The Great Courses
Author
Series
Great Courses volume 3
Language
English
Description
Most alphabets in use today are derived from one script developed over 4,000 years ago. What accounts for the vast popularity of the Roman or Latin alphabet? This episode takes viewers back to ancient Egypt as the origin of the alphabet and the contributions made to it by the Canaanites are investigated.
Author
Series
Great Courses volume 8
Language
English
Description
Definitive emergency care requires, first and foremost, a diagnosis. Visit a community emergency department that shares space with an urgent care center, and learn how patients like a 2-year-old with a persistent cough and a 49-year-old with a stuffy nose illustrate the importance of treating the cause-not the symptoms.
Author
Series
Great Courses volume 9
Language
English
Description
Despite being simpler than its female counterpart, the male reproductive system is just as vulnerable to chronic stress. Here, discover how stress leads not to a major decrease in testosterone so much as an increase in erectile dysfunction (with a focus on two of the most common symptoms: impotency and premature ejaculation).
Author
Series
Great Courses volume 4
Language
English
Description
Trace the process by which the U.S. rose from developing nation status in 1865 to become the world's greatest industrial power by 1900. Study the unfolding of the American industrial revolution; the advent of big business in the railroad, steel, and oil industries; and the concurrent explosion of consumerism and advertising.
Author
Series
Great Courses volume 13
Language
English
Description
In the creation of his opera Nabucco, Giuseppe Verdi played a key role in the movement for Italian unification. Study the series of 19th-century rebellions against Austrian rule that culminated in the two Italian wars of independence. Observe how the music and poetry of Nabucco came to be identified with the Italian people's quest for nationhood that ultimately led to an independent Italy.
Author
Series
Great Courses volume 2
Language
English
Description
Every time you have a thought or emotion, things change in your body. Here, explore the two factors responsible for these changes: the nervous system and hormones. Learn how these systems work, how they're regulated, and: most important: what happens to them during moments of stress.
Author
Series
Great Courses volume 15
Language
English
Description
Whether you want to lose weight, quit smoking, or exercise more, learn the secrets to creating habits that stick. Identify and define core concepts, such as self-control, self-discipline, motivation, and willpower, and see how each of these can be affected by the CBT skills you've learned in previous lectures.
Author
Series
Great Courses volume 19
Language
English
Description
Get inside Indian culture with this lecture on its two great epics: the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. Both are frame narratives that bring together hundreds of smaller stories. Both help establish Vishnu's importance among other Hindu gods. And both have had a lasting effect on Indian spirituality, politics, and literature.
Author
Series
Great Courses volume 26
Language
English
Description
For all of its abstractness, money is a powerfully real phenomenon. Delve into the intricate events that unfold as money, goods, and services are exchanged in the economy. Examine how the ideas of John Maynard Keynes and the results of modern psychological research challenge the two primary assumptions of classical economic theory.
Author
Series
Great Courses volume 4
Language
English
Description
Find out why spices help make Mediterranean cuisine so rich and exciting. Some of the many diverse spices you'll learn about here: ras el hanout, a complex spice mix from Morocco; charmoula, a thick vinaigrette from North Africa; za'atar, the Egyptian blend of thyme, sesame, and sumac; and even preserved lemons.
Author
Series
Great Courses volume 22
Language
English
Description
Culture imprints itself on our brains through the process of socialization. Investigate the insights that sociology provides-from the 19th-century founder of the discipline, Auguste Comte, to Herbert Spencer, Karl Marx, and Emile Durkheim, who suggested that crime has an unappreciated positive role in society.
Author
Series
Great Courses volume 18
Language
English
Description
Shift your attention back to the political sphere where, after the defeat of Parnell's Home Rule Bill, rebellious organizers began pushing for reforms of their own. Dig into the events surrounding the Dublin lockout, including the Bloody Sunday massacre, and then consider Ireland's role in World War I.
53) World's Greatest Geological Wonders: 36 Spectacular Sites: Siwa Oasis - Paradise amidst Desolation
Author
Series
Great Courses volume 32
Language
English
Description
Located in the eastern Sahara Desert, Siwa is an island of water in a giant sea of sand. Investigate how an oasis with 1,000 springs can exist in one of the driest places on Earth. One clue is that the water beneath Siwa soaked into the ground more than 20 million years ago.
54) Writing and Civilization: From Ancient Worlds to Modernity: Mayan Glyphs - A New World Logosyllabary
Author
Series
Great Courses volume 18
Language
English
Description
Investigate whether the features of Old World scripts such as Chinese and Japanese, Egyptian hieroglyphs, cuneiform, and Linear B apply to the unrelated scripts of the New World. Focus specifically on Yuri Knorosov's decipherment of Mayan hieroglyphic writing and how living in Cold War Russia both helped and hindered his work.
Author
Series
Great Courses volume 1
Language
English
Description
Begin a study of the night sky by investigating the origin of the constellations: the traditional groupings of stars that mostly date to antiquity. The well-known constellation Orion illustrates the fascinating mix of beauty, mythology, and scientific knowledge to be found for every look anywhere into the heavens.
Author
Series
Great Courses volume 18
Language
English
Description
You could buy pasta. Or you could enjoy the rewards of making it yourself. Chef Briwa shows you just how easy this is. After learning a recipe for making your own fettuccine, see how to transform your pasta into a delectable dish: pasta carbonara, or pasta "in the style of the coal miner."
Author
Series
Great Courses volume 11
Language
English
Description
Confront the harsh realities of the African slave trade and consider the role social mobilization played in eradicating the institution across the British Empire.
Author
Series
Great Courses volume 12
Language
English
Description
In the first of two episodes on personal data tracking and privacy, ponder the problem of "Big Data"-where your Internet searches can be tracked, your cellphone can broadcast your geographical location instantly, and your online purchases can be catalogued. It's a frightening aspect of cybersecurity, and one that, unfortunately, is here to stay.
Author
Series
Great Courses volume 4
Language
English
Description
Your introduction to Egypt reveals a civilization irrevocably shaped by geography. You learn how the Nile's predictable annual flooding of its banks, though creating a fertile strip amounting to only 3% of Egypt, permitted civilization to thrive in what was otherwise an uninhabitable desert.
Author
Series
Great Courses volume 5
Language
English
Description
Algorithms - rules to follow for solving problems - are the secret of managing huge datasets. Start by looking at simple algorithms, including an amazingly effective sorting procedure that you can perform by hand. Then see how these concepts apply to more complex problems, such as web search engines.