I found pleasure in reading classics to my children. Many times I was suprised how much I had missed the first time I read them.

Oh wad some power the giftie gie us
To see oursel’s as others see us!

I cannot think of any book that did this for me.

I used to admire Clifton Fadiman. However I find it hard to accept this quotation. Very few of us have any talent for introspection. That's why there are psychoanalysts. Newton's Principia Mathematica is a classic, but even if I were able to read it with comprehension, what would I see in myself that I did not see before?