Online Great Books Podcast show

Online Great Books Podcast

Summary: We discuss the great books, the great ideas and the process of liberal education.

Join Now to Subscribe to this Podcast

Podcasts:

 #27 - Is There Virtue Among Cannibals? Scott and Miles Discuss Montaigne's "Of Cannibals" | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 42:02

Scott Hambrick and Online Great Books member Miles Marco Bennett -- in fact the very first member to join OGB -- discuss Michel de Montaigne's insightful, tongue-in-cheek, and occasionally droll essay Of Cannibals. Montaigne's essay, which appears in a larger collected work of his essays written in the 16th century, describes the author's experience with the native Tupi peoples of Brazil, a vibrant warrior culture that practiced ceremonial cannibalism of their enemies.

 #26 - Brevity is The Soul of Wit... and Effective Communication | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 31:51

Scott talks to Joe McCormack, author of Brief: Make Bigger Impact by Saying Less, about the importance of brevity in communication. Joe is an author, speaker, and consultant who has worked with executives, military personnel, and many others to hone their ability to communicate efficiently in critical situations.

 #25 - Analyzing Freud's Melancholia and Mourning with Psychiatrist David Puder, MD | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 01:01:21

Psychiatrist Dr. David Puder joins the podcast to discuss Sigmund Freud's 1917 paper Melancholia and Mourning.

 #24 - Euclid & The Shape of Modern Science with Emmet Penney | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 43:47

Online Great Books founder Scott Hambrick and seminar leader Emmet Penney tackle the first scientific work on the podcast, Euclid's Elements. The Elements are a collection of treatises, postulates, and propositions that ultimately drive toward important mathematical concepts such as the Pythagorean theorem and the theory of numbers, i.e. integers, divisibility, prime numbers.

 #23 - Shakespeare's Hamlet Pt. 2: What Is The Question, Exactly? | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 54:08

Scott and Producer Trent wrap up their discussion of Shakespeare's Hamlet, close-reading Hamlet's soliloquies and dissecting the structure of Shakespeare's verse. They reflect on Shakespeare's impact on modern literature, the curiously secular perspective of the play in a highly religious time period, and whether Shakespeare sought to moralize or draw conclusions (spoiler: we don't think he does).

 #22 - Shakespeare's Hamlet Pt. 1: The First Modern Masterpiece? | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 49:27

Producer Trent returns to the podcast to discuss the first modern piece of literature to appear on the podcast: Shakespeare's Hamlet. A dark, introspective, sprawling drama, Hamlet is arguably Shakespeare's masterpiece, and certainly one of the best of the twelve tragedies he penned. Scott and Trent discuss how Hamlet remains vital and relevant even in contemporary culture, and how Shakespeare's incisive wit and rhetorical devices permeate the English language.

 #21 - The College Trap Pt. 2 with Brett Veinoitte (School Sucks Podcast) | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 51:59

Brett Venoitte of the School Sucks Project returns for Part 2 of our interview discussing the problems with college admissions and the persistent myth that college is a sure path to financial success and career fulfillment. In the second half of the interview, Scott and Brett argue that the value of the college is on the decline, and that young people should pursue marketable skills rather than diplomas (or at least, in addition to diplomas).

 #20 - The College Trap: How College Became A Religious Belief with Brett Veinoitte (School Sucks Podcast) | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 01:08:13

Scott interviews podcaster, author, former test prep educator, and education contrarian Brett Veinoitte about the rapidly changing role of school and college. As the recent scandal involving celebrities paying bribes to obtain university admissions for their children has revealed, college has become so ingrained as a symbol of status and opportunity that an entire industry has sprung up to facilitate the admission of subpar students. Meanwhile, the costs of college steadily rise, in both dollars and time.

 #19 - The OGB Seminar Experience, and Why Your Voice Matters | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 57:10

Scott and Karl Schudt discuss what an Online Great Books seminar is like -- the experience, what it should be, and what it is not. Many people interested in OGB balk at the seminar aspect out of fear that they won't have anything useful to contribute, that they may not be smart or educated enough to participate, or perhaps because of the vulnerability of speaking in front of a group. Scott and Karl explain why the seminar experience is for anyone, and why your voice and opinion matters and should be heard.

 #18 - Authenticity in Speech: The Importance of Speaking Your Mind with John Syc | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 42:37

Scott and Online Great Books member John Syc, a licensed social worker from Hamden, CT, discuss the concept of authenticity in speech, and the various ways people sabotage their participation in discussions. Not only do people rob themselves of value with inauthentic speech, they also do disservice to the group. The Socratic model relies upon honest engagement in conversation, and learning to become vulnerable in voicing one's thoughts and opinions is an important aspect of discovery and learning.

 #17 - The Socratic Scribbler: Malachy Walsh on Writing and Saying What You Mean | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 57:58

Online Great Books seminar leader and former advertising executive Malachy Walsh joins the podcast again to discuss everyone's least favorite school subject -- composition. Many people dread writing, either because of grammar, a tenuous grasp of dialect, or simply because they are not sure what they have to say. Malachy has developed a writing course for OGB to help people write fluently and confidently, and, most importantly, with a purpose.

 #16 - Brett McKay (Art of Manliness) on Dante's Divine Comedy | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 57:31

Brett McKay of Art of Manliness fame joins Online Great Books owner Scott Hambrick to discuss Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy, a narrative poem best known by the titles of its three constituent parts: Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso.

 #15 - Marsha Familaro Enright on Montessori, Meeting Ayn Rand, and Building Reading Confidence in Adults | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 58:45

You've heard her in the OGB staff seminar discussions, now she's joined the podcast to tell Scott about her encounters with the Great Books. Marsha Enright developed a strong interest in education and the problems with modern public education at a young age. Marsha has furthered her lifelong interest in education by joining OGB as a seminar leader. She has also developed a reading course for new students aimed at helping them grapple with the abstractions of the difficult or obtuse texts on the reading list

 #14 - Wrapping Up Plato's Republic: Is It Really About Love? | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 55:34

The Online Great Books crew wraps up their exploration of Plato's Republic in the third and final roundtable with Scott, Karl, Marsha, Malachy, and John. They grapple with the question of whether The Republic is a practical manual for government or really a thought experiment, performed out of a deep love for wisdom and reason.

 #13 - Plato's Republic, Books I-V: Satire or a Manual for Government? | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 01:45:55

Scott Hambrick and the OGB seminar leaders tackle the first five books of Plato's Republic, wrestling with Socrates' central question "what is justice?" and arguing whether Plato intended the Republic as a manual for government or political satire. Malachy Walsh leads the discussion.

Comments

Login or signup comment.