"The true university of these days is a collection of books." - Thomas Carlyle
And generally I don't really have the following authors in my library, or on my reading lists.
They are not really on the syllabus at my one-man university:
Sigmund FREUD.
No facts. Only theory posing as fact. No science. No discovery. Irrationalist posing as rational.
Friedrich NIETZSCHE.
All gesture and no content. Precursor of fascism. Irrationalist.
Oscar WILDE.
Unconvincing intellectual justification for homosexual behaviour. No content to his literature. Disagree profoundly with his beliefs about "art for art's sake" and other matters. Irrationalist.
James JOYCE.
Simply incomprehensible. And truly and utterly tedious. Even the more readable and accessible works are utterly tedious. It is said of "Ulysses" that if it is not worth reading, then life is not worth living. I maintain that it cannot really be read, whereas life can be lived.
Michel FOUCAULT.
Random and fake. Incomprehensible in places. No evidence for his theories. Irrationalist.
J. R. R. TOLKIEN
Too divorced from the real world.
C. S. LEWIS
Overall, a very over-rated Christian apologist.
G.W.F. HEGEL
Irrational, incomprehensible.
Jacques LACAN
Slavoj ZIZEK
Peter SINGER
Animals are not our equals - for that is why they are animals.
Henry JAMES.
G.K. CHESTERTON.
George BERKELEY.
Mischievous, deceitful and irrational.
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Generally speaking, I believe that the overall content and messages of the above writers are not worthy of serious intellectual consideration and that their reputations are wholly undeserved. Some parts of their writings may be beneficial and enlightening, but overall I think all of these writers are intellectually overrated.