This is a very ambitious book that deals with books, or to be precise, about the great books that have been produced by the
western
culture since the 800 B.C. to the end of the twentieth century A.D. With the objective of offering systematic analysis and judgments, the author submits that even though we live in the information era, we nevertheless have a deficit of real knowledge since we don't know nor have time to know about different issues and current schools of thought as significant, as for example, the concept of capitalism, the origins of democracy, the struggle for women's rights, the great changes in culture and its manifestations in key literary works, etc, etc.
The author explains this challenge establishing a series of
categories and classifications in which it groups fundamental texts that should be known, studied and critiqued. Some of these categories are: love, politics, women, civilization, trivial classics, books on cults... in total, 15 categories. The erudition of C.Zschirnt is magnificently combined with facts, anecdotes, references and/or opinions thereby offering a very pleasant reading experience of each article, or rather of each of the books selected by her (a total of 108 books).
The pages dedicated to each book studied, are much more than a mere summary or citation, they contain elements of analysis, criticism and interpretation along with a very keen vision of each work integrating it to a context that facilitates even more its comprehension. Of course reading a text that explains and clarifies diverse fundamental works of western culture, does not substitute
reading the original and complete text, which is why and added value of this publication is that it stirs our curiosity and interest in mentioned works or at least in those most accessible to us as readers in the 21st century.
Christiane Zschirnt's systematic and detailed work is truly commendable but as in all anthologies or selection of works, it doesn't include all the works it should have. Although she states that her field of work was limited to texts from western culture, she omitted literary works of great transcendence that are part of North American, Spanish and Hispanic American literature privileging, and in my opinion in a immeasurable way, European works especially English and German, that in another sense, are part of her own cultural milieu (the author is German).
In conclusion, Books. All that needs to be read is a text that is appreciated and is a genuine contribution to these our times where reading looses each day more and more space to the advancement of technology along with other forms of media and mass communication.