Favorite lecture series
Submitted by lukeprog on Wed, 06/20/2007 - 08:35
Tags:
- ★★★★
- Descriptive Introduction to Physics (free podcast, UC Berkeley) [aka Physics for Future Presidents] Almost completely avoids equations and instead succeeds in making basics physics comprehension useful for making decisions in our everyday world. Superb.
- Questions of Value (The Teaching Company) A wonderful and simple introduction to axiology, the study of values (ethics, justice, priorities, etc.).
- Philosophy and Religion in the West (The Teaching Company) A great survey of the history of interaction between religion and philosophy, the borrowing of ideas, etc.
- ★★★
- Science in the 20th Century: A Social-Intellectual Survey (The Teaching Company) A nice survey of the changes and revolutions in 20th century hard science, soft science, and mathematics, as well as the emerging scientific/technological society.
- Theory of Evolution: A History of Controversy (The Teaching Company) A quick & dirty look at the evolution of evolutionary theory in the academic and popular world.
- How to Listen to and Understand Great Music, 3rd Edition (The Teaching Company) Greenberg is able to play for us the development of musical ideas and movements in societal context, explaining how musical ideas evolved and what they actually sound like in comparison to each other. This is the grand overview; see Greenberg's other TTC lectures to zoom into, say, concerto or Shostakovich or Beethoven's symphonies.
- Great Minds of the Western Intellectual Tradition, 3rd Edition (The Teaching Company) A useful overview of Western Intellectual thought, but tought by too many professors, some of them better than others.
- Argumentation: The Study of Effective Reasoning, 2nd Edition (The Teaching Company) An even-handed introduction to the science of argumentation in the logical, persuasive, and social realms.
- Historical Jesus (The Teaching Company) Should be very useful to those who only known the contemporary religious picture of this historical figure.
- Joy of Mathematics (The Teaching Company) Benjamin is infinitely better and more exciting than your high school math teacher.
- Biology and Human Behavior: The Neurological Origins of Individuality, 2nd Edition (The Teaching Company) A rather startling account of how we so often misattribue biological realities to vague notions of "personality" and "self."
- ★★
- Contemporary Economic Issues (The Teaching Company) A whirlwind tour of relevant economic issues; a crash course not in economic theory and math, but in what really matters in today's world, through the lens of economics. An older course from the late 90s.
- Introduction to General Astronomy (free video podcast, UC Berkeley) An okay companion to "Physics for Future Presidents", but is less clearly presented, has a bit too much unimportant math, and of course astronomy is not as instantly applicable to life as general physics.
- Philosophy of Religion (The Teaching Company) Should be perfect, actually, for the philosophy newbie, but it moved far too slowly for me.
- Consciousness and Its Implications (The Teaching Company) Many words spoken, little said.
- From Jesus to Constantine A History of Early Christianity (The Teaching Company) A decent survey of early Christianity, though it focuses perhaps too much on the proto-orthodox and orthodox story.
- Jesus and the Gospels (The Teaching Company) A quick look at how Jesus is portrayed in each gospel.
- After the New Testament: The Writings of the Apostolic Fathers (The Teaching Company) A brief survey of the major surviving post-canonical early Christian writings that so profoundly shaped Christian doctrine and practice.
- Understanding the Universe; What's New in Astronomy (The Teaching Company) A strage mix of old concepts and new findings that doesn't quite work on its own.
- ★
- Philosophy as a Guide to Living (The Teaching Company) You'd think a class with this title would be as accessible as possible, but it was irritatingly unclear.
- Self Under Siege: Philosophy in the Twentieth Century (The Teaching Company) No longer available from TTC, and I can see why. It's very unpolished, and the teacher completely fails at keeping his own opinion from leaking in (for example, he once suggests that Billy Graham be crucified). But those tangents are utterly entertaining.
- How to Write a Nonfiction Book (Expert Village) Information so incomplete as to be useless.
- Learning the Basics of Video Editing (Expert Village) Gives you a flavor of video editing, but no skills.
- Tips On The Art of Public Speaking (Expert Village) One of the more useful Expert Village video tutorial series, but still not that good.
Did you buy all of the ones off the Teaching Company? Because some of them look really interesting but apparently you have to pay...
No. They're available via interlibrary loan or BitTorrent.
Ahh, ok thanks :)