FREE: The Matrix of Western Culture (Usually $4.98)

Art, music, literature, philosophy, science, history: how do they all fit together? For readers interested in seeing the “big picture,” I commend to your attention The Matrix of Western Culture: Perspectives on History, the Arts and Ideas, organized around a grid with those six cultural categories on one axis and time, marked in centuries, on the other. The interior of the matrix comprises a representative repertoire described in a series of brief, readable essays.

Well-read adults will, over the years, have encountered individual works in each of the categories that make up the matrix. Many readers will share my interest in organizing this knowledge into a coherent framework. The Matrix of Western Culture offers an accessible overview that one might be able to keep in mind all at once.