Cheryl Drury

And all of a sudden I was able to maybe go back to the beginning, you know, with Plato and start at the beginning and kind of get a big picture idea of what was really going on.

And that, in fact, did happen.

I'm really grateful.

Well, it was a little bit of that, but I think I knew I... Well, one of my sons was very influential.

He's a classics major from UChicago, master's from UChicago, and a philosophy undergrad, philosophy and math.

So great combo.

And he would tell me about the books he was reading and sometimes pass them on to me.

But I was like, this is too much.

I cannot understand this.

And I finally realized...

These books have endured for a long time because somebody can read them.

Why not me?

And when I found the list, Ted had put these in an order that seemed approachable and I could handle it.

It's a great privilege to get to know people from across thousands of years who invite you into their lives.

It's an enormous privilege.

And who am I to say that I'm not going to take full advantage of that?

I've gotten to know a man who watched the Greek soldiers defend their country against Persia.

And I've gotten to know a woman who had a wry eye for couples dynamics in England.

It's Jane Austen.

And I've gotten to know a man who was a slave who held on to his humanity and