Current Series:
It is entitled “A Brief History of the World” presented by Prof. Peter Stearns. You can learn more about it by going to “The Great Courses” Website at https://www.thegreatcourses.com/courses/a-brief-history-of-the-world.html . There are 36 episodes, so we will be watching it for 18 Weeks.
Here is the Introduction:
Think of the construction of the great pyramids of Egypt, or the development of democratic rule in ancient Greece. Recall the innovations of the European Renaissance and Enlightenment—the remarkable flowering of drama and the arts, and revolutionary breakthroughs in science and philosophy. These are intriguing and important episodes, familiar to students of history. But haven’t you also wondered: What else was going on in the world?
Consider the enthralling tales of Venetian trader Marco Polo. He introduced the Western world to mysterious and exotic Asian cultures never before imagined. Those alien civilizations he visited had existed for centuries, even millennia. What do we know about that part of the story?
We know of the glories of ancient Rome, the commanding empire that ruled the known world—but what about the lands that were not “known”? What, for example, of the Han dynasty in China? It existed alongside the Roman Empire but developed a more enduring legacy than that of the emperors of the Eternal City. How does that imperial saga relate to the more familiar story of Roman domination?
And in the Dark Ages that came after the fall of the Roman Empire, we know that the era following Rome’s glory days brought great political and social turmoil to the peoples of Europe. But at that time the Muslims of the Middle East and North Africa were experiencing remarkable cultural flourishing that produced innovations in art, medicine, philosophy, and technology—a true golden age for the civilization.
If you have wondered about these other histories—of China and Japan, of Russia, India, and the remote territories of Sub-Saharan Africa and South America—you can now discover how these stories fit in with commonly known accounts of Western traditions…….. (more).
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This isn’t a dull review of history, and the professor is quite engaging. We saw the first two Chapters on 31 May. Come join us to see the balance of these very interesting series.
Please email Carl Angotti at carl@angotti.com for the address in Mountain View, CA
Previous Series
Ended May 2018 “Optimizing Brain Fitness” presented by Professor Richard Restak, M.D.
Ended April 2018 “The Great Ideas of Psychology” with Daniel N. Robinson, Ph.D., , Georgetown University
Ended Sept 2017 “Earth’s Changing Climate”, by Professor Richard Wolfson, Ph.D., Middlebury College.
June 2017 “Great Philosophical Debates: Free Will and Determinism”, Professor Shaun Nichols, Ph.D., University of Arizona
March 2017 “Foundations of Economic Prosperity” by Daniel W. Drezner, Ph.D., Tufts University
Jan 2017 “Effective Communication Skills” by Professor Dalton Kehoe, Ph.D.
York University
Oct 2016 “Art of Public Speaking: Lessons from the Greatest Speeches in History” by John R. Hale, Ph.D., University of Louisville
2016 May “Games People Play: Game Theory in Life, Business, and Beyond”, Professor Scott P. Stevens, Ph.D., James Madison University
2015 November “The Higgs Boson and Beyond”, Professor Sean Carroll, Ph.D., California Institute of Technology DVD
| Timespan | Series title | Lecturer or host | Medium | |
| 2016 Feb / 2015 Dec | Robotics | Professor John Long, Ph.D. University of Oklahoma | DVD | |
| 2015 Aug / Sept | The World Was Never the Same: Events That Changed History | University of Oklahoma, Washington University in St. Louis | DVD | |
| 2013 Jul – Oct 31 | The Secret Life of Words: English Words and Their Origins | Anne Curzan | 36 DVD | |
| 2013 Jun – 2013 Jul | Mr. Lincoln: Life of Abraham Lincoln | Allen C. Guelzo | 12 DVD | |
| 2013 Feb – 2013 Jun | The World of Byzantium | Kenneth W. Harl | 24 DVD | |
| 2012 Dec – 2013 Jan | Tocqueville and the American Experiment | William R Cook | 24 DVD | |
| 2012 July – 2012 Nov | Human Prehistory and the First Civilizations | Brian M. Fagan | 36 DVD | |
| 2012 APR – 2012 July | Myths, Lies, and Half-Truths of Language Usage | John McWhorter | 12 DVD | |
| 2012 Mar – 2012 Apr | Experiencing Hubble: Great Images of the Universe | David M Meyer | 12 DVD | |
| 2012 Feb – 2012 Mar | Thinking like an Economist: Rational Decision Making | Randall Bartlett | 12 DVD | |
| 2011 Oct – 2012 Jan | Argumentation | David Zarefsky | 24 DVD | |
| 2011 Aug – 2011 Oct | Great Thinkers, Great Theorems | William Dunham | 24 DVD | |
| 2011 May – 2011 Aug | No Excuses: Existentialism and the Meaning of Life | Robert Solomon | 24 DVD | |
| 2011 Feb – 2011 May | The Will to Power: The Philosophy of Frederich Nietzsche | Robert Solomon & Kathleen Higgins | 24 DVD | |
| 2010 Dec – 2011 Feb | Origins of Life | Robert M Hazen | 24 DVD | |
| 2010 Sep – 2010 Nov | Buddhism | Malcolm David Eckel | 24 DVD | |
| 2010 Apr – 2010 Aug | Mathematics, Philosophy, and the “Real World” | Judith V Grabiner | 36 DVD | |
| 2010 Mar – 2010 Apr | Science and Religion | Lawrence M Principe | 12 DVD | |
| 2010 Feb – 2010 Mar | Consciousness and its Implications | Daniel N Robinson | 12 DVD | |
| 2009 Oct – 2010 Jan | Understanding Genetics: DNA,Genes, and their Real-World Apps | David Sadava | 24 DVD | |
| 2009 Jun – 2009 Oct | The History of the Supreme Court | Peter Irons | 36 DVD | |
| 2009 Apr – 2009 Jun | Understanding the Fundamentals of Music | Robert Greenberg | 16 DVD, 45 min | |
| 2008 Nov – 2009 May | Understanding Linguistics: The Science of Language | John McWhorter | 36 DVD | |
| 2008 May – 2008 Nov | The Great Ideas of Philosophy | Daniel N Robinson | 50 tape | |
| 2008 Jan – 2008 May | Psychology of Human Behavior | David W Martin | 36 DVD | |
| 2007 Sep – 2008 Jan | Great Scientific Ideas that Changed the World | Steven L Goldman | 36 DVD | |
| 2007 August (3 wks) | A Brief History of Disbelief | Jonathan Miller | 3 tape | |
| 2007 May – 2007 Aug | Passions: Philosophy and the Intelligence of Emotions | Robert C Solomon | 24 DVD | |
| 2007 Jan – 2007 May | The Story of Human Language | John McWhorter | 36 DVD | |
| 2006 Sep – 2006 Nov | Science Wars: What Scientists Know and How They Know It | Steven L Goldman | 24 DVD |