The New York Times Presents Smarter by Sunday: 52 Weekends of Essential Knowledge for the Curious Mind by The New York Times

The New York Times Presents Smarter by Sunday: 52 Weekends of Essential Knowledge for the Curious Mind Reviews

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  Mary Leach

  I really enjoyed this book. It’s a shallow paddle rather than a deep dive. Gives a general overview of a wide variety of subjects in two daily readings. Time has marched on in some of the subjects since 2010, but still basically up to date. I liked some weekends better than others, but did indeed usually feel smarter by Sunday!
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  Anna

  Still working on this one! Some weeks are harder than others to read...classical music weekend was a tough one for me, but this week is the computer revolution-hoping that it will be really good. My favorite so far was the weekend of Ancient Egypt.
  
  Officially given up on this one...some chapters were ok, while others were a complete bore.
• 
  Bernie4444

  What did you sleep through in school?
  
  In “The New York Times Presents Smarter by Sunday” the book presents 52 weekends of essential knowledge for the curious mind. I consider this a cultural literacy that for better or worse was forced down our throats during school. At that time some people were ready for it and some people were not. But now is your chance to catch up on what you might’ve slept through.
  
  These essential knowledge presentations are by no means complete however they make a good starting point and if you never go any further you are now aware. You should be able to converse with other people that are aware of these pieces of essential knowledge.
  
  “And what is the use of a book," thought Alice, "without pictures or conversation?” Well, there are no pictures or graphs; however, there are great conversations. The presentations do not seem to be in any order.
  
  It only took the first weekend to get me hooked on the book. I may have known a tad ahead of time. However, that way I know that it is not a bunch of made up hodgepodge. It covers The Iliad and the Odyssey | Homer | Origins of Theater: Greek Drama | Aeschylus | Sophocles | Euripides. Which seems like a good chunk. But it is just right for a weekend.
  
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  Mike Hohrath

  Interesting compendium of various subjects from poetry to the roman empire to nuclear physics. This gives you just enough information to be aware of a subject, and opens various opportunities for further exploration. For example, American Film Directors or great classical music, and provides for the biggest names and their major pieces to look into further. Each section could be explored over the course of days or weeks to provide for a full exploration of the subject, using the book as a guide. For that, it is beneficial. It is a good bathroom read or introduction, and serves it's purpose well. Each of the 104 sections can be read in 20-30 minutes, so I enjoyed reading 1-2 before bed over the course of a couple of months. This is not a must read by any means, but is not a waste of time either. It is what it is and no more, but it does it well enough.
• 
  Elaysee

  Outdated in places (we didn't get the James Webb telescope in 2013, say!) and everyone will value some weekends more than others, but a good concept well-executed overall.
• 
  Lynn

  
  Today’s post is on Smarter by Sunday: 52 Weekends of Essential Knowledge for the Curious Mind by The New York Times. It is 500 pages long including an index. The cover is white with an apple cut into sections on it. The intended reader is someone who is very curious. There is no language, no sex, and no violence in this book. Because of the complex themes teens and adults would get the most out of this book. The chapters are told in third person. There Be Spoilers Ahead.
  
  
  
  From the dust jacket- Fell asleep during history class in high school when World War II was covered? Don’t know much about William Shakespeare? Always wondered who really invented the World Wide Web? Here is the book for you, with all the answers you’re been looking for: The New York Times Presents Smarter by Sunday is based on the premise that there is a recognizable group of topics in history, literature, science, art, religion, philosophy and music that educated people should be familiar with today. Over one hundred of these have been identified and arranged in a way that they can be studied over a year’s time by spending two hours a weekend. Each weekend covers a single, larger topic and is divided into two days. Each daily entry consisted of 1,500-2,00 words on related subjects.
  Sample topics include:
  
  
  
  · The Big Bang, stars, and galaxies
  
  
  
  · The French Revolution
  
  
  
  · The Bible
  
  
  
  · China
  
  
  
  · The Internet
  
  
  
  · The American Civil War
  
  
  
  · Rome
  
  
  
  · The Renaissance
  
  
  
  · American writers
  
  
  
  · Modern medicine
  
  
  
  · Genetics
  
  
  
  · Global warming
  
  
  
  · Philosophy
  
  
  
  · Nuclear weapons
  
  
  
  · American popular music
  
  
  
  · Nineteenth-century painting
  
  
  
  And many others. Smarter by Sunday is perfect one-year crash course during which the reader will cover a wide range of subjects to attain a solid level of knowledge and a well-balance understanding of the world.
  
  
  
  Review- This was an interesting read. I did not know so much about many of the topics and now I think that I could at the very least follow someone who knows a lot about them. The writing is very readable. It is for the general person who just wants to know more about a topic to pick up and read. This would a great book to start with if you are looking for a nonfiction subject to learn more about. It gives you a little bit of everything; like it says on the jacket. I liked that it give a good grounding in all the topics without overwhelming the reader. I have a very curious mind and I have some new topics that I am going to have to read up on. Like women painters in the 19th century. I hope that the New York Times does another book like this one because there is just so much to learn that they did not cover enough for me.
  
  
  
  I give this book a Five out if Five stars. I get nothing for my review and I borrowed this book from my local library.
  
• 
  Molly Jean

  I would give this 2.5 stars...I enjoyed a lot of it and the chapters were a manageable size for what it is attempting to do. But I was disappointed in the errors I found sprinkled throughout the book. I doubt they were errors in research, but were more likely the result of sloppy, careless or non-existent editing which is an all-too-common problem these days. None of the errors were earth shattering (except for maybe the location of Buddy Holly's death) but if someone like me can catch some mistakes, it makes me wonder how many other errors went zooming right past me. I guess I expect a lot more from something with "The New York Times presents..." in the title.
• 
  Doug Reith

  Fascinating. Little short reads on topics I learned a long time ago in school, but completely forgot.
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  Jan

  Didn't finish - what I read was OK but it's not the kind of book I can read quickly - if I owned it instead of checking it out of the library I would have kept reading.
• 
  Daisy

  
  
  Incredibly American centric but good summaries.
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  dallen

  Wow! I actually do feel smarter. The red ribbon book marker was a nice touch for this book that has stayed on my nightstand for 52 weekends.
• 
  Obiora Okwudili

  Informative
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  Mysteryfan

  Loved it. Smartly-chosen topics and all the essential information
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  Morgan Bresko

  Didn't quite finish the whole thing, more of a work in progress. :) Fun to check out though.
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  Lindsey

  Some chapters were really good, but most were just too broad to be of any use.
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  Sherry

  I learned a lot reading a chapter a week.
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  Dick Brautigan

  i love this book....great reading ........