In this extraordinary book, Mark Edmundson tells us that: "The purpose of a liberal arts education is to give people an enhanced opportunity to decide how they should live their lives" and that literature is "the major cultural source of vital options." This book opens one's eyes and makes one feel as Keats did, “like a watcher of the sky/When a new planet swims into is ken.”
Here are some notes from Why Read? You will find them enlightening.