The Great Courses

Grammar! For many of us, the word triggers memories of finger-wagging schoolteachers, and of wrestling with the ambiguous and complicated rules of using formal language....

Education can be enriching and transformative. It can also be downright excruciating—even demoralizing. When it comes to learning, why are some of us lovers and some of us haters? Welcome to the world of educational psychology....

In an exciting partnership with the Smithsonian, The Great Courses presents these 24 lectures that offer an unforgettable tour of Japanese life and culture....

The deep-seated origins and wide-reaching lessons of ancient myths built the foundation for our modern legacies....

Learn how a single tongue spoken 150,000 years ago evolved into the estimated 6,000 languages used around the world today....

In the nine lectures of Slow Down: How Doing Nothing Makes Us Better Humans, Constance Kassor, of Lawrence University in Wisconsin, shows you how to do what so many of us desperately need: Take a step back, reassess your priorities, and take some time for yourself.

The power of an effective speech is undeniable. It has the capacity to engage, inform, motivate, and create change in an audience - and in the world....

Words. We use them all the time, every day, mostly without giving them much thought at all. We take for granted that they’re here at our disposal whenever we need them. But if you’ve ever wished you could communicate more effectively, words are the place to start....

Eating is an indispensable human activity. As a result, whether we realize it or not, the drive to obtain food has been a major catalyst across all of history....

How is it possible for the disciplines of cosmology, geology, anthropology, biology, and history to fit together?....

Over 5,000 years, India has been home to a rich tapestry of peoples and cultures. Two of the world's great religions - Hinduism and Buddhism - have their origins in South Asia....

Noted Japan expert Professor Mark J. Ravina of the University of Texas at Austin covers the politics, economics, and culture of the island nation since World War II - a conflict that saw the end of Japan’s dream of regional conquest, which Professor Ravina calls Empire 1.0....

Over the span of 48 lectures, four experienced lawyers and teachers recreate key parts of the first-year law student experience....

Nothing has had a more profound impact on the development of modern civilization than thermodynamics. Get an in-depth tour of this vital and fascinating science in 24 enthralling lectures suitable for everyone from science novices to experts who wish to review elementary concepts and formulas....

These lectures are your opportunity to see our nation's best-selling books as more than just popular forms of entertainment....

For more than 1,500 years, the literature of Great Britain has taught, nurtured, thrilled, outraged, and humbled readers both inside and outside its borders....

Professor Curzan approaches words like an archaeologist, digging below the surface to uncover the story of words....

Each lecture will give you a refreshing new understanding of what made the British Empire both great in its achievements and vulnerable to its eventual downfall....

Learn what the scrolls are, what they contain, and how the insights they offered into religious and ancient history came into focus....

Even if you have listened to many of these illustrative pieces throughout your life you will never hear them the same way again after experiencing these lectures....