I have a certain status and negotiability in the world as having read this. "in the case of Western Civ, it's quotations from the poets and after-dinner speeches."

He points out that a great book - -i will quote this and then I'll leave you - is great in part because it can't possibly be reduced to the silliness that the advocates of Western Civ attach to it.

The more books you get, the fewer you can read, and the more gets dropped out of any curriculum, including the Western Civ curriculum.