The 57th Annual Great Books at Colby Summer Institute

Come to our annual week of lively discussion at Colby College. We are a community of people who enjoy reading and discussing great books. Have you ever closed a book after reading the last page and wished you could share your thoughts with someone? Colby offers an opportunity to collaborate in discovering insights rarely achieved just reading alone. Located on a beautiful campus, it offers an inexpensive but classy vacation wherein readers who love to think and talk about the world's great works can spend time with others who share their enthusiasm. For two hours each day, readers share their understanding of thought-provoking classics through the Great Books Foundation's Shared Inquiry Method. Our focus this year is on The Coming of Age. For children, this phrase means becoming an adult, but for adults, the coming of age suggests aging, becoming old. Join us in examining how great writers see this process of change, how societies deal with aging.  Great Books is for people who love to think and talk about the world's great ideas, and who derive pleasure from spending time with others who share that joy. 

The Coming of Age:

Adult Great Books Readings

Simone de Beauvoir: The Coming of Age

Willa Cather:The Professor's House

Anton Chekhov:Uncle Vanya

Vita Sackville-West:All Passion Spent

Lucius Annaeus Seneca:Letters from a Stoic

Junior Great Books Readings:

Grades 6 and Older: Ashes of Roses by Mary Jane Auch; Nothing But The Truth by Avi; Catherine, Called Birdy by Karen Cushman; and The Garden Party by Katherine Mansfield.

Grades 1-5: The Magician's Elephant by Kate DiCamillo; Heidi by Johanna Spyri; The Cricket in Times Square by George Selden; and Classic Tales & Fables for Children by Leo Tolstoy, Part 1 - stories about Tolstoy's own childhood.

Registration fee covers accommodations in a dormitory room (single or double), meals, discussions and books, as well as swimming, tennis, a film, group social activities, and a real Maine lobster bake. The cost for commuters (participants who live off-campus) is $290 and includes lunches and the lobster bake. Scholarships are available on a need basis. We are also offering a $50 discount to Colby alumni!  Please check the Colby alumni box on the registration form and we will reimburse you $50. The registration deadline is July 1. The following options are also available: Option One:  Additional cost for field trip to Rockland, Maine and the Transportation Museum at Owl's Head is $35, which covers your admission, motor coach and boxed lunch. Early dinner at your own expense is in Rockland. Option Two:  Additional cost to stay an extra night, Saturday, August 3rd, for the Atlantic Music Festival concert, is $70 which includes dinner, lodging and breakfast.

You may register online or click here to download a registration form.