The Whole Five Feet: What the Great Books Taught Me About Life, Death, and Pretty Much Everthing Else
May 2010 · Open Road + Grove/Atlantic
Ebook
272
Pages
family_home
Eligible
info
About this ebook
This unique memoir of reading the classics to find strength and wisdom "makes an elegant case for literature as an everyday companion" ( The New York Times Book Review).
While undergoing a series of personal and family crises, Christopher R. Beha discovered that his grandmother had used the Harvard Classics—the renowned "five foot shelf" of great world literature compiled in the early twentieth century by Charles William Eliot—to educate herself during the Great Depression. He decided to follow her example and turn to this series of great books for answers—and recounts the experience here in a smart, big-hearted, and inspirational mix of memoir and intellectual excursion that "deftly illustrates how books can save one's life" (Helen Schulman).
"As he grapples with the death of his beloved grandmother, a debilitating bout with Lyme disease and other major and minor calamities, Beha finds that writers as diverse as Wordsworth, Pascal, Kant and Mill had been there before, and that the results of their struggles to find meaning in life could inform his own." — The Seattle Times
"An important book [and] a sheer blast to read." —Heidi Julavits
This unique memoir of reading the classics to find strength and wisdom "makes an elegant case for literature as an everyday companion" ( The New York Times Book Review).
While undergoing a series of personal and family crises, Christopher R. Beha discovered that his grandmother had used the Ha...
Discover more
About the author
Christopher R. Beha is an executive editor at Harper's Magazine. His writing has appeared in The New York Times Book Review, The Believer, Tin House, Bookforum, and elsewhere. He lives in New York City.
Christopher R. Beha is an executive editor at Harper's Magazine. His writing has appeared in The New York Times Book Review, The Believer, Tin House, Bookforum, and elsewhere. He lives in New York City.
Rate this ebook
Tell us what you think.
Reading information
Smartphones and tablets
Install the Google Play Books app for Android and iPad/iPhone. It syncs automatically with your account and allows you to read online or offline wherever you are.
Laptops and computers
You can listen to audiobooks purchased on Google Play using your computer's web browser.
eReaders and other devices
To read on e-ink devices like Kobo eReaders, you'll need to download a file and transfer it to your device. Follow the detailed Help Center instructions to transfer the files to supported eReaders.
