Sparked by the fact that I have been uplifted in the last few days by finding a way to share my love of books with others after being introduced to the Goodreads community, I realize there’s something else I long to share, my love of higher, and continuing education (particularly without the debt or fees that are prohibitive for many of us).

There are now such innovative resources as edex.org, Open University, and iTunes U, to mention the most obvious ones. But I also fell in love with The Great Courses as a learning resource (thegreatcourses.com). Warning some of  the prices on The Great Courses look high, but just wait for the sales, there are always sales going on, and the courses can be priced as low as $20. If the course you are wanting isn’t on sale now put it in your Wish List and you should be emailed when it goes on sale.

Anyway, this blog is not sponsored, as I said just really loving sharing those things that bring joy in my life. I guess ’tis the season for sharing, and grateful to have friends like you to share things with!

If you are interested in The Great Courses here’s a look at some of the one’s in my library to give you a sense of subjects available (forgive the number, been taking these for a few years and I’m a bit of an addict )

Literature :

-A Day’s Read

-Classic Novels: Meeting the Challenge of Great Literature

-Understanding Literature and Life: Drama, Poetry and Narrative

-The English Novel

-From Plato to Post-modernism: Understanding the Essence of Literature and the Role of the Author

-Masterpieces of the Imaginative Mind: Literature’s Most Fantastic Works

-Emerson, Thoreau, and the Transcendentalist Movement

-Lives and Works of the English Romantic Poets

-Joyce’s Ulysses

-Life and Writings of Geoffrey Chaucer

-Life and Writings of John Milton

-Modern British Drama

-Building a Better Vocabulary

-Heroes and Legends: The Most Influential Characters of Literature

-Classics of British Literature

-History of World Literature

History/Cultures:

-Foundations of Western Civilization II: A History of the Modern Western World

-History of England from the Tudors to the Stuarts

-London: A Short History of the Greatest City in the Western World

-Development of European Civilization

-Vikings

-Living the French Revolution and the Age of Napoleon

-A History of Eastern Europe

-The Other Side of History: Daily Life in the Ancient World

-Foundations of Eastern Civilization

-A History of Eastern Europe

-Understanding Japan: A Cultural History

-Origins of Great Ancient Civilizations

-Great Tours: Greece and Turkey, from Athens to Istanbul

-Fall and Rise of China

-Understanding Japan: A Cultural History

-A History of India

-History of Ancient Egypt

-The Celtic World

-The Irish Identity: Independence, History and Literature 

-Warriors, Queens, and Intellectuals: 36 Great Women before 1400 

-Story of Medieval England: From King Arthur to the Tudor Conquest

-Europe and Western Civilization in the Modern Age

-A Brief History of the World

-Long 19th Century: European History from 1789 to 1917

-War, Peace, and Power: Diplomatic History of Europe, 1500-2000

-History’s Greatest Voyages of Exploration

-Renaissance, the Reformation, and the Rise of Nations

-Victorian Britain

-From Yao to Mao: 5000 Years of Chinese History

-Great Ancient Civilizations of Asia Minor

-Victorian Britain

-Rise and Fall of the British Empire

Writing / Language :

-Building Great Sentences: Exploring the Writer’s Craft

-Writing Creative Nonfiction

-Story of Human Language

-Writing and Civilization: From Ancient Worlds to Modernity

-Language A to Z

-Analysis and Critique: How to Engage and Write about Anything

-Latin 101: Learning a Classical Language

Philosophy:

-Great Minds of the Eastern Intellectual Tradition

-Great Minds of the Western Intellectual Tradition, 3rd Edition

-Meaning of Life: Perspectives from the World’s Great Intellectual Traditions

-Voltaire and the Triumph of the Enlightenment

-Modern Intellectual Tradition: From Descartes to Derrida

-Enlightenment Invention of the Modern Self

-Exploring Metaphysics

-Great Ideas of Philosophy, 2nd Edition

-No Excuses Existentialism and the Meaning of Life

-Great Minds of the Eastern Intellectual Tradition

-Great Ideas of Philosophy, 2nd Edition

-Philosophy, Religion, and the Meaning of Life

Religion / Mythology :

-Cultural Literacy for Religion: Everything the Well-Educated Person Should Know

-Great World Religions: Hinduism

-Sacred Texts of the World

-Introduction to Judaism

-Terror of History: Mystics, Heretics, and Witches in the Western Tradition

-Mystical Tradition: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam

-God and Mankind: Comparative Religions

-Myth in Human History

-Jesus and the Gospels

-Philosophy, Religion, and the Meaning of Life

-Augustine: Philosopher and Saint

-Buddhism

-Francis of Assisi

-Great Mythologies of the World

-Life Lessons from the Great Myths

-Essentials of Tai Chi and Qigong

-Biblical Wisdom Literature

-Confucius, Buddha, Jesus, and Muhammad

-Dead Sea Scrolls

-Meaning of Life: Perspectives from the World’s Great Intellectual Traditions

Music:

-Understanding the Fundamentals of Music

-How to Listen to and Understand Great Music, 3rd Edition

-Great Masters: Mozart-His Life and Music

-Great Masters: Tchaikovsky-His Life and Music

-Great Masters: Shostakovich-His Life and Music

Mathematics / Science:

-Particle Physics for Non-Physicists: A Tour of the Microcosmos

-Understanding Complexity

-Great Thinkers, Great Theorems

-The Higgs Boson and Beyond

-Shape of Nature

Art

Museum Masterpieces: The National Gallery, London

Museum Masterpieces: The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Museum Masterpieces: The Louvre

World’s Greatest Paintings 

A History of European Art

Classics:

-Greek Tragedy

-Herodotus: The Father of History

-Latin 101: Learning a Classical Language

-Greece and Rome: An Integrated History of the Ancient Mediterranean

-History of Ancient Rome

-Masterpieces of Ancient Greek Literature

-Long Shadow of the Ancient Greek World

-Famous Greeks

-Greek Legacy: Classical Origins of the Modern World

OTHER

Fundamentals of Photography

How to Publish Your Book

Art of Teaching: Best Practices from a Master Educator

Changing Body Composition through Diet and Exercise