By: S Syler

The best kind of cultural guide is the one written by someone who genuinely needed it. Not someone who grew up surrounded by great books and classical music and learned to talk about them fluently before they had any real relationship with them, but someone who came to all of it later, with adult curiosity and adult wonder and the particular appreciation that comes from having lived enough life to understand why these works have survived. Richard Fallquist is that person and Great Works and Me is the guide he wishes had existed when he started his own journey through the Western Canon, and the fact that it didn’t exist is precisely why he wrote it.

Reading it produces a feeling that is hard to name exactly but that feels something like permission. Permission to not already know everything. Permission to start wherever you actually are rather than wherever you think you should be. Permission to find your own path through a territory that has historically been presented as having exactly one correct entry point, usually somewhere in ancient Greece, and one correct way of moving through it, usually guided by someone with considerably more institutional authority than warmth. Fallquist dispenses with all of that and replaces it with something that actually works: genuine enthusiasm, honest personal reflection, and an organizational structure that makes the whole enterprise feel navigable rather than overwhelming.

The themes he keeps returning to, beneath the practical guidance, resonate far beyond the question of which books to read. He is interested in what it means to live an examined life, in the way that great literature and music and art give us frameworks for understanding our own experience that we couldn’t have built on our own, in the particular kind of companionship that comes from discovering that someone who lived five hundred years ago was wrestling with exactly the same questions you are wrestling with right now. Those themes are handled with a lightness of touch that makes them feel like natural extensions of the practical content rather than heavy philosophical detours.

The structure of the book, built on Fallquist’s actuarial gift for organizing information into genuinely useful forms, is one of its greatest strengths. The curated lists are not prescriptive. They are invitations, each one a different door into a territory that rewards exploration from multiple directions. The summaries and resource lists attached to each section give you enough to get genuinely started without overwhelming you with obligation, which is the exact balance that most cultural education never manages to strike.

This is a book that will make you want to read more, listen more, look more carefully at the world that human creativity has been building for several thousand years. It will make you feel not like a latecomer arriving after the party is over but like someone who has just discovered that the party never actually stops and the door was never locked. That is an extraordinary thing for a book to do and Fallquist does it with the unassuming confidence of someone who has simply been too excited about what he found to keep it to himself.

If you have been waiting for someone to hand you a map of the cultural world that actually makes sense for a curious adult with real-life and real-time constraints, Great Works and Me by Richard Fallquist is that map. Head over to Amazon and get your copy today. The journey is better than you imagined and it starts right here. 

By: Andrew Carter

After spending five decades as a consulting actuary, Richard Fallquist entered retirement with something many professionals rarely have enough of during their busiest years: time.

For most of his career, reading fiction and exploring classic works remained something he admired but could not fully pursue. His days were filled with consulting responsibilities, analytical work, and the demands of building a successful career. Once retirement arrived, he finally had the opportunity to explore the books, music, and art that had always interested him.

That personal journey became the inspiration behind Great Works and Me: Enhancing Your Life with Classics, Lit, Music, and Art, a book designed to help others discover the lasting value of the world’s greatest creative works without feeling overwhelmed by where to begin.

Richard’s approach was simple. He created a way to explore classics at his own pace, combining curiosity with structure, and eventually realized that the same method could help other people build their own relationship with literature, art, and music.

Finding a New Chapter Through the Classics

Richard’s exploration began with a practical question: how could he discover the works that had shaped generations of readers, artists, and thinkers?

He started by gathering lists of highly regarded books and using educational resources to learn more about them. What began as a personal project quickly became a rewarding habit.

“I wanted to share what I’d come to enjoy of my approach,” Richard explains.

The idea grew further when he reconnected with a former high school classmate, Jennifer McCord, an editorial and publishing consultant. Together with editors and a graphic designer, they transformed Richard’s personal discovery process into Great Works and Me.

The result was not meant to be a traditional academic guide. Instead, it became a companion for anyone who has ever wanted to explore classic works but felt unsure about how to start.

Making Great Works Feel Less Intimidating

For many people, the words “classical literature” or “classical music” immediately create a sense of pressure. The names can feel familiar, but the experience can seem distant.

Richard understands that hesitation.

The great works often come with a reputation that makes people believe they need special knowledge before they can appreciate them. His goal is to remove that barrier and show that discovery can happen naturally.

Once Richard realized he had developed a method for exploring these works without a major investment of time or effort, he wanted to share it.

His message to beginners is simple: do not overthink the starting point.

“Have no fear. Explore whatever captures your attention,” Richard says.

There is no single path. Someone might begin with a novel, a painting, an opera, or a piece of music. The important part is creating the habit of exploration.

How an Actuary Built a Roadmap for Curiosity

Richard’s professional background played an important role in shaping the structure of the book.

As an actuary, he spent years working in a field that depends on organization, analysis, and careful thinking. Those skills naturally influenced how he approached his exploration of the classics.

He has also always enjoyed lists, which became another foundation for the book’s format.

Each chapter introduces a topic, provides context, includes helpful resources, and highlights personal favorites. The structure allows readers to explore without feeling like they are taking a course or following a strict curriculum.

Instead, it feels like receiving recommendations from someone who has already taken the journey and wants to share what he discovered along the way.

The Works That Left a Lasting Impression

During his exploration, Richard encountered countless works that stayed with him.

Some of his favorites include the journey of Odysseus returning to Penelope, the story of Aeneas and Dido, Shakespeare’s Richard III, James Joyce’s Ulysses, William Faulkner’s Absalom, Absalom!, and Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea.

His interests expanded beyond literature into visual art and music, including creators such as Picasso, Raphael, Bach, and Chopin.

Rather than simply collecting famous names, Richard focused on the personal connection these works created.

The power of great works is not only their historical importance. It is their ability to continue speaking to people across generations.

Why the Classics Still Matter Today

In a world built around speed, constant updates, and endless digital distractions, Richard believes the classics provide something increasingly valuable: time for reflection.

The ideas found in literature, music, and art may come from different eras, but the emotions behind them remain familiar.

People from centuries ago experienced love, ambition, uncertainty, loss, and the desire to understand their place in the world. Those same questions continue today.

Richard believes this connection is what makes the examined life so important.

By slowing down and engaging with meaningful works, people create opportunities for self-reflection and discovery. The classics remind us that despite differences in time and culture, many human experiences remain connected.

A Journey of Growth and Self-Discovery

For Richard, the purpose of Great Works and Me is not to create experts. It is to encourage exploration.

He hopes readers come away with a sense of accomplishment, personal growth, and curiosity about what they might discover next.

The goal is not finishing a list. It is creating a lifelong relationship with ideas, stories, and creative expressions that continue to offer new perspectives.

Richard hopes someone can finish the book, explore one great work, and feel motivated to discover another.

Then another.

That ongoing curiosity is where the real value begins.

The great works are not meant to sit untouched on a shelf. They are meant to be experienced, questioned, enjoyed, and connected to our own lives.

Through Great Works and Me, Richard Fallquist shares the approach that transformed his retirement into a journey of discovery and invites others to begin their own.

The great works are waiting to be discovered. Great Works and Me by Richard Fallquist offers readers a path toward reflection, curiosity, and lifelong learning.