SizzlinShred
The path

Levels 1 to 1000

Start at Level 1 The reading list

SizzlinShred is a school of the seven liberal arts, and this is its path: a thousand levels, from reading one short poem slowly to a body of original work defended in the open. The aim is an education that forms judgment and expression: a person who can understand what is true, weigh what is claimed, say it so that others can understand and test it, and act on it well. Ten thousand hours measures the size of the path. It is not a promise, because hours spent are not the same as practice done well.

How a level works

Each level is about ten hours of work: one reading, one practice step and a check. You pass by doing what the check asks, not by recognising an answer. Every check exercises one or more of five acts: understand exactly, examine the reasons, express it truly, check it against evidence, and act and review. The bar rises stage by stage, from saying a short text back in your own words to defending a long essay aloud.

In the Core, Levels 101 to 500, each level pairs the next seminar reading with the next step of a tutorial track: language, mathematics, laboratory, music, inquiry or writing. The two run side by side on purpose, as the seminar and tutorials do in the St. John's College programme that inspired the site. So a level's reading and its practice step are often unrelated in subject, such as Hegel beside an experiment with magnets. The seminar trains judgment on great books, the tutorials train the arts themselves, and a level asks for both.

Where a check names a listener, you may stand in for that listener yourself after a day away, or by recording your answer and playing it back, writing down what you find against the words of the check. Every level is self-paced and self-assessed. There is no credential; the evidence is the work you can show. The path is inspired by St. John's College, Khan Academy and WGU, and is not affiliated with any of them.

Why this order

Hugh of Saint Victor wrote his Didascalicon to teach a reader what to read, in what order, and how. The Levels answer the same questions. They begin with grammar, one poem read slowly, because every later study must be read before it can be argued or written. The great books then come in order, and beside them the arts of language and of quantity: the first form how you understand, reason and speak, the second how you prove and measure. Hugh called the seven arts the ways by which a lively mind enters wisdom. Whoever learned them firmly, he wrote, could go on to the rest by inquiry and practice more than by listening to a teacher (Didascalicon III.3). So the path ends in original work, not in a last reading.

Each art is also followed forward into today, logic into proof and computing, arithmetic into probability and statistics, music into the physics of sound, astronomy into models tested against observation, and then back to the teachers who explained why it matters.

Where this could be wrong

The strongest objection is that a fixed order of books cannot fit every learner, and that a canon drawn mostly from one tradition narrows what counts as a great question. The best reply is that the order is a default, not a gate: the Core reads classical Chinese and Indian philosophy beside the Greeks and Romans, the later tiers open onto chosen concentrations, and every check asks for judgment, not agreement. What would settle it is evidence from learners: whether people who follow the path become more accurate, clearer and more trustworthy than they were, and where they stall.

Try this

Start at Level 1. Read one short poem slowly, copy it out by hand, and write down the one question it raises. Level 2 then asks you to say it in your own words, and Level 3 reads Dorothy L. Sayers on what education is for.

Further reading

The five acts

Every level asks for some of five acts, at a standard that rises level by level. The five-part form is the site's own synthesis, not a medieval scheme.

  1. Understand exactly (grammar)Define the terms, establish the facts, restate the text in your own words.
  2. Examine the reasons (dialectic)Reconstruct the argument, find its assumptions, state the strongest objection fairly.
  3. Express it truly (rhetoric)Write and speak for a real reader, then revise after criticism.
  4. Check it against evidence (inquiry)Measure, calculate, trace the source, compare rival explanations.
  5. Act and review (judgment)Decide with stated reasons, then examine the result without rewriting what you expected.

The five tiers

About 10 hours a level, a thousand levels. The first two tiers are written; the rest are outlined and are written in batches. From Level 101 a level has two halves that run side by side: the Seminar, which is the reading and any essay task, and the Tutorial, which is the practice step.

  1. Tier 1: Foundations

    Levels 1 to 100 1,000 hours Written

    The tools of learning. How to read slowly, define, argue, prove, observe, measure, write and speak, with the first short great books, algebra, Euclid's first book, notation and singing, probability and the checking of sources.

    Levels 1 to 100

    1. Reading and attention Levels 1 to 10Say it back: restate it in your own words, define its key terms, ask one real question about it, and do the practice step with the book open.
    2. Grammar: words, sentences, meanings Levels 11 to 20Say it back: restate it in your own words, define its key terms, ask one real question about it, and do the practice step with the book open.
    3. Logic: terms, statements, inference Levels 21 to 30Say it back: restate it in your own words, define its key terms, ask one real question about it, and do the practice step with the book open.
    4. Rhetoric: composition and speaking Levels 31 to 40Rebuild it: set out the argument or construction step by step, and do the practice step without help.
    5. Arithmetic and algebra Levels 41 to 50Rebuild it: set out the argument or construction step by step, and do the practice step without help.
    6. Geometry: Euclid's first book Levels 51 to 60Rebuild it: set out the argument or construction step by step, and do the practice step without help.
    7. Music and astronomy Levels 61 to 70Test it: check one claim against evidence or raise one objection, and answer it.
    8. Inquiry: observation, measurement, probability Levels 71 to 80Test it: check one claim against evidence or raise one objection, and answer it.
    9. Sources and judgment Levels 81 to 90Test it: check one claim against evidence or raise one objection, and answer it.
    10. Thresholds: Greek begins, the first essay Levels 91 to 100Show it: a finished short essay and an oral examination on the tier's work.

  2. Tier 2: The Core

    Levels 101 to 500 4,000 hours Written

    The great books read in order, from Homer to the twentieth century, each beside a practice step in Greek, French or English poetry, mathematics from Euclid to Einstein, laboratory work from Aristotle's animals to the structure of DNA, and music. Four years of a hundred levels, each ending in an essay; Level 500 is the oral defence of a long essay.

    Levels 101 to 200 · Levels 201 to 300 · Levels 301 to 400 · Levels 401 to 500

    1. Homer Levels 101 to 120Rebuild and object: reconstruct the main argument or action, give the strongest objection and answer it from the text, and do the practice step without the book.
    2. Tragedy, comedy and the first historians Levels 121 to 140Rebuild and object: reconstruct the main argument or action, give the strongest objection and answer it from the text, and do the practice step without the book.
    3. Thucydides and Plato's Republic Levels 141 to 160Rebuild and object: reconstruct the main argument or action, give the strongest objection and answer it from the text, and do the practice step without the book.
    4. Plato's later dialogues and Aristotle on action Levels 161 to 180Rebuild and object: reconstruct the main argument or action, give the strongest objection and answer it from the text, and do the practice step without the book.
    5. Aristotle on nature, classical China, the first-year essay Levels 181 to 200Rebuild and object: reconstruct the main argument or action, give the strongest objection and answer it from the text, and do the practice step without the book.
    6. Rome Levels 201 to 220Translate and compare: translate or closely paraphrase a short passage, compare two authors on one question, and measure or calculate where the practice step allows.
    7. Virgil and the Law Levels 221 to 240Translate and compare: translate or closely paraphrase a short passage, compare two authors on one question, and measure or calculate where the practice step allows.
    8. Prophets, wisdom and the New Testament Levels 241 to 260Translate and compare: translate or closely paraphrase a short passage, compare two authors on one question, and measure or calculate where the practice step allows.
    9. Faith seeking understanding Levels 261 to 280Translate and compare: translate or closely paraphrase a short passage, compare two authors on one question, and measure or calculate where the practice step allows.
    10. Dante, Chaucer, the second-year essay Levels 281 to 300Translate and compare: translate or closely paraphrase a short passage, compare two authors on one question, and measure or calculate where the practice step allows.
    11. Shakespeare and Cervantes Levels 301 to 320Judge between them: set two authors against each other and judge with evidence in about 1,500 words, and derive the practice result without the book.
    12. The new method Levels 321 to 340Judge between them: set two authors against each other and judge with evidence in about 1,500 words, and derive the practice result without the book.
    13. Paradise Lost and the rationalists Levels 341 to 360Judge between them: set two authors against each other and judge with evidence in about 1,500 words, and derive the practice result without the book.
    14. Experience, society and reason Levels 361 to 380Judge between them: set two authors against each other and judge with evidence in about 1,500 words, and derive the practice result without the book.
    15. The founding, the third-year essay Levels 381 to 400Judge between them: set two authors against each other and judge with evidence in about 1,500 words, and derive the practice result without the book.
    16. Spirit, faith and labour Levels 401 to 420Extend and defend: apply the work to a new case, repeat an experiment and account for its error, and defend your reading aloud.
    17. The great novels Levels 421 to 440Extend and defend: apply the work to a new case, repeat an experiment and account for its error, and defend your reading aloud.
    18. Modern thought Levels 441 to 460Extend and defend: apply the work to a new case, repeat an experiment and account for its error, and defend your reading aloud.
    19. The twentieth century Levels 461 to 480Extend and defend: apply the work to a new case, repeat an experiment and account for its error, and defend your reading aloud.
    20. The long essay Levels 481 to 500Extend and defend: apply the work to a new case, repeat an experiment and account for its error, and defend your reading aloud.

  3. Tier 3: Second Reading

    Levels 501 to 700 2,000 hours Outlined

    The great books again, at the highest bar: in Greek or French where that is the original, with a written commentary, demonstrations without the book, and levels taught to another learner.

    Outlined: levels are written in batches. These stages are the plan, not yet levels you can open.

    The bar: In the original where there is one: a written commentary, demonstrations without the book, and one level taught to another learner.

    1. Homer in Greek Levels 501 to 520
    2. The tragedians and Plato in Greek Levels 521 to 540
    3. Aristotle again: logic, nature, soul Levels 541 to 560
    4. Euclid, Apollonius and Ptolemy without the book Levels 561 to 580
    5. Scripture in Greek: the Septuagint and the New Testament Levels 581 to 600
    6. Augustine, Aquinas and Dante again, with optional Latin Levels 601 to 620
    7. Descartes, Pascal and Racine in French Levels 621 to 640
    8. Newton's Principia: the hard propositions Levels 641 to 660
    9. Kant, Hegel and the moderns again Levels 661 to 680
    10. The second long essay: a commentary on one great book Levels 681 to 700

  4. Tier 4: Concentrations

    Levels 701 to 900 2,000 hours Outlined

    Depth in chosen fields, drawn from the elective and optional lists, ending with the arts carried into technology. The stages may be taken in any order.

    Outlined: levels are written in batches. These stages are the plan, not yet levels you can open.

    The bar: Produce work another person could check: a solved problem set, a replicated experiment, a working program, a finished essay.

    1. Ancient philosophy: the Presocratics, the Philebus, On the Heavens Levels 701 to 720
    2. Modern philosophy: Schopenhauer to Arendt Levels 721 to 740
    3. Literature: Melville, Joyce, Borges, Pessoa and others Levels 741 to 760
    4. Poetry and drama: Keats, Rilke, late Shakespeare, the modern stage Levels 761 to 780
    5. History and economics: Gibbon, Ibn Khaldun, Spengler, Piketty Levels 781 to 800
    6. Asian philosophy and religion: the Daodejing, the Zhuangzi, the Bhagavad Gita Levels 801 to 820
    7. Mathematics and science: Hardy, Russell, Gödel, general relativity, QED Levels 821 to 840
    8. Music and visual art: Figaro, Bach and Stravinsky, colour, Manet, Duchamp Levels 841 to 860
    9. Computation: Boolean logic, algorithms, computability; Leibniz, Lovelace, Turing Levels 861 to 880
    10. The arts into technology: circuits, signals, clocks, codes, graphics, formal languages Levels 881 to 900

  5. Tier 5: Mastery

    Levels 901 to 1,000 1,000 hours Outlined

    Original work, shown to people able to judge it. Level 1000 is Grandmaster: a body of work defended in the open. It is self-assessed, like every level here, and no credential.

    Outlined: levels are written in batches. These stages are the plan, not yet levels you can open.

    The bar: Original, public and defended: work that adds something, shown to people able to judge it.

    Level 1000 is Grandmaster. It is self-assessed, like every level here.

    1. A body of essays across the arts Levels 901 to 920
    2. Teaching: seminars led, levels taught Levels 921 to 940
    3. An original investigation Levels 941 to 960
    4. A treatise joining language and mathematics, old and new Levels 961 to 980
    5. The final defence Levels 981 to 1,000

Every level is self-paced and self-assessed, and no credential is awarded. The design is inspired by St. John's College, Khan Academy and WGU; this site is not affiliated with any of them. Levels marked Draft are first versions, still being checked and refined; their numbers will not change.

Every work named in a level is listed, by area, on the reading list.