instruction: What is a brief summary of the book, "The Well-Educated Mind, A Guide to the Classical Education You Never Had", written by Susan Wise Bauer?
response: Susan Wise Bauer took inspiration from Mortimer Adler's book, "How to Read A Book", in writing her book, "The Well-Educated Mind, A Guide to the Classical Education You Never Had."  One of the highlights of the book is a reading list of classics from six genres of writing.  The six genres Bauer focuses upon are novels, autobiography, history and politics, drama, poetry and natural sciences. She describes how to approach each genre as a reader, how to ask good questions of the author and how to formulate your own viewpoint of the topic. For each genre, when presenting the book list, she gives you a summary of each book, the best revision of the book to read and her initial impressions of the authors viewpoint.  Bauer's book is not meant to be read from cover to cover, but to be a guide as you work through the reading list of each genre.  Reading Bauer's book is like having your own college level professor guiding you through the classics.  At the end of this guide, if you have read every book on Bauer's recommended list, you will be able to consider yourself well read.