36 Big Ideas

By: The Great Courses, Bart D. Ehrman, Daniel W. Drezner, David Sadava, Dorsey Armstrong

Narrated by: Bart D. Ehrman, Daniel W. Drezner, David Sadava, Dorsey Armstrong

Length: 18 hrs and 41 mins

Publisher's summary

As the home to big ideas, The Great Courses has produced thousands of lectures that have introduced millions of lifelong learners to some of the biggest ideas out there. Now, enjoy 36 lectures specially curated from some of our most popular courses and get a fresh learning experience in a wide range of disciplines.

How does electromagnetic radiation traveling at 186,000 miles per second tell us everything we need to know about the distant stars? Why do we prefer random rejection over always getting what we want? How does science explain our subjective experience - if it even can? These are just a few of the many scintillating questions whose answers you'll get in this lecture series. Scientists, historians, linguists, psychologists, archaeologists, and other experts guide you through topics, concepts, and events that are sure to amaze you.

You'll learn how the world's largest untranslated written language was made with strings and knots. You'll explore the idea of time's arrow, which offers stirring insights into the one-way direction of time. You'll focus on a strange (but true) sensory phenomenon in which people associate letters with colors. You'll investigate the fascinating cultural universality hidden inside heroic journeys by characters such as Little Red Riding Hood and Arjuna in the Mahabharata. And much more.

Profound topics, deep insights, great professors - this lecture series is the perfect introduction to some of our most popular courses, and to some of the many ways in which our courses explain the seemingly unexplainable.

The complete list of contributors includes Professors Edwin Barnhart, Grant L. Voth, H. Craig Heller, Indre Viskontas, John McWhorter, and John R. Hale.

Disclaimer: Please note that this recording may include references to supplemental texts or print references that are not essential to the program and not supplied with your purchase.

©2014 The Teaching Company, LLC (P)2014 The Great Courses

Disappointingly light weight

This is a "best of" collection of spiels by several authors (most good) but it is aimed at a low bar. There should be an indicator on Great Courses for the intended audience- I would put this at high school junior or senior.

36 Random Ideas

These lectures are good. They are not the 36 most important ideas ever- but they are great ideas. I would compare the lectures, each chapter, to randomly opening an encyclopedia to a page, & then getting a pretty good overview of the topic found. If you're into knowledge for the sake of just knowing things and how they work, this is a good listen.

Decent, but not exactly spot on

Where does 36 Big Ideas rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

In the middle.

What did you like best about this story?

Its not a story, clearly Audible does not pay much attention to these questions. lol

Did the narrators do a good job differentiating all the characters? How?

WTF? this question is not even remotely relevant. lol

If you could give 36 Big Ideas a new subtitle, what would it be?

I would not.

Any additional comments?

This is a collection of PARTIAL courses from various Professor's, so its a good "cheese sampler" but its missing the "main course" if you catch my drift. Still quite good indeed, but in no way is it an intellectual "four course meal". Good though, quite good indeed.

Another great course from Great Courses

Assembling a variety of topics like this exposed me to subjects I might otherwise have missed. really good material presented by remarkable people. Faaabulous!

A Great Courses Sampler

This was a wonderful exposure too many of the Great Courses. each of them was sufficient in broadening your understanding of the subject matter. Now I'm going in deeper to listen to many of them in their entirety.

Scientific update needed

Some of the lectures should be updated as science has moved on. The physics and biology in particular.

Great for a Survey of Topics

This was more of a very long commercial for "The Great Courses" online offering than anything else. What you get is 36 30 minute lectures on a fantastic breadth of topics. From the Big Bang to Renaissance food and cuisine and on to gene therapy, this list of lectures is a convenient way to become conversant in a number of topics that, kept at the ready, would give one great ammo at a cocktail party.

Great appetizer - not satisfying.

This is a pretty neat sampler

This recording is mistitled. It is not a book about 36 ideas. It is a sampler of lectures about different things. It is pretty cool once you take it for what it is.

A wide range of topics

I think I enjoyed this series of lectures so much because it was so varied. I found a few topics that were especially interesting to me and now I know I can buy those courses knowing they will be superb. Great job.

Excellent lecture series!

Great series that built upon itself and was told in terms I could understand. I recommend to all!