Reviews

Selected Essays of Michel de Montaigne by Michel Montaigne

granthamsmith's review against another edition

informative reflective slow-paced

2.5

I read some selections of it for school, and while the content is rather insightful, I'm not a fan of Montaigne's style

henrycooke's review against another edition

4.0

A fascinating journey into the renaissance mind - truly the kind of connection it’s hard to ever imagine having with someone from five centuries ago. Occasionally tiresome.

cameronius's review against another edition

4.0

Despite some unevenness in the content and readability of these essays, it is a privilege to live inside Montaigne's mind for a time. He was deeply schooled in the classics and manages to weave an impressive number of quotations and references to antiquity around practically every observation. But his style is folksy and humorous enough for a casual reader to be entertained, so the essays aren't too dry or heavy.

reneialeia's review against another edition

4.0

I loved reading this collection. This is definitely a book I want to reread and reread slowly. Right now it was an assigned class reading and I have kind of rushed through it and have not been able to digest it well because of outside reasons.

ethandickler's review against another edition

Granddaddy of the humanities but oof this was dry by even 18th century standards 

benjaminparris's review against another edition

challenging funny informative inspiring lighthearted reflective slow-paced

3.75

lizbusby's review against another edition

3.0

Interesting stuff. Took me a while to get used to all the Greek and Roman examples.

maxgardner's review against another edition

3.0

I only read 3 1/2 essays from this but I really enjoyed all three. They were hard to follow at times but very thought provoking.

"On Educating Children"
"On Coaches"
"On Cannibals"
"On Experience" (1/2 of this essay)

manzanita__flowers's review against another edition

emotional reflective slow-paced

2.0

bev_reads_mysteries's review against another edition

I have to say that Monsieur Montaigne doesn't do a whole lot for me. It may be the translation, but he comes across as rather pompous, full of himself, and long-winded. I think the most irritating thing is that he spends one whole essay ("Of the Education of Children") telling us how tutors/teachers shouldn't just teach children to regurgitate facts or spout the learned words of the great men who come before them, but should be taught to reason and understand what the great men's words meant and embrace and make the thoughts their own. Then...Montaigne spends the rest of the book (and even this essay) dropping quotations from Homer and Horace and Dante and (you name the great classic thinker) here, there, and yon like a non sequitur looking for a connection. About one out of every five or six he'll incorporate properly into his discussion (properly according to his stated "rules"), not exactly practicing what he preaches. So, apparently, when it comes to quotations it is do as I say and not as I do.

I will admit that his theory on educating children does strike home a bit when you think of America's modern tendency to "teach to the test." As Montaigne says (oooh, I'm throwing in a quote!) "They slap them into our memory with all their feathers on, like oracles in which the letters and syllables are the substance of the matter. To know by heart is not to know; it is to retain what we have given our memory to keep....Sad competence, a purely bookish competence!" But, overall, Montaigne's philosophies as presented were a slog to work my way through and they did not provoke a thoughtful engagement as I expected.

I will refrain from giving a rating. Given the overall response on Goodreads and the references to Montaigne that I have seen repeatedly in my academic life, I'm sure I'm missing something.

First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. Thanks.