2026 Goal: Bring Back the Lost Art of Self-Education

I never finished university, but I've never stopped educating myself. I've just finished God's Battalions: The Case for the Crusades, and I'm currently reading The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, St Boethius's Consolation of Philosophy, and The Trojan Horse in the Catholic Church, on the Synod on Synodality.

From Aleteia

By Theresa Civantos Barber

The days when most people read great books for fun might be past. But we can still choose curiosity over complacency, and stories over screens. 

Now that TV and smartphones are everywhere, we forget how things used to be. 

There was a time when reading classic books was the go-to entertainment for people from all classes and backgrounds.

Don’t believe me? Check out Louis L’Amour’s fascinating memoir, Education of a Wandering Man. 

L’Amour spent more than a decade wandering the world, working a series of hard manual-labor jobs as an itinerant worker—a self-described “hobo.” Later in life, he became a bestselling author and many of his books were made into films.

During his years of roaming the world, he acquired an incredible education, thanks to his disciplined habit of reading great classic literature whenever he had spare time. He picked up these books in all kinds of unlikely places, relying on his curious mind and focused attention to supply what his formal education lacked. And he describes how many other transient workers of the time read voraciously as he did. 

Education of a Wandering Man is a master class in how anyone, anywhere, can become well-read and well-educated.

The book was a favorite of Georgetown professor Fr. James V. Schall, S.J., who often recommended it:

This book is an account of how L’Amour found the time to read… No book, with the possible exception of Sertillanges’ The Intellectual Life, is quite so useful in explaining to us how much time we have if we pay attention to the details of our daily lives.

Finding time to read

Perhaps you never received the classical education you wish you’d had. Perhaps you hear of all these great works of literature you’ve never had the chance to read.

Well, if you take it from Louis L’Amour, it’s never too late to get that education. You don’t need a degree or formal training. All it takes is making reading a priority. L’Amour put it this way:

This is a story of an adventure in education, pursued not under the best of conditions. The idea of education has been so tied to schools, universities, and professors that many assume there is no other way, but education is available to anyone within reach of a library, a post office, or even a newsstand.

Today you can buy the Dialogues of Plato for less than you would spend on a fifth of whiskey, or Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire for the price of a cheap shirt. You can buy a fair beginning of an education in any bookstore with a good stock of paperback books for less than you would spend on a week's supply of gasoline.

I once knew a man who regretted his lack of a great education. He began to wake up an hour earlier every day, spending that time in reading the classics. Over the course of several years, he became very well-read, and felt that his life was greatly enriched.

But you absolutely don’t have to wake up early to become well-read. L’Amour offered this encouragement about finding time to read:

Often I hear people say they do not have time to read. That's absolute nonsense. In the one year during which I kept that kind of record, I read twenty-five books while waiting for people. In offices, applying for jobs, waiting to see a dentist, waiting in a restaurant for friends, many such places. I read on buses, trains, and planes. If one really wants to learn, one has to decide what is important. Spending an evening on the town? Attending a ball game? Or learning something that can be with you your life long?

Start carrying a book with you and you’ll be amazed how many opportunities you’ll find to read it. (Check out my tips here on how to read a book when you’re really, really busy.)

Directing your own education

As we enter the new year, how about this for a resolution? Make a reading plan for yourself, a personal syllabus of books you want to read in 2026. 

Even the best of schools can only provide a general outline or direction for your education. The most real and lasting part of education can only be done for yourself. All you need is inexhaustible curiosity and thoughtfulness about the world around you—and a solid reading list. L’Amour put it this way:

No matter how much I admire our schools, I know that no university exists that can provide an education; what a university can provide is an outline, to give the learner a direction and guidance. The rest one has to do for oneself.

Need a place to start? Check out this excellent humanities syllabus from Bishop James Conley, featuring a book, poem, film, music and art for each month of the year. 

If reading on your own isn’t motivating enough (understandable), start a book club or join an existing reading group (such as Well-Read Mom or Catherine Project). Reading alongside others, with a deadline to finish the book before your discussion, can be incredibly motivating. 

The days when it was common for ordinary people read great literature for fun might be past us. But they don’t have to be over for those who choose curiosity over complacency, and stories over screens. 

This year, let’s fight to win back our attention and focus. Let's pull out books to kill time, instead of phones. Let’s make a reading plan for ourselves, and enjoy the adventures they bring us, the many lives L’Amour describes:

It is often said that one has but one life to live, but that is nonsense. For one who reads, there is no limit to the number of lives that may be lived, for fiction, biography and history offer an inexhaustible number of lives in many parts of the world, in all periods of time.