How do you select the works and authors listed?
What do the graphic symbols in the index mean?
What are all of the lists in the Reading Lists index?
Why don't you list in the language index all the languages you have works linked in?

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How do you select the works and authors listed?
The core works and authors listed on this site were taken from some of the reading lists which are indexed on the site -- the Great Books Foundation adult reading program, the reading list in the back of How To Read A Book (Mortimer Adler's classic text on intelligent reading), the Great Books of the Western World collection, and the Harvard Classics series.

Beyond that, some works were added because of their reputation, some because of a personal feeling that they should be included, and others because they were suggested by visitors to the site.

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What do the graphic symbols in the index mean?
The symbols indicate the availability of the work through this site.

  On-line version linked.
  Only incomplete on-line versions available, and none from Amazon.com
  Only incomplete on-line versions available, but can buy through Amazon.com
  No on-line version linked, but can buy through Amazon.com
  No links to on-line version or to Amazon.com
  No links to on-line version or to Amazon.com under that name; work may be known under another name for which on-line and/or Amazon.com links exist.

For an author, the symbol refers to any work. So, an author with five listed works will be marked if any one of his or her works has an etext linked.

Again, these only refer to the availability of the work through this site. If you know of an online version of a work which we have few or no etexts linked for, please let me know about it. Also, if you note any discrepancies between the symbols in an index and the actual listing of the work, please let me know.
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What are all of the lists in the Reading Lists index?

• "Great Books Foundation" - Works included in the Great Books Foundation's various adult reading and discussion series.
• "GBF 50th Anniv." - Works included in the Great Books Foundation's 50th Anniversary adult reading and discussion series.
• "GBF High School" - Works included in the Great Books Foundation's high school reading and discussion series.
• "Grt Bks Western World" - The contents of Britannica's Great Books of the Western World collection.
• "Harvard Classics" - The contents of the Harvard Classics, including both the "5-foot Shelf of Books" and the "Shelf of Fiction".
• "How to Read a Book" - The list from the appendix of Mortimer Adler's classic text on intelligent reading, How to Read a Book.
• "Major" - All works included in any of the four major reading lists above (for this purpose, I don't count the Great Books Foundation's 50th Anniversary or High School series as "major").
• "Core" - The Core Reading List is my own concept. Any work which appears in at least three of the four major reading lists above is included.

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Why don't you list in the language index all the languages you have works linked in?
As a rule, I only list a language in the index if I have works from at least two different authors available in that language.

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I ordered a book and it hasn't come in. What happened?
Can you order a book for me that isn't listed on the site?

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I ordered a book and it hasn't come in. What happened?
The short answer is -- I have no idea. Here's why.

When you click on a link to an Amazon.com book, you are taken to the Amazon.com website. From that point on, everything about your order is handled by Amazon.com -- my part is over. I have no way to find out what happens with your order; I am notified that a copy of that book sold through my site, but not who bought it, or when it shipped, or anything else. If you bought the book through a link to a non-Amazon bookstore, I don't even find out that much.

If you bought the book through Amazon.com, what you need to do is go to their site and click on the "Your Account" button at the top of the page. This takes you to the "Your Account" page, which has a section called "Where's My Stuff?". You can use the links in this section to check on the status of your order. I don't know where to look on any of the other linked bookstores, although I believe Barnes and Noble has a similar system.

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Can you order a book for me that isn't listed on the site?
No. I don't do any direct sales of books -- all book sales are handled completely by Amazon.com or by other linked booksellers. I just don't have the time or the budget to handle reselling. Time permitting, I'd be happy to try to help you find an online bookstore that does offer it.
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Can you help me find information on a given author or work?
I have an old edition of a classic. Can you tell me what it's worth?
I have a website. Can we trade links?
How can I support this site?
Do you plan to put advertising on the site?

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Can you help me find information on a given author or work?
I'm willing to try, although at times I may have to turn down requests for help due to a lack of free time. Just send an email to grtbooks (at) grtbooks.com detailing what kind of information you're trying to find, and I'll see what I can do. Please be as specific as possible -- I'd hate to give you an answer only to find out I had made a wrong assumption about the question. If the question is too broad (like, "what do you know about Thoreau?"), I'll just direct you to a website or two.

If I can't help personally, there are a few hints I can give you to help you find the information yourself. If you are looking for information about an author or work, try a Google search. I have found Google more useful than any other search engine I've used in looking for information about classics. The more search terms you use, and the more specific they are, the better.

If you are looking for a copy of a book, and you couldn't find it on Amazon (either new or from their Marketplace sellers), be sure to check other online bookstores, both new and used. My first stops when helping people find books are:

Alibris - one of the best online used bookstores.
abebooks.com - another great used bookseller.
Barnes and Noble online.
Bookfinder - Indexes over 40,000 sellers of new/used/rare/OOP books.
AddALL - Indexes over 20,000 sellers of used/rare/OOP books.
Grant & Cutler - specializing in non-English books, including English works in translation.
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I have an old edition of a classic. Can you tell me what it's worth?
I have no expertise in book valuation; all I do when asked this is to look for copies of the same book on one of the sites listed above (especially Bookfinder and AddALL), and look at the prices. They can give you a rough idea. Be aware, though, that some sellers use automated pricing systems that might greatly overvalue a book if there aren't many copies available (i.e., don't get too excited if you see your book selling for $500, it might be a seller's auto-pricer glitch)
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I have a website. Can we trade links?
I'm certainly willing to consider it. Just send an email to grtbooks@grtbooks.com giving me your URL, and if your site is related to the Great Books in any way I'll probably link to you.
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How can I support this site?
The easiest way is to shop at Amazon.com. If you use a link on this site to visit Amazon.com, then this site gets a commission on anything you purchase during that visit.

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Do you plan to put advertising on the site?
Not unless it's the only way to keep the site running. I don't like being distracted by ads (especially those annoying pop-ups and flashing banner ads) while surfing, and I assume you don't either. As long as I can cover the site's expenses without it, I won't put up advertising.
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