As always Dr. Noble is simply fascinating. It's not easy to fashion a synopsis of 2000 years of history, culture, and philosophy into just a day of spAs always Dr. Noble is simply fascinating. It's not easy to fashion a synopsis of 2000 years of history, culture, and philosophy into just a day of speech, but Noble does it with style and ease. This is something I'll have to come back and review over again in just a few years to pick out a few individual parts to focus in on in more detail....more
The title of this is in fact its overarching thesis, and such a good one at that. Dr. Cook does and excellent job doing an overview of Machiavelli's sThe title of this is in fact its overarching thesis, and such a good one at that. Dr. Cook does and excellent job doing an overview of Machiavelli's surrounding times and immediate history to frame as much of both him and his thought as possible in such a short span of time. I had known that Machiavelli was more maligned than he deserved, but didn't know just how much. Cook provides some excellent topics for thought. I'm fascinated enough that I want to go back and read both Livy and The Discourses now.
I'd highly recommend this to anyone and honestly every citizen of the world should know what's in this excellent short set of lectures....more
A tad dry in a few places, but overall seemed to touch on most of the major areas. There are quite a lot of people and places at play, but Bartlett doA tad dry in a few places, but overall seemed to touch on most of the major areas. There are quite a lot of people and places at play, but Bartlett does a good job of tying them all together. Certainly worth a second listen to absorb it all....more
This is certainly the way to do a biography for a musician/composer -- far better than simply reading a book without the ability to hear the music or This is certainly the way to do a biography for a musician/composer -- far better than simply reading a book without the ability to hear the music or comment upon it. My only criticism is that it was far too short and over all too quickly....more
Overall a great introduction to evolution and many of its interdisciplinary subfields. I particularly enjoyed seeing the perspective of a geologist/paOverall a great introduction to evolution and many of its interdisciplinary subfields. I particularly enjoyed seeing the perspective of a geologist/paleontologist to start things off and then the tag-team to cover human evolution from primates.
I especially loved the philosophical conceptualization of "deep time" (in analogy with "deep space") particularly as one considers the even broader idea of "Big History". Though the professors here don't delve into Big History directly, they're covering a large portion of the cross-disciplinary and inter-disciplinary studies which underpin a large portion of the field. More specifically taking the general viewpoint of "transitions" in evolution underlines this conceptualization.
Though the transitional viewpoint seems to be a very natural and highly illustrative one to take, I would be curious in seeing alternate presentations of evolution from a pedagogical standpoint. It was nice to hear a bit of alternate discussion in the final lecture as well as discussion of where things might "go from here."
I do wish that there were additional follow-on lectures that covered additional material in more depth. It would also have been nice to have included a handful of lectures from a microbiologist's viewpoint and background to give some additional rounding out of the material and this could have been done either in the early parts of the material or certainly around the discussions of primate evolution. Overall all though, these are wonderfully self-contained and don't require a huge prior background in material to understand well.
It's always great to see lecturers who truly love their fields and have the ability to relate that through their lectures and infect their students.
From a purely technical standpoint, I'm glad to see that The Teaching Company only offers a video version of (as opposed to their usual additional offering of audio-only) as having pictures of the fossils and organisms under discussion and their relative physiological structures was very helpful. Additionally having the recurring timecharts of the portions of geological time under discussion was very useful and generally reinforcing of the chronology. Somewhat monotonous from a visual perspective was the almost programmatic back and forth pacing between two cameras during the lectures which at times became distracting in and of itself. Certainly including a third camera would have added some variety as would having had camera operators to zoom in or move the camera around while the lecturers stand relatively stationary. (Though the production value here is exceptionally high, small details like this over the span of several hours of watching become important. As an example of better execution, I prefer Glenn Holland's "Religion in the Ancient Mediterranean" as a model - though there wasn't as much additional visual material there, the lectures were simply more "watchable" because of the camera work.)...more
This was simply lovely and interesting. Given the huge amount of material one could cover under such a broad topic, Greenberg did a fantastic job "ediThis was simply lovely and interesting. Given the huge amount of material one could cover under such a broad topic, Greenberg did a fantastic job "editing" and creating as simple and clear a line through the material as possible. Obviously there is a lot missing, but you can only do so much in an introductory treatment. And even with the introductory treatment, I'll likely need a second and third pass through everything to really absorb it all.
I can't wait to delve into some of his other works on music, and I'm glad there are several others to follow this up.
Most interesting to me was the "musicality" of his voice and presentation that makes actually listening to the material that much more engaging over and above it's inherent general interest. This musicality also makes his enthusiasm so much more contagious! ...more
Ehrman does an excellent job giving an historical overview of the New Testament. He's got a handful of fairly popular books on the history of early ChEhrman does an excellent job giving an historical overview of the New Testament. He's got a handful of fairly popular books on the history of early Christianity, the New Testament, and Jesus which I've either read or browsed through larger portions. This lecture series hits almost all of the major high points of many of those books. For those interested in his viewpoint and topics of interest, I'd recommend this as a better catchall for most of his written works to save you some time.
His lecture style is clear and concise and he keeps things moving along generally quickly.
There isn't much to recommend the video version over the audio for these lectures....more
A very interesting and straightforward presentation that is information dense and covers quite a lot of ground. This should be required reading for evA very interesting and straightforward presentation that is information dense and covers quite a lot of ground. This should be required reading for everyone....more
A truly monumental thesis and excellent framework for where humankind fits into the universe. One of the most influential works I've ever come across.A truly monumental thesis and excellent framework for where humankind fits into the universe. One of the most influential works I've ever come across. Highly recommend...more
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