Racing Odysseus: a college president becomes a freshman again

by Roger H. Martin

Hardcover, 2008

Status

Available

Call number

378.1 MAR

Genres

Publication

University of California Press (2008), Edition: First Edition, 280 pages

Description

The idea of reliving youth is a common fantasy, but who among us is actually courageous enough to try it? After surviving a deadly cancer against tremendous odds, college president Roger H. Martin did just that?he enrolled at St. John's College, the Great Books school in Annapolis, Maryland, as a sixty-one-year-old freshman. This engaging, often humorous memoir of his semester at St. John's tells of his journey of discovery as he falls in love again with Plato, Socrates, and Homer, improbably joins the college crew team, and negotiates friendships across generational divides. Along the way, Ma

User reviews

LibraryThing member Sandydog1

A college president, who decides to become a freshmen and read The Greatest Books curriculum? I couldn't pass this one up. I LOVE books about books, I reminisce about college a lot, I am incredibly curious about St. Johns College. I am almost the same age as this old bat. I laughed, I learned, I

cried.

This book is written as if it's a sports memoir. 'Simple, choppy sentences. And, 2/3 of the content is about crewing. Yes, getting up at 6 am and rowing up and down a damn river. 'Too bad the content wasn't 2/3 freshmen seminar at St. Johns. Now that would have been a 5-star memoir.

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LibraryThing member Maya47Bob46

As a graduate of St. John's College, I was disappointed by this book. Mr. Martin did not really become a college freshman again as he only joined the rowing club and took freshman seminar. He did not go to Freshman Chorus until late in the semester (he was only there for one), did not take Greek,

study Euclid, or take Freshman Science lab so he sadly did not get the full experience. It is, however, an interesting take on what happens in seminar, but it is more about a middle aged man trying to learn a new physical activity - rowing.

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