (On Christian Doctrine or On Christian Teaching) (Augustine)
Great Ideas from the Great Books (Mortimer Adler)
Awakening Wonder: A Classical Guide to Truth, Goodness, and Beauty (Stephen Turley)
Plato: The Great Philosopher-Educator (David Diener)
The Idea of a University (John Henry Newman)
Ideas Have Consequences (Richard M. Weaver)
Mathematics and Science
A Mathematician’s Lament (Paul Lockhart)
Measurement (Paul Lockhart)
Innumeracy (John Allen Paulos)
The Divine Challenge: On Matter, Mind, Math, and Meaning (John Byl)
Beauty for Truth’s Sake: On the Re-enchantment of Education (Stratford Caldecott)
The Soul of Science: Christian Faith and Natural Philosophy (Nancy Pearcey & Charles Thaxton)
Virtue and Embodiment
The Intellectual Life: Its Spirit, Conditions, Methods (A.G. Sertillanges)
Habits of the Mind: Intellectual Life at a Christian College (James W. Sire)
Desiring the Kingdom: Worship, Worldview, and Cultural Formation (James K.A. Smith)
You Are What You Love: The Spiritual Power of Habit (James K.A. Smith)
Tending the Heart of Virtue: How Classical Stories Awaken a Child’s Moral Imagination (Vigen Guroian)
John Milton: Classical Learning and the Progress of Virtue (Grant Horner)
Scholé and Contemplation
Only the Lover Sings: Art and Contemplation (Josef Pieper)
Leisure: The Basis of Culture (Josef Pieper)
Teaching from Rest: A Homeschooler’s Guide to Unshakable Peace (Sarah Mackenzie)
Charlotte Mason’s Original Homeschooling Series: Home Education (vol. 1) (Charlotte Mason)
Pedagogy, Art of Teaching
De Doctrina Christiana (On Christian Doctrine or On Christian Teaching) (Augustine)
The Art of Teaching (Gilbert Highet)
Begin Here: The Forgotten Conditions of Teaching and Learning (Jacques Barzun)
The Seven Laws of Teaching (John Milton Gregory)
Why Students Don’t Like School: A Cognitive Scientist Answers Questions about How the Mind Works and What It Means for the Classroom (Daniel T. Willingham)
Poetic Knowledge: The Recovery of Education (James Taylor)
Socratic Circles: Fostering Critical and Creative Thinking in Middle and High School (Matt Copeland)
Teach Like a Champion: Techniques That Put Students on the Path to College (Doug Lemov)
Dr. Perrin’s Top 10 List: 101 Version
An Introduction to Classical Education: A Guide for Parents (C. Perrin)
The Liberal Arts Tradition: A Philosophy of Christian Classical Education (Kevin Clark & Ravi Jain)
The Great Tradition: Classic Readings on What It Means to Be an Educated Human Being (Richard Gamble, editor)
How the Irish Saved Civilization (Thomas Cahill)
A Mathematician’s Lament (Paul Lockhart)
The Abolition of Man: How Education Shapes Man’s Sense of Morality (C.S. Lewis)
The Schools We Need: And Why We Don’t Have Them (E.D. Hirsch Jr.)
Desiring the Kingdom: Worship, Worldview, and Cultural Formation (James K. A. Smith)
Only the Lover Sings: Art and Contemplation (Josef Pieper)
The Seven Laws of Teaching (John Milton Gregory)
Dr. Perrin’s Top 10 List: 102 Version
The Liberal Arts Tradition: A Philosophy of Christian Classical Education (Kevin Clark & Ravi Jain)
Norms and Nobility: A Treatise on Education (David Hicks)
The Great Tradition: Classic Readings on What It Means to Be an Educated Human Being (Richard Gamble, editor)
De Doctrina Christiana (On Christian Doctrine or On Christian Teaching) (Augustine)
A Mathematician’s Lament (Paul Lockhart)
The Abolition of Man: How Education Shapes Man’s Sense of Morality (C.S. Lewis)
Left Back: A Century of Battles over School Reform (Diane Ravitch)
Desiring the Kingdom: Worship, Worldview, and Cultural Formation (James K. A. Smith)
Leisure: The Basis of Culture (Josef Pieper)
The Seven Laws of Teaching (John Milton Gregory)
