The Great Courses (Firm)
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2012.
Language
English
Description
Mummies. The Book of the Dead. Tomb robbers. Death was big business in ancient Egypt, and in this lecture you'll discover Egyptian beliefs about the afterlife and the journey from this world to the next. You'll learn how to make a mummy and how to get past Osiris at the gates to the afterlife.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2022.
Language
English
Description
Whatever your flavor of literature (folkloric sagas, crime novels, poetry, literary fiction), Iceland has something for every type of reader. Discover how a combination of historical pride and rich storytelling skills make Icelandic literature, both past and present, so revered around the world.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2022.
Language
English
Description
Just like other places, Iceland is susceptible to the presence of non-native—and often invasive—species of plants and animals that now call the country home. Consider animals like the American mink, first brought to Iceland for fur farming, and plans such as Nootka lupine, a perennial herb that grows in seemingly inhospitable lava fields.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2022.
Language
English
Description
The waters hugging Iceland's coasts play an important role in the country's culture and economy. Investigate some of the many lakes, rivers, lagoons, waterfalls, hot springs, and geysers to be found. Among them are the Jökulsárlón glacial lagoon; Gullfoss, the most visited waterfall in the country; and the thriving business of the Blue Lagoon.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2022.
Language
English
Description
On June 10, 2000, Londoners celebrated the opening of a state-of-the-art pedestrian bridge over the Thames River. Two days later, the Millennium Bridge was vibrating so intensely that it was closed and did not reopen for more than two years. Explore the phenomenon of synchronous lateral excitation and learn how engineers fixed "The Wobbly Bridge" and prevented similar failures in other bridges.
6) Why Insects Matter: Earth's Most Essential Species: Episode 21,Insects in Art, Literature, and Film
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2022.
Language
English
Description
Throughout our history, we have experienced admiration for insects and their unique abilities, as well as fear and disgust. Explore how those conflicting emotions have been reflected in our arts, from Aesop's fables to Kafka's Metamorphosis, from the films Alien to A Bug's Life, and characters from Jiminy Cricket to Ant Man.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2022.
Language
English
Description
It's easy to imagine the technical difficulties that come with drilling an exploratory well miles below a floating platform on the high seas. Explore the step-by-step sequence of failures—flawed design decisions, careless oversights, deliberate procedural shortcuts, and prioritizing profits over safety—that led to the worst environmental disaster in US history.
8) Why Insects Matter: Earth's Most Essential Species: Episode 3,Insect Life Cycles and Reproduction
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2022.
Language
English
Description
Insects have contributed to the human economy since the beginning of our civilization. Consider the humble silkworm moth creating its cocoon from one continuous thread of silk. Discover how this caterpillar creates one of the strongest and most durable materials in nature, and explore the fascinating lifecycle and migration journey of the beautiful monarch butterfly.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2012.
Language
English
Description
From the Magna Carta, which granted rights to ordinary citizens, to the rise of vernacular English, as evidenced by The Canterbury Tales, the Middle Ages marked a turning point for the "other side" of history. Find out what influenced life for ordinary people, from the control of the church to the horrors of the infamous Black Death.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2022.
Language
English
Description
Sculpted by fire and ice, Iceland's parks and reserved are breathtaking to behold. Sites you'll explore in this survey include Iceland's three national parks and its nature reserves—both of which offer explorers unparalleled looks at lava fields, sea cliffs, black sand beaches, and other geological marvels.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2022.
Language
English
Description
The flooding of New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina on August 29, 2005, was the costliest engineering failure in American history, and one of the deadliest. Discover the economic development decisions over two centuries that contributed to the disaster. And, learn how the disaster has stimulated a more sustainable approach to flood protection.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2012.
Language
English
Description
Consider the lives of those truly on the other side of history - the refugees long ignored by historians. From the 8th to the 6th centuries B.C., a large percentage of Greeks were uprooted from their homelands. This lecture shows you the harrowing colonization process from the point of view of the refugees themselves.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2022.
Language
English
Description
Although so much ink has been spilled about JFK, recent years have seen the public release of documents and interviews, shedding new light on this most charismatic president. In Reconsidering JFK, Professor Michael Shelden of Indiana State University delivers 12 captivating lectures to transport you back in time for a fresh angle on a multifaceted, always fascinating American president.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2022.
Language
English
Description
Although we tend to think of rats and mice as lab animals, insects—particularly the fruit fly—have played critical roles in research. Explore the many discoveries made in the field of genetics using fruit flies, as well as the fascinating opportunity to watch natural selection in action thanks to the peppered moth and smoke from the Industrial Revolution.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2022.
Language
English
Description
Within days of filling its reservoir, the Teton Dam began to leak. By the end of the day the dam had been breached and the reservoir poured down the Teton Valley in a tidal wave. Explore the potentially catastrophic effects of water moving through soil under pressure—whether in dams and levees or in the liquefaction caused by earthquakes.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2022.
Language
English
Description
What does a 19th-century British railway disaster have in common with the 21st-century destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans? All were engineering failures that resulted in important improvements in the engineering process. Discover the very human issues that contributed to poor engineering decisions in these three cases, with disastrous consequences.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2012.
Language
English
Description
Disability Studies is a relatively new form of scholarship, and the field shows that despite Greek sculptures depicting the idealized human form, real people in the ancient world were at great risk for serious injuries, disfigurement, and disease. Find out the ancients' perspective on disability, deformity, and illness and the often crude way these conditions were treated.
18) Epic Engineering Failures and the Lessons They Teach: Episode 17,Stress Corrosion: The Silver Bridge
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2022.
Language
English
Description
In 1967, the Silver Bridge in West Virginia collapsed into the Ohio River, killing 46 people. For 39 years, the bridge had been hailed as an engineering triumph with its cost-saving, innovative structural concept. Follow this fascinating story of forensic engineering as investigators eventually determined that the 1,965-foot bridge failed because one eyebar in a suspension chain fractured.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2022.
Language
English
Description
You might never have eaten beetle larvae, locusts, ants, or termites, but chances are your ancestors did—just as many people do today. Explore the insect-rich diets of people around the world and learn why many scientists and dietitians believe insects just might be the food of our future.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2022.
Language
English
Description
Go behind the scenes to discover what really happened in more than 24 epic engineering failures. Civil engineer and award-winning educator Stephen Ressler reveals the story behind each disaster by not only demonstrating the scientific and engineering issues involved, but also by examining the individual personalities and sometimes dysfunctional organizations that led to catastrophe.