History!
And then more or less by accident I sumbled upon Mike Duncan's brillian podcast "The History of Rome."
Upon first listening to it I realized two things:
1) I could easily keep up with the narrative while driving. No small matter in a city with very bad traffic, where spenidng up to four hours a day stuck in a car is not unheard of.
2) My ancient history teacher in highschool was much, much, much worse than I had thought.
Since then I've found many, many good sources, either very affordable ro free. Mr. Duncan inspired a great many people to do their own amateur history podcasts. Some in my queue are "The History of Alexander the Great," "The History of Byzantium," The History of the Ancient World" (you can see a theme here) and even "Communio Sanctorum" a history of Christianity (one must know one's enemies, too).
Best of all there's Audible. At first I had to dig through it, then they started offering lecture series from The Great Courses. These are lectures delivered by university professors. So far I've listened to a hsitory of the US, and The Foundations of Western Civilization.
Among the Audible pile, I found BIll Bryson's quirky brand of writting. His "A Short History of Nearly Everything" is equal parts science and history. He doesn't cover everything, but he does a remarkable job explaining physics, chemistry, geology and biology (here I imagine Seldon Cooper saying "So everything plus chemistry, geology and biology."
As to the one glowing exception among my history teachers, my junior highscool Modern History teacher stands out. She was harsh, she piled up work on us no end, but she left me with an undertsanding of events from the late Renaissance to the conclussion of World War II. Her tests were grueling affairs. These consited of only 4 questions, but if you didn't spend the period scribbling a sheet of paper front and back for each one, you weren't even trying.
The very first day she stated no one, but no one, ever got an A in her class. This was not true, but nearly so. I'm proud to say in the two eyars I had her as my teacher, I obtained five As in tests. Unfortunately I could barely keep up with homework, so my actual grades suffered.
My best grade under her, though, was a B+ I got on the book report for "Is Paris Burning?" This is a very long, very boring fictionalized account of the last days of Nazi occupation in France, including the liberation of Paris. The subject should ahve been interesting, but the book and I simply dind't engage. I wound up watching a movie based ont he book, doing some research in the library, and extracting a few quotations from the book. A B+ for that was nothing less than miraculous.
I've been enjoying The Tom Woods Show podcasts. Here's a review:
Quote: Ron PaulTom's daily podcasts are terrific! He seamlessly weaves economics, history, philosophy, and libertarian theory into a blistering attack on the state and its apologists.
Tom offers audio US and Western history courses through his Liberty Classroom site, but the $99 annual subscription fee has kept me away, unfortunately.
Quote: gpac1377Thanks for the recommendations.
You're welcome. I'll be posting links shortly.
Quote:There's a lot to learn.
Lucky us :)
Quote:Tom offers audio US and Western history courses through his Liberty Classroom site, but the $99 annual subscription fee has kept me away, unfortunately.
Audible charges a subscription of about $20 a month. This gives you one credit, which you can exhcnage for one book. For the Great Courses series, this is really reasonable. The average series of lectures lasts for 24 hours. The one on US history lasted 48.
Oh, Mike Duncan ended his "Rome" series at the fall fo the Western Empire. Robin Pierson is continuing it in the Eastern Empire, and I hope he goes all the way to the 1450s. Meantime Duncan is back on the air with a series called "Revolutions" He takes about two-two and a half months to narrate one particular revolution/civil war, one ep per week, then takes a break to do research for one month on the next. Thus far he's done the English Civil War from the time of the ascencion fo Charles Stuart to the beginning of the Restoration. next he's tackling the American Revolution.
Quote: NareedThe average series of lectures lasts for 24 hours. The one on US history lasted 48.
Brutal, lol. What are people gonna do when there's 50,000 years of history to learn instead of 5,000?
Even for the less ambitious, imagine trying to sift through a million accumulated episodes of The Simpsons. And the show will probably have become good again for a few years along the way.
Quote: gpac1377Brutal, lol.
Mike Duncan's "Rome" runs for several days, at about 30 min. average per episode. :D
Quote:What are people gonna do when there's 50,000 years of history to learn instead of 5,000?
They will simply think of Alexander, Julius Caesar, Justinian, Charlemagne, Columbus, Napoleon, Washington and Churchill as contemporaries ;)
Quote:Even for the less ambitious, imagine trying to sift through a million accumulated episodes of The Simpsons. And the show will probably have become good again for a few years along the way.
I've a watched a fair number of them... There's also Law and Order, which ran for twenty years
Quote: strictlyAPwhy do we have to have all this non ga,bling stuff, jseus i really am starting to h--e nareed
Don't expect a response. Nareed probably has you blocked, like he has me and half the forum blocked.
Mike Duncan's Grand Original "The History of Rome" http://thehistoryofrome.typepad.com/
Mike Duncan's "Revolutions" http://www.revolutionspodcast.com/
"The History of Byzantium" http://thehistoryofbyzantium.com/
"The History of" http://thehistoryofpodcast.blogspot.mx/ This is a bit of a melange of different podcasts. It takes some searching to find the series and eps you want. There are RSS feed options for Alexander and Hannibal.
"The History of the Christian Church" http://www.sanctorum.us/
"The Ancient World" http://ancientworldpodcast.blogspot.mx/
And the History selection of the Great Courses on Audible: http://www.audible.com/search?ie=UTF8&field_subjectbin=2226653011&sr=1-1&qid=1392466135&searchAuthor=The%20Great%20Courses&ref_=a_search_l2_1_1_srchBin
If you're not subscribed to Audible already, I recommend using one of the promos offered by Mike Duncan and other podcasters. You get 15 to 30 days free and one free book.
Allow me to recommend Sailing the Wine Dark Sea: Why the Greeks Matter. The audiobook is narrated by Olympia Dukakis. Great stuff.
Quote:In the fourth volume of the acclaimed Hinges of History series, Thomas Cahill brings his characteristic wit and style to a fascinating tour of ancient Greece.
The Greeks invented everything from Western warfare to mystical prayer, from logic to statecraft. Many of their achievements, particularly in art and philosophy, are widely celebrated; other important innovations and accomplishments, however, are unknown or underappreciated. In Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea, Thomas Cahill explores the legacy, good and bad, of the ancient Greeks. From the origins of Greek culture in the migrations of armed Indo-European tribes into Attica and the Peloponnesian peninsula, to the formation of the city-states, to the birth of Western literature, poetry, drama, philosophy, art, and architecture, Cahill makes the distant past relevant to the present.
Greek society is one of the two primeval influences on the Western world: While Jews gave us our value system, the Greeks set the foundation and framework for our intellectual lives. They are responsible for our vocabulary, our logic, and our entire system of categorization. They provided the intellectual tools we bring to bear on problems in philosophy, mathematics, medicine, physics, and the other sciences. Their modes of thinking, considered in classical times to be the pinnacle of human achievement, are largely responsible for the shape that the Christian religion took. But, as Cahill points out, the Greeks left a less appealing bequest as well. They created Western militarism and, in making the warrior the ultimate ideal, perpetrated the assumption that only males could be entrusted with the duties of citizenship. The consequences of their exclusion of women from the political sphere and the social segregation of the sexes continue to reverberate today. Full of surprising, often controversial, insights, Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea is a remarkable intellectual adventure—conducted by the most companionable guide imaginable. Cahill's knowledge of his sources is so intimate that he has made his own fresh translations of the Greek lyric poets for this volume.
http://www.dancarlin.com/disp.php/hharchive
He has done series on Rome, Osfront, Kahn, and is just beginning a series on WWI.
Let me know if any of you enjoy his work.
Quote: MoscaHey Nareed, good topic.
Thanks!
Quote:Allow me to recommend Sailing the Wine Dark Sea: Why the Greeks Matter. The audiobook is narrated by Olympia Dukakis. Great stuff.
It does sound good. I've been meaning to learn more about Greece, too. I just put it on my wish list.
Quote: TropicalElectriI found Dan Carlin's Hardcore history podcasts to be very informative and very exciting to listen to.
http://www.dancarlin.com/disp.php/hharchive
I've heard of him in other podcasts, where he sometimes is mentioned favorably.
However, I find the website hard to navigate, and he charges for his work. that's fine, of course, but having so much material on my queue already, I'm not looking to pay more for content right now.
I do see that he does ask for a donation of 1.00
Though I should turn off the book when I'm checking the recipe. I managed to make a huge blunder with the meatloaf. It came out well, fortunately, but with a very odd glaze.
BTW I'm taking a bit of a break right now and taking in some lighter fare. So I finished with Foundations of Western Civ part one, and now I'm listening to Michio Kaku's book on Cosmology and multiple universes. It's a bit under 15 hours long. I should finish it by next weekend.
The plain, highly conjectured, history of daily lives, from what was cooked and how to the layout of houses, is endlessly fascinating. For one thing one gets to aprpeciate what a high quality of life we've achieved, and how recently it all came together. To a lesser extent, how far there is to go (not that far, it turns out).
When that's done, I plan to dive full into the ancient world again. I think I'll start to mass download the Ancient World podcast and then choose a follow-on from there.
Quote: NareedHistory was my first intellectual love affair. Alas, I had to suffer through several awful teachers in school, with one glowing exception, and endure a lack of sources.
And then more or less by accident I sumbled upon Mike Duncan's brillian podcast "The History of Rome."
Upon first listening to it I realized two things:
1) I could easily keep up with the narrative while driving. No small matter in a city with very bad traffic, where spenidng up to four hours a day stuck in a car is not unheard of.
2) My ancient history teacher in highschool was much, much, much worse than I had thought.
Since then I've found many, many good sources, either very affordable ro free. Mr. Duncan inspired a great many people to do their own amateur history podcasts. Some in my queue are "The History of Alexander the Great," "The History of Byzantium," The History of the Ancient World" (you can see a theme here) and even "Communio Sanctorum" a history of Christianity (one must know one's enemies, too).
Best of all there's Audible. At first I had to dig through it, then they started offering lecture series from The Great Courses. These are lectures delivered by university professors. So far I've listened to a hsitory of the US, and The Foundations of Western Civilization.
Among the Audible pile, I found BIll Bryson's quirky brand of writting. His "A Short History of Nearly Everything" is equal parts science and history. He doesn't cover everything, but he does a remarkable job explaining physics, chemistry, geology and biology (here I imagine Seldon Cooper saying "So everything plus chemistry, geology and biology."
As to the one glowing exception among my history teachers, my junior highscool Modern History teacher stands out. She was harsh, she piled up work on us no end, but she left me with an undertsanding of events from the late Renaissance to the conclussion of World War II. Her tests were grueling affairs. These consited of only 4 questions, but if you didn't spend the period scribbling a sheet of paper front and back for each one, you weren't even trying.
The very first day she stated no one, but no one, ever got an A in her class. This was not true, but nearly so. I'm proud to say in the two eyars I had her as my teacher, I obtained five As in tests. Unfortunately I could barely keep up with homework, so my actual grades suffered.
My best grade under her, though, was a B+ I got on the book report for "Is Paris Burning?" This is a very long, very boring fictionalized account of the last days of Nazi occupation in France, including the liberation of Paris. The subject should ahve been interesting, but the book and I simply dind't engage. I wound up watching a movie based ont he book, doing some research in the library, and extracting a few quotations from the book. A B+ for that was nothing less than miraculous.
I dont remember history much, as I was more into the sciences. But you bring up a point that made me think. What makes a good history teacher?
I ask this sincerely....because of all the subjects...its seems history needs the least explanation. We need literature teachers to help explain the meaning of certain works of art, and math is self evident that explanation is needed,......but history....I dont remember a great teacher like I remember my great high school english lit and math/ science teachers. What made your best history teachers great??? I am not asking this sarcastically...I am sure there are great hisotry teachers....but since I wasnt really that interested in the subject...i didnt really look for greatness or expect it
Quote: LarrySI dont remember history much, as I was more into the sciences. But you bring up a point that made me think. What makes a good history teacher?
That's a good question. And not an easy one to answer.
First, if your teacher focuses on dates and claims they are important above all else, chances are you won't learn anything and you'll be bored out of your mind. A good teacher will mention relevant dates, but stress that their importance is only relative to other dates. So it' more important that you know, for example, that the French revolution went through stages, from the storming of the Bastille, through a moderate period, through the terror and so on, culminating in the Napoleonic empire, rather than when exactly the Bastille was stormed or when Marat Sade was killed.
This leads to the second point: a good teacher will stress the relationship of events, rather than treat them as separate. For instance, in ancient history class we did learn about the wars between the Greek Cities and Persia, and we learned about Alexander the Great. We did not learn why Alexander went conquering East, and why he was so intent on conquering Persia.
As a corollary, a good teacher will tell you about the consequences of great events, too. For instance, we did not learn what happened to Alexander's empire after he died. And though I went to a Jewish school and we rehashed the story of Hanukkah every year, we had no idea the "Greeks" mentioned in it were actually Seleucids living next door in what we now call Syria and Lebanon. Much less that the Seleucid empire was founded by Seleucus, who had been one of Alexander's generals, who had won his particular piece in the civil war which followed Alexander's untimely death. See?
Third, a good teacher will let you know about the philosophies, ideologies and even art of the time period. And show you how relevant this is tot he period being studied. Here I have to interject Mike Duncan and Robyn Pierson do a good job with philosophies and ideologies, but mostly implicitly as part of the larger picture without explicit explanations (and in "philosophy" I include religion as well). In ancient history we did learn about the Punic wars, but not why they were so important (it seems this teacher was content to let us know these were an important series of wars), nor how he Romans and Carthaginians differed in philosophy and ideology.
I think that will do for a start.
Quote:What made your best history teachers great???
Teacher. Singular. I'm sorry to say. Call her Mrs. H. I had her in the first and third year of junior high school, and she taught modern history (Renaissance to WWII and a bit beyond). She did what I mention above, and more.
I could claim Duncan, Pierson and certainly the university professors in the Great Courses series as being teachers, but not as being my teachers in the usual sense. So I had one great history teacher only.
Quote: LarrySI dont remember history much, as I was more into the sciences. But you bring up a point that made me think. What makes a good history teacher?
I ask this sincerely....because of all the subjects...its seems history needs the least explanation. We need literature teachers to help explain the meaning of certain works of art, and math is self evident that explanation is needed,......but history....I dont remember a great teacher like I remember my great high school english lit and math/ science teachers. What made your best history teachers great??? I am not asking this sarcastically...I am sure there are great hisotry teachers....but since I wasnt really that interested in the subject...i didnt really look for greatness or expect it
Passion. In my experience the most common factor pushing a teacher from good to great is passion for their subject and a desire to infect their students with said passion and excitement. I can think of a handful of teachers (in history and other subjects) who thought their material was the coolest shit on earth. They were inevitably better at getting more effort out of their students, and in turn more knowledge into them.
Quote: endermikePassion. In my experience the most common factor pushing a teacher from good to great is passion for their subject and a desire to infect their students with said passion and excitement. I can think of a handful of teachers (in history and other subjects) who thought their material was the coolest shit on earth. They were inevitably better at getting more effort out of their students, and in turn more knowledge into them.
i think you are both right.
I think for me, the teachers that taught strictly out of the textbook were there worst.
I can read a textbook....tell me something I dont know.
teachers with a psssion for the material are eager to impart their extra knowledge.
the teachers going through the motions..teach what the textbook teaches
Quote: LarrySi think you are both right.
I think for me, the teachers that taught strictly out of the textbook were there worst.
We had no history textbooks. How weird is that?
In Chemistry, on the other hand, we used a textbook written by the teacher's husband (they were both chemists). It was rather good, and what I really liked was that it included some bits of chemical history. Better yet it had plenty of lab experiments we got to actually perform ourselves (complete with some mishaps). I'm told these days the lab teacher performs the experiment and the students only get to watch.
Quote:teachers with a psssion for the material are eager to impart their extra knowledge.
Yes. On the other hand they get angry sometimes at students who don't share their enthusiasm. One math teacher I had was passionate about math, but he couldn't get an idea across at all. When we got to simple linear equations, I had to ask my physics teacher for help. Curiously the math teacher had some kind of engineering degree, while the physics teacher had a math degree. She wasn't much good at explaining physics, but I never had any doubt about the math involved or how it was used. She was crystal clear in that area.
Now I'm on a lecture series called "The Other Side of History: Daily Life in the Ancient World."
You can learn a great deal from the details of daily lives of ordinary people. mostly you understand hsitory better this way. In some sense, lives have been pretty much the same for ages. But also have changed a great deal. Mere changes to tools and implements matter a great deal. And while, for example, both you and some ancient people did get up early and go to work each day, the kind of work has changed dramatically and so has the commute.
Quote: NareedSince then I've found many, many good sources, either very affordable ro free. Mr. Duncan inspired a great many people to do their own amateur history podcasts. Some in my queue are "The History of Alexander the Great," "The History of Byzantium," The History of the Ancient World" (you can see a theme here) and even "Communio Sanctorum" a history of Christianity (one must know one's enemies, too)..
One must love one's enemies too. That is taught in Christianity. Is it taught in your religion?
Quote: mickeycrimmIs it taught in your religion?
I don't have a religion.
Hell it is then.Quote: NareedI don't have a religion.
But once the series hit upon Egypt, wow, nitgh and day. And now I'm more itnerested in Egypt, too. In many ways it seems like a contradictory place: in love with life but obsessed with death (sort of), and without regard for individuality or preogress but enjoying a great deal of prosperity.
I about to start on Greece, past the Minoan, Mycenean and Greek Dark Ages. Great stuff.
One thing about the Paleolithic era, people back then were more like animals than we care to think about.
It was good, but too broad. For example, human history is divided into Paleolithic (or pre-history), Early Agrarian, Late Agrarian, and Modern periods. Fair enough, but little mention is made of the many subdivisions per period, and almost none about actual events. it's an odd way of looking at history.
Now I'm in the first third of a course on Egypt. Two facts are striking. One is that Egypt lasted a hell of a long time as a great nation. The other is Egyptians were very concerned about the next world, yet did not neglect this world.
The HIstory of Ancient Egypt
The World of Byzantium
The decline of the Pagans and the rise of christianity
And now I'm on The History of Science Part I, Antiquity to 1700.
All told I should put in around 65 hours this month.
