Great Courses: continuing education for those interested in continuing to learn

The Great Courses offer college level course taught by some of the best college professors.  If you are interested in a topic (history, foreign language, math, physics, philosophy among other disciplines).  The courses offered are wide ranging and you are bound to find something that interest you. Maybe you want to learn something new or continue with your personal favorite courses. Customers (students) can purchase a course(s) then down load the Great Courses App and stream the course on your cell phone or computer.  The App is free.

The company is rapidly moving toward digital and streaming courses.  However, the company will offer substantial discounts on DVD only sales. DVDs cost more than regular streaming courses.  Most courses have a transcript of the course to streamed also.  Printed manuscript course transcripts and be mailed for an additional $15.

Currently, I am simultaneously listening to: Mysteries of Modern Physics: Time and The Philosopher's Toolkit:  How to be the Most Rational Person in Any Room.

I WAS re-educating myself to chess with the great course: How to play Chess: Lesson from International Master Jeremy Siliman but now I have Coach Omar in my corner. 

I hope this brief introduction to the Great Courses peaks your interest to check out the site.

The website is thegreatcourses.com

Have a great Fourth of July weekend.

"All that matters on a chess board is a good move."

Best,

Sam Kolchak (Pearson)

As a semi retired cheapskate with very limited means, I am partial to low-cost and free offerings.  Here are several additional sources for terrific learning opportunities:

Hillsdale College Free Online Courses  (History, Politics & Government, Literature, Education, Economics, Religion, etc.)
or, https://www.hillsdale.edu/educational-outreach/free-online-courses/

The Psychological Significance of the Biblical Stories, 17 videos by Dr. Jordan B. Peterson

Jordan B. Peterson's YouTube channel  Access to Dr. Peterson's Psychology Lectures at University of Toronto, and other materials.

Overdrive.com   Enjoy ebooks and audiobooks for free through your local public library or school.  Amazon.com offers a free "Kindle" app for PCs and other devices.

One of my favorite thinkers and teachers of the recent past is Neil Postman (March 8, 1931 - October 5, 2003), who authored some twenty books and numerous essays concerning education, technology, history and contemporary culture, etc.  I have just added his last book, Building a Bridge to the 18th Century: How the Past Can Improve Our Future, (1999) to my Kindle library and was then up half the night reading it. 

     As one of his Amazon reviewers wrote: 
     "Neil Postman, longtime professor and eventual chair of the department of culture and communication at New York University, sadly died in 2003 at the age of 72. Bridge is his final book, and it deals with the same universal themes found in his earlier 20-odd works: language, reason, education, childhood, and the idea of progress.
     Despairing over post-modernists who claim words don't stand for anything real, he makes a case for reading and writing. Indeed, he feels if we don't come up with a meaningful narrative for our world, we're toast."
     Another wrote:
     "By discussing the ideas of the 18th century thinking about regarding various topics his builds a bridge from that time to ours. History is not dead. This was the century that really gave birth to our constitution, to our ideas about progress and, it turns out, about childhood.
     A basic tenant is that men and women need a narrative to live by, that the narrative of America came from the 18th century, that the narrative is endangered and that it should be revived.
     The discussions are far from obsolete and very applicable to our lives."

     I can recommend it to anyone who is still interested in learning...

     I just came across (and am watching as I write) a relevant "BookTV" lecture/discussion with Neil Postman on C-SPAN2 from December 1, 1999.  Here is the link:  Building a Bridge to the 18th Century  (1:22:11)  So far it is fascinating!

     Thomas Sowell is one of the greatest, clearest, and most prolific thinkers and writers of my time.  Although written 25 years ago (1995), this is an amazing eye-opener.  It is the first volume of a trilogy that expanded from a single project.  The other two volumes are Migrations and Cultures: A World View (1997), and Conquests and Cultures: An International History (1999). 

     I started reading the last book, where I learned it was actually a trilogy.  It was so enjoyable and engrossing that I immediately ordered all three from Amazon.  I have been a student of Sowell's writing for many years and am continually impressed by his ability to clarify complex subjects and add the contexts so often absent when discussing complex and controversial ideas.  The readability of his prose helps lead to greater understanding and, hopefully, greater wisdom.  This is rare among writers in such important topics today.

     Informative descriptive and critical reviews (and previews) may be found on Amazon (as usual) using the following Links:

Race and Culture: A World View (1995) 352 pp.

Migrations and Cultures: A World View (1997) 534 pp.

Conquests and Cultures: An International History (1999) 516 pp.

I'm still interested in learning. Thanks for the recommendation.

Am re-reading The Power Of Now by Eckhart Tolle. You can get a lot from his AZ quotes, and see numerous you tube lectures by this amazing teacher. I think he is marvelous and accurate and will benefit anyone who studies his work. A genuine spiritual master!

thanks for heads up

You guys might enjoy this.  I already posted it on the Geezers Political Debate,  but it is so much more, and fitting to several of these Forums, as well:

TECHNOPOLY: The Surrender of Culture to Technology, (1992) by Neil Postman.

     "In this witty, often terrifying work of cultural criticism, the author of Amusing Ourselves to Death chronicles our transformation into a Technopoly: a society that no longer merely uses technology as a support system but instead is shaped by it—with radical consequences for the meanings of politics, art, education, intelligence, and truth."  -- Amazon.com

     There are also many clearly written reviews on the Amazon website.