Great Courses: Good or Bad?

[Hamlette]

I'm watching the free one offered on Amazon Prime about the Black Death. It's wonderful. Anyone know of any other courses that are worth it?

[exboyfil]

1. I pay $10/mo. and I watch them more

than virtually anything else. I don't know if the version offered through Amazon Prime (Signature collection) has all the same courses as the Plus version I have.

All the courses come with a PDF guidebook. I watch a lot of history and science courses. Right now I am watching a course on the Mongols and a course on the history of life on the Earth (geology and evolution). I watch a minimum of two lectures/day (about an hour total). So $10 for 30 hours or more of lectures seems like a pretty good deal.

You can find a list of the individual courses out there. I think Plus also makes many of the first lectures of a course free so you can try it. They usually get their newest courses in just a few months after they are available to purchase (I haven't checked this so it might be longer). I have been watching them (or listening to the audio version) for years.


Also Plus has a free trial.

[wryter2000]

4. I didn't know about plus

I used to get them on DVDs, but they were expensive.

Do you play them on your computer or on your Tv? How would you get them on your TV?

[exboyfil]

7. They play very well on my Windows Computer

Not so well on my Fire TV. For some reason some of the lectures stick and it is difficult to rewind (if not impossible). Their old interface worked better. There is also a Roku app and I assume Smart TV apps as well. My Fire Tablet and Android phone also play them well.

[Mike 03]

2. I love the Great Courses.

It's really about preference and interests. I like the science courses (physics, theoretical physics and cosmology, mostly). But my father loved the history and religion courses. My favorite is the course on Game Theory, but it's not for everybody. There was a doctor who did two amazing courses, one really long class on the biology of the human body and the other was called (I think) "Why we fail" about disease. Also the psychology/Human Behavior courses were interesting. I also really liked the introduction to Calculus.

It seems like one's interest would be an important factor in which courses one likes.

[LakeArenal]

3. We bought a course astronomy.

This guy was our first celebrity astronomer.

Alex Fillipanko.

https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&hl=en-us&sxsrf=ALeKk03DNL9wiQWFotKrHcm298Wn5ydsnA:1593548732765&q=astronomy+Filippenko&spell=1&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjB9pfRr6rqAhVqQt8KHS3jCA0QBSgAegQIARAC&biw=320&bih=529&dpr=2

[tanyev]

5. Check your local library.

My library has a lot of them on DVD and also available streaming.

[Patterson]

6. I heard one and it was just a college lecture.

[Hamlette]

8. thanks for the answers. Black Death is very good/