Thomas Jefferson

I have just completed reading a book titled The Road to Monticello: The Life and Mind of Thomas Jefferson by Kevin J. Hayes.  Normally I would consider this topic outside the scope of this blog, however this book has inspired me to embark on a new project in the coming year.  Since there was no logical category for this endeavor, I have decided to add the category of Philosophy to this blog.

The book describes Thomas Jefferson’s love of books, and how the books that he read and referenced influenced his thinking and his life.  My new project will be to read some of the books that influenced Jefferson with the goals to understand his way of thinking more thoroughly, and to drive some personal intellectual growth.  As I was reading the book, I highlighted those books that seemed most influential to Jefferson as well as the ones that seemed most interesting to me.  In many ways, I’m a little surprised that I have not read many of these already, having earned bachelors and masters of science degrees.  In Jefferson’s view, I clearly would not be considered very educated.

The project will be summarized and tracked on a page on this blog.  As I read books, I will make blog entries describing what I learned.