The Teaching Company

[QuikSand]

Wonder if anyone here has any experience with The Teaching Company (http://www.teach12.com). The company specializes in selling taped lectures by good professors on a wide range of subjects -- some of the series are pretty short, but many are rather lengthy, and cover many hours of material.

I have used a few of their tapes as adjunct teaching tools before, and am just getting through my first serious set of them myself (for personal enjoyment). I've basically dumped the majority of my drive-time sports/talk radio habit, and have replaced it with a series of lectures on "The Great Ideas of Philosophy" (http://www.teach12.com/store/course.asp?id=4200&d=Great+Ideas+of+Philosophy%2C+2nd+Edition).

I have mixed feelings about this, to a degree. So far, my experience with their works is that their lecturers are truly outstanding, and that the material is extremely well-presented. That seems to be universally true, and it's a hallmark of their service -- these aren't just any old professors prattling on, they are by and large standouts.

I'm enjoying the Philosophy discussions, but at the same time I feel like this method gives rather short shrift to the substantive materials being covered. Necessarily as a series of half-hour lectures, you end up economizing deep and complex ideas into abbreviations and summaries, which can be interesting, but perhaps not as enlightening as it could be. There's probably a balance to be struck there -- I'm not sure if this effort moves too far in the direction of abridgement in the pursuit of practicality.

For instance -- we just covered David Hume, and a part of me wants to just stop listening to the lectures, take a month off, and to go and spend my next few weeks reading Hume himself and perhaps some critical accompaniments. (Things I never did much of when this was available to me for free as an undergraduate, alas) But in my car, occupying drive time, there's no time for that -- onward we go to two quick lectures on Kant, and we'll wrap up the Enlightenment altogether and move on to a completely new era. Again - not trying to be dismissive, but I'm a little bit torn on it.


In any event... has anyone else wandered through one or more of these products? Any reviews on particular ones that are worth enjoying? (Or not worth it?) Any thoughts on this concept in general?

[QuikSand]

FYI - they happen to be featuring the lecture series that I am currently listening to on their site, and there is a brief excerpt from one of the lectures here:

http://www.teach12.com/ttc/assets/excerpts/4200.asp?ai=18099

Regrettably, in print, it's not nearly as engaging as Professor Robinson makes in with his presentation, so I wonder about the value of the "free excerpt" being offered. But nonetheless, if you want a tired Descartes joke and a few pops of early rationalism, have at it.

[Buzzbee]

For instance -- we just covered David Hume, and a part of me wants to just stop listening to the lectures, take a month off, and to go and spend my next few weeks reading Hume himself and perhaps some critical accompaniments. (Things I never did much of when this was available to me for free as an undergraduate, alas) But in my car, occupying drive time, there's no time for that -- onward we go to two quick lectures on Kant, and we'll wrap up the Enlightenment altogether and move on to a new era altogether. Again - not trying to be dismissive, but I'm a little bit torn on it.
Seems like the choice is fairly clear. You are doing this for your own personal enjoyment/enrichment. You don't seem to be satisfied with the Reader's Digest version.

Therefore, assuming that you own the tapes rather than simply borrowing them from the library (and even then) you can interrupt the lectures for more in depth study. Then, as you tire of Hume, move on to the lectures on Kant. Rinse, repeat.

Or, you might listen through all of them, then pick some favorite areas you'd like to re-visit. Kant might not intrigue you like Hume, therefore anticipating a similar reaction to the Kant lectures might leave you disappointed. This would allow you to further your study without getting bogged down in the process.

Basically, you are interested in doing more in depth study, and most likely will. Therefore the only real decision is whether you incorporate it with the lectures, or do it after the fact.

Good luck with whatever path you take. Or are you simply being pushed down a path? Hmmmm.

[QuikSand]

Therefore, assuming that you own the tapes rather than simply borrowing them from the library (and even then) you can interrupt the lectures for more in depth study. Then, as you tire of Hume, move on to the lectures on Kant. Rinse, repeat.

Sure, that makes sense to a point. And I strongly sspect I'm going to add to my non-fiction reading queue as a result of listening to these lectures.

But I'm not so sure that this makes sense in the big picture. A big part of my motivation for listening to the lectures during drive time was to feel as though it was time well spent. And I think it is.

If I decide to stop for two weeks, and spend my time reading Hume -- what do I do during my hour of drive time every day? Go back to listening to the prattle on sports radio? Listen to the dreadful musical offerings of the local radio deejays? Wander about the wilderness of public radio? This is basically what I'm trying to get away from.


I'm not really complaining... I think what I might need is another series that gets into more detail into a narrower topic, rather than a "revue" course that tries to give highlights of a wide range of subjects. (Either that, or perhaps do a course that is in an area of which I basically know nothing, so nearly everything would be fairly new to me)

[QuikSand]

Good luck with whatever path you take. Or are you simply being pushed down a path? Hmmmm.

I suspect Calvin will weigh in on this. But not until about next Monday morning, by my count.

[Buzzbee]

Of course if you begin listening to another subject, you might find yourself pulled in yet another direction, wanting to learn more about that subject as well.

As for what to do in your hour drive time, you could always listen to your newly ripped Led Zeppelin CD for the tenth time.

[albionmoonlight]

Or get an ipod and listen to every song you own on your drive time. That's working out for me right now.

[Franklinnoble]

-- what do I do during my hour of drive time every day? Go back to listening to the prattle on sports radio? Listen to the dreadful musical offerings of the local radio deejays? Wander about the wilderness of public radio? This is basically what I'm trying to get away from.


http://browse.barnesandnoble.com/browse/nav.asp?visgrp=fiction&N=334116+1014+900000&Ne=900000

[Buzzbee]

If I decide to stop for two weeks, and spend my time reading Hume -- what do I do during my hour of drive time every day? Go back to listening to the prattle on sports radio? Listen to the dreadful musical offerings of the local radio deejays? Wander about the wilderness of public radio? This is basically what I'm trying to get away from.
Move closer to the office. Problem solved. :p

[albionmoonlight]

dola--

These seem a bit pricey for my taste, though I think that the selection and breadth of material is awesome.

[rkmsuf]

You could read during the commute.

[Anthony]

Or get an ipod and listen to every song you own on your drive time. That's working out for me right now.

XM satellite radio! WOO!

[Anthony]

dola--

These seem a bit pricey for my taste, though I think that the selection and breadth of material is awesome.

:eek: $90 for 24 cd's?!? and that was an item on "sale".

if i were to go down this road i'd likely just invest in taking a course at a nearby college. for a little more money (or even the same price) you get the benefit of having conversation and debate with others, one of the advantages of a classroom.

for 24 cd's it seems like they don't glance over topics that fast. i mean, if one were to listen while they were driving exactly how much could one expect to absorb. unless one drives on an empty straight highway, i guess. i don't have the luxury coming from NYC. gotta keep the head on a swivel.

i'd be interested in their history ones for sure though. i liked the topics.

[digamma]

dola--

These seem a bit pricey for my taste, though I think that the selection and breadth of material is awesome.
That's what I was thinking.

Would a netflix type audio book deal ever fly?

I know when my wife and I drove cross country about 5 years ago, we stopped at Cracker Barrels along the way for their audio book rental program.

I guess there is always the library.

[Glengoyne]

...

If I decide to stop for two weeks, and spend my time reading Hume -- what do I do during my hour of drive time every day? ... Wander about the wilderness of public radio?

Yes Wander about the wilderness of Public Radio. If it's good enough for me, then it's good enough... Oh I think I'm seeing where this argument falls apart.

[QuikSand]

These seem a bit pricey for my taste...

One thought -- there seems to be a semi-lively secondary market for these. You might find that you can either:

(1) buy fairly cheaply on ebay second hand, or
(2) buy from tTC, and sell on ebay when you're done

...if that's your cup of tea.

[sabotai]

I've bought from The Teaching Company before and think it's pretty good. I bought An Introduction to Astronomy and What's New in Astronomy, 2003 (bundle on sale, got the DVDs) Great for when I just want to lay on my bed and watch something about astronomy but no, they don't get into it really deep. But it pretty much serves its purpose.

[Klinglerware]

The pricing seems more than fair to me. Yes, you don't get the discussion that you would get if the course were taught in seminar format, but with a little doing on your part (e.g., come up with a syllabus of supporting readings by searching the web for the syllabi of similar college courses, etc) it seems that you might be able to reasonably approximate a lecture format course...

[Barkeep49]

To get back to the core problem have you asked your local library if either they have, or could obtain through inter-library loan, books on tape about the philosophers you find interesting? In this way you could do your supplemental reading in the car. I know my library (which I coincidently happen to work at) both has such materials and goes to great lengths to obtain ones upon patron request if we don't own it.

[QuikSand]

Nice idea.

[Buzzbee]

Now's when I wish the time stamp bug would make it look like I came up with that idea first. *shurg*

[SackAttack]

That's what I was thinking.

Would a netflix type audio book deal ever fly?

I know when my wife and I drove cross country about 5 years ago, we stopped at Cracker Barrels along the way for their audio book rental program.

I guess there is always the library.

http://www.audible.com.

It's not rental, but what they've got is a couple membership options you can choose from. $14.95/month gets you 1 book and 1 periodical (such as a newspaper or magazine) subscription each month. $21.95 gets you two books. I started doing this last year, and very quickly racked up not only the Dark Tower series on audiobook, but a handful of other stuff, as well. I'm actually to the point where I'm buying stuff from my wish list a little faster than I can actually listen to it, but at $20 for two books (as opposed to the $20-$70 they might cost a la carte, or more than that at pure retail), I can deal with that. Once the wish list is empty, I can cancel my subscription until/unless I find more stuff that I like.

Plus, they frequently have 50% off or $9.95/book sales.

About the only thing you can't get through AudibleListener or AudiblePremium are the foreign language books; anything else they've got is fair game. And, as of the 2005 playoffs, they carry full NFL games and game highlights, too. Pretty nifty stuff.

[SackAttack]

Dola,

They apparently recently added about a dozen Presidential inauguration speeches, goin' back to FDR in 1933. They're all free, incidentally. That's actually pretty cool, and I'm hopeful that they'll add more historic speeches, perhaps from other world leaders (Churchill comes to mind, I'd love to hear some of his) as time goes on.

[sabotai]

Cool site SA. I signed up and grabbed two books. I only listened to an audiobook once (drive from Rutgers to home listening to the first CD of America The Book). I also am interested in the Dark Tower series, so I grabbed the first one and will start listening to it on my way to work tomorrow.

[SackAttack]

sab,

Awesome. I'm glad to hear that. Audible saved me almost $300 in collecting the Dark Tower series, and that's just seven books. I used to be skeptical of the format - it always struck me as something that catered to fundamentally lazy people who couldn't be bothered to actually read the book. After listening to George Guidall and Frank Muller, though, I've come to realize that while there is some truth to that (do an audible.com search for Cliffs Notes if you don't believe me), there's also a great appeal in the sense that you're listening to (hopefully) a master storyteller at work. Wait 'til you get to Muller's reading of Wizard & Glass. It's absolutely fantastic.

[Senator]

The problem I have with audiobooks is that I always think I "miss" something because I am dealing with focusing on the soccer mom about to hit me or my mind wanders away to what I need to do at work the next day. I can't seem to get totally immeresed when I drive and listen to an audiotape. It is a shame, because I have John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and also all three George Martin books on CD and mp3 just sitting there waiting to be listened to.

[Buzzbee]

The problem I have with audiobooks is that I always think I "miss" something because I am dealing with focusing on the soccer mom about to hit me or my mind wanders away to what I need to do at work the next day. I can't seem to get totally immeresed when I drive and listen to an audiotape. It is a shame, because I have John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and also all three George Martin books on CD and mp3 just sitting there waiting to be listened to.
Quit your job and buy a cement truck. Then you won't have to worry about the soccer mom or what you have to do at work and you can listen away!

[Senator]

Done and Done.

[azoomzip]

I have purchased a few items from the teaching company- economics, philosophy, law, psychology (and incidentally resold them on ebay). The courses are actually quite good. They run sales all the time so you can save up to 60% or so on many courses- you just need to catch them at sale time.

I have also used Audible for several years- also a good company. I think I am grandfathered in at 16 bucks a month- its 20 now I think.

Audiotech business book summaries: they send you 2- 45 minute business book summaries every month. Pretty efficient way to absorb a lot of ideas in a short period of time. I really liked thier business briefings subscription- they supposedly summarize the most important articles from 100 different periodicals into a 1.5 hour tape. A lot of this is the same as Harvard Technology Review (available from Audible). Each subscription used to be like $125 a year or something.

Blackstone audio books used to rent audio books and had many many titles. I rented a few things several years ago but have not used them lately. Reader quality was sketchy at times. Many of the Audible titles I purchase are blackstone audio so I think they do a lot of this stuff.

Check out the local library. I have seen teaching company courses available at my local library (Mn- like 5 years ago), as well as a lot of other audio.

[QuikSand]

Just to bump an interesting discussion... I have basically stuck with the Teaching Company, and have found another series that I am enjoying a lot thus far.

Mrs. Q picked up Alexander and the Hellenistic Age (http://www.teach12.com/store/course.asp?id=327&d=Alexander+the+Great+and+the+Hellenistic+Age), so after really enjoying the series on philosophy, I figured I'd give it a go, despite my general lack of interest in history. Ugh. Big miss.

But now, I am about five or six lectures deep into Relativity and Modern Physics (http://www.teach12.com/store/course.asp?id=153&d=Einstein%92s+Relativity+and+the+Quantum+Revolution%3A+Modern+Physics+for+Non%2DScientists%2C+2nd+Edition), and am loving it. Much more my cup of tea. The instructor is very clear, makes excellent analogies to bring these seicntific principles to a non-scientific level, and I'm optimistic that I will blaze right through this set, probably without any of the reservations I had about the philosophy. (Since I really don't aspire to a deep, intellectual understanding of these topics -- but rather just a better working knowledge)

[digamma]

But now, I am about five or six lectures deep into Relativity and Modern Physics (http://www.teach12.com/store/course.asp?id=153&d=Einstein%92s+Relativity+and+the+Quantum+Revolution%3A+Modern+Physics+for+Non%2DScientists%2C+2nd+Edition), and am loving it. Much more my cup of tea.
Do you really want to start this up again?

[QuikSand]

It's chemistry, actually. And it hardly qualifies as tea.

There's your synopsis.

[Senator]

The wife bought me the following from TTC this weekend:

*Shakespeare Word and Action
*Power over People - Professor Dalton addresses these fundamental questions, you'll learn, for example, how Hindu idealism prefigured Socratic and Platonic thought in emphasis upon self-mastery and its focus on teaching by example.

You'll understand exactly how Plato's Republic set the parameters for subsequent Western political theory.

You'll examine how Machiavelli's brutally realistic theories about politics marked the transition between the classical and modern political traditions.

You'll study the Romantic idealism—the social and political utopias, if you will—of Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Karl Marx.

Professor Dalton also shares several unique perspectives to better explain the realism vs. idealism debate.

You will, for instance, examine the writings of the Greek playwright Sophocles, whose long-celebrated work Antigone offers a literary context for Plato's philosophy, where the state is an agent of virtue.

You'll also explore psychiatrist Sigmund Freud's pessimistic vision of man, which contrasted sharply with those of Rousseau and Marx.

And, you learn how author Henry David Thoreau, in his timeless work, Civil Disobedience, echoed the Hindu tradition and emphatically rejected a fundamental contention of Plato and Aristotle that the state has any moral authority.

Finally, Professor Dalton takes you on an intellectual expedition that juxtaposes and explores Hitler's violent politics of exclusion with Gandhi's equally powerful, but strictly non-violent, politics of inclusion.

*Famous Romans

*Civil War

*Business Statistics


These should suffice for a time, but want to get Relativity and Modern Physics, next.

[BamaJags]

I haven't seen/heard the "Relativity and Modern Physics" series, but I can vouch for the professor. Rich Wolfson was my advisor and one of the best teachers I've had in any discipline. He occasionally teaches a course on these topics that is aimed at non-scientists; I heard very good things about it from some of my humanities-oriented friends. He also wrote a book entitled "Einstein Demystified" that deals pretty well with the same ideas.

[QuikSand]

I haven't seen/heard the "Relativity and Modern Physics" series, but I can vouch for the professor. Rich Wolfson was my advisor and one of the best teachers I've had in any discipline. He occasionally teaches a course on these topics that is aimed at non-scientists; I heard very good things about it from some of my humanities-oriented friends. He also wrote a book entitled "Einstein Demystified" that deals pretty well with the same ideas.

Cool... I really like his explanatory style, even though I am having great difficulties grasping some of the issues he presents.