John F. Michell (1933–2009)

This book is a sampler platter. It tries to cover just about every aspect of the trivium, plus some extras, but there isn't space to get into any one topic in any depth, since each gets only one or two pages at most. I liked the book overall, but my feelings about the individual chapters—each written by different authors—varied widely. Luckily for finishing the book, I tended to like each chapter better than the ones before it. "Euphonics" might appeal to many readers; I got tired of it by D and skimmed the rest. I started reading seriously with "Grammar" and "Poetic Meter & Form." The last three, "Logic," "Rhetoric," and "Ethics, were the most fascinating to me, but also the most frustrating because I wanted to know more. The three appendices didn't seem all that closely tied to the chapters, and I could have traded them for more information on the trivium itself. This is a readable, interesting introduction to the trivium, but don't expect to learn much about any one piece of it from this book alone.… (mais)