- 36 Books That Changed the World

by Various Professors

Streaming audio, 2014

Status

Available

Call number

809

Publication

The Great Courses (2014), 18 hours, 36 lectures

Description

Literary Criticism. Nonfiction. HTML: Certain works of literature, history, science, philosophy, political theory and religion offer powerful examples of how books can spark revolutions, birth great religions, spur scientific advancements, shape world economies, teach us new ways of thinking, and much more. And with this fascinating collection crafted from our extensive library of courses, you can now get a single course that represents 36 of our best lectures on literary works that changed the world. In the company of an unparalleled roster of award-winning professors from a range of disciplines, you'll get fresh perspectives on books you only thought you knew - and intriguing introductions to some works you may not have known played key roles in getting us to where we are today. These include The Analects , the Liber Abaci , A Dictionary of the English Language , The Jungle , The Feminine Mystique , and more. If you've taken another course with these professors before, get a reminder of just why you enjoyed them. And if you've never heard some of them before, who knows? You may just discover your next favorite Great Courses professor. More than that, you'll rediscover just how powerful the printed word can be. You'll also learn how the mark of a truly great book isn't that it just changes the lives of individual readers-but the lives of entire civilizations..… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member lycomayflower

A Great Courses audio course. Does what it says on the tin, focusing on primarily nonficton works (and a few novels) that had a profound and wide-ranging impact on human thought and/or history. Starts in the ancient world (with texts like The Odyessy and Gilgamesh) and proceeds through the 20th

century (the last lecture is on The Feminine Mystique). Entertaining and informative, though my interest level waxed and waned with the subjects at hand, of course. And some professors were excellent while others were painful to listen to (this later category was thankfully quite small). I bailed on the lecture on The Jungle (I read the book in full in high school; I did my time with that text, thank you), but listened to all the rest. Worthwhile. My only real complaint is that the lectures were all pulled from other courses and assembled in roughly chronological order. Since these lectures didn't actually go together, there was no way for the course to make any connection among texts and individual lectures were constantly referring to things that would be discussed later that I never actually got to hear about.

Show Less

1 more

LibraryThing member MarcusBastos

36 Books that Changed the World

Making your Canon
This is an american centered cannon. These lectures can be named: 36 books that changed the “american” world. Besides that, the lectures are good. They deal with important subjects and give the listener a broad perspective about our world, with

emphasis in America’s world, and the efforts to copy with it. The lectures are selected from different courses, gave by different professors, so it lacks a systematic approach. Nevertheless, it is a good listening.

Show Less

Fewer