The Great Courses

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....

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

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....

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....

From electric lights to automobiles to the appliances that make our lives easier at work and at home, we owe so much of our world to the Industrial Revolution....

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....

Chocolate is one of the most popular food items around the world. While most of us today consume it in the form of candy, desserts, and sugary drinks, chocolate has taken many forms as it traveled from its ancient Mesoamerican roots to the 21st century.

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

What is our species' greatest invention? Medicine, computers, space travel? Not even close. The innovation that underlies each of our past achievements and those we still aspire to is language....

Philosophy is one of the world’s oldest intellectual disciplines. In the West, the philosophical tradition reaches back 2,700 years to the ancient Greeks who pioneered philosophy and inspired major philosophical thinkers of ancient Rome.

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....

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....

One of the greatest scientific feats of our era is the astonishing progress made in understanding biology-a progress to which the period we are living in right now has contributed the most....

The past truly comes alive as you take a series of imaginative leaps into the world of history's anonymous citizens....

These 36 eye-opening lectures deliver a comprehensive political and historical overview of one of the most fascinating and complex countries in world history....

Even after deciphering its hieroglyphs, and marveling at its scarabs, mummies, obelisks, and sphinxes, Egyptian civilization remains one of history's most mysterious....

You'll become engrossed in "the romance of the intellect," as Professor Sugrue opens a path for you into the inner structure of these timeless dialogues....

In these 24 lectures filled with musical excerpts, enjoy a rich and multifaceted exploration of the trailblazing works and outsized life of this historically pivotal composer....

Toni Morrison has touched an enormous swath of our national and global society through her writing. She has attained the highest heights in literature—including the Nobel Prize—and has earned her place in the literary canon, ranking among the most important American writers of all time.

In the six lessons of It’s Not Too Late: Optimize Your Retirement Plan Now, Professor Ramon DeGennaro will help you get back on track toward a brighter financial future.