The depth and beauty of the great books reveal themselves when we slow down to give them the time they deserve...

New Seminars begin in April! (in progress)

Rousseau, First and Second Discourses - Sundays

Sundays, 10:00-11:20 am ET | April 5 to June 28, 2026

Has the progress of civilization made us better or worse? In his First Discourse on the Sciences and Arts, Rousseau argues that the arts and sciences corrupt morality rather than improve it. In the Second Discourse on the Origin and Foundations of Inequality, he traces how natural human freedom was lost to society, property, and political power. Together these texts form one of the most radical and searching critiques of modern civilization ever written. We'll read about 12 pages a week, allowing us time to work through important passages line by line. No background in philosophy is necessary. Beginners are welcome.

Texts: Rousseau, The Major Political Writings of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, translated and edited by John T. Scott (University of Chicago Press)

Reading load: 10-15 pages/week

Seminar Leader: Jess Joseph is a graduate of the University of Chicago and has led great books reading groups on Plato's Theaetetus, George Eliot's Middlemarch, and Maimonides' Guide of the Perplexed.

Shakespeare, Reading the Sonnets Aloud - Mondays (6 week workshop)

Mondays, 3:20-4:50 pm ET | May -June 1, 2026

Join the free session on April 20

Description

Texts: Shakespeare, Sonnets

Reading load: 1-2 pages/week

Seminar Leader: Reynaldo Miranda-Zúñiga and Tim Pabon. Reynaldo is an alumnus of St. John’s College, Annapolis, and past president of the large Northern California Alumni Chapter. Tim is a voice actor.

Xenophon, Symposium - Mondays (6 weeks)

Mondays, 5:30-6:45 pm ET | April 6 to April 27, 2026

Xenophon's Symposium is noticeably different from Plato's, especially as it is so light-hearted, with an utterly charming ending. Socrates and other guests attend a drinking party (symposium) and take turns saying what each prides himself on: comedy ensues. This seminar is offered as an easy introduction to Socratic philosophy and how to read carefully. We'll read about 8 pages a week and note details that are easy to overlook. No background in philosophy is necessary. Beginners are not only welcome, but encouraged.

Texts: Xenophon, Symposium (trans. Robert C. Bartlett), in The Shorter Socratic Writings, ed. Robert C. Bartlett.

Reading load: 8 pages/week

Seminar Leader: Jason Happel is a visiting professor in ethics and political philosophy at Framingham State University.

Borges, Poems - Tuesday 

Tuesdays, 5:30-7:00 pm ET | April 7 to June 30, 2026

Description

Texts:

Leaders: Reynaldo Miranda-Zúñiga and Miryam Bujanda. Reynaldo is an alumnus of St. John’s College, Annapolis, and past president of the large Northern California Alumni Chapter. Miryam is a social justice advocate and teaches at St. Mary’s University on civic and social engagement and is a Macondo Writer’s Workshop alumna.

Henry Adams, Mont Saint Michel and Chartres - Tuesdays

Tuesdays, 5:30-7:00 pm ET | April 7 to June 30, 2026

After his wife’s suicide in 1885, Henry Adams tried to think through the topsy-turvy contemporary world and his own life in Mont Saint Michel and Chartres (1913). He views the Middle Ages as a civilization that had built and nurtured a transcendental unity as he leads the reader on a pilgrimage back in time, through a veiled confession to a homecoming. Adams introduced Americans to a half-forgotten past. This seminar is a prelude to The Education of Henry Adams (your grandparents may have it on their bookshelf) which will be offered in the summer.

Text: Adams, Mont Saint Michel and Chartres: A Study of Thirteenth-Century Unity, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1982, 402 pp., paperback ISBN 9780691003351

Reading Load:  25-30 pp./week.

Leader: Reynaldo Miranda-Zúñiga is an alumnus of St. John’s College, Annapolis, and past president of the large Northern California Alumni Chapter.  He has led seminars with Symposium for 20 years and with other organizations.   

Plato, Meno (with Klein Commentary) - Tuesdays

Tuesdays, 8:50-10:20 pm ET | April 7 to June 30, 2026

Description

Texts: Plato, Meno, and Klein, A Commentary on Plato's Meno

Leaders: Reynaldo Miranda-Zúñiga and Jason Happel. Reynaldo is an alumnus of St. John’s College, Annapolis, and past president of the large Northern California Alumni Chapter. Jason is a visiting professor in ethics and political philosophy at Framingham State University.

Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part I (of III) - Wednesday

Wednesdays, 1:40-3:10 pm ET | April 8 to June 24, 2026

Joyce, Ulysses - Wednesdays

Wednesdays, 7:00-8:30 pm ET | April 7 to June 24, 2026

An Introduction to Eastern Thought - Thursdays

Thursdays, 7:10-8:40 pm ET | April 8 to June 25, 2026

Gospel of Mark - Thursdays

Thursdays, 8:50-10:20 pm ET | April 8 to June 25, 2026

Tolstoy, War and Peace - Friday

Fridays, 3:20-4:50 pm ET | April 3 to June 30, 2026

You may register for a program at any time (if it is not fully enrolled.)  

All-Access registration includes all Symposium seminars each quarter.