Teaching Company Course Inventory

These are the courses that we currently have in the house, and their loan status. For more details on any of these, check out  [The Teaching Company Homepage].

All of these are available for loan to local friends; write to Justin to arrange it. Roughly speaking, each cassette consists of 2 45-minute lectures; each CD consists of 2 30-minute lectures. To borrow CDs, you will need to bring a CD case to keep them in; I'm keeping them all in a mega-CD case. Cassettes have their own carrying cases.

• The High Middle Ages -- 12 cassettes: a reasonably good overview of the core of SCA period, a bit more from a cultural point of view than a historical one.
• Medieval Europe: Crisis and Renewal -- 4 cassettes: discusses the late-medieval period of crisis. Good course, although the professor has a fairly thick accent.
• History of the English Language -- 18 CDs: generally fun, although less interesting to me once it gets past SCA period.
• Augustine: Philosopher and Saint -- 6 cassettes: fairly detailed examination of his life and works.
• Ancient Greek Civilization -- 12 CDs: very good course, which left me very much wanting more.  Excellent professor.
• The History of Ancient Rome -- 24 CDs: more or less in chronological order. I found it fascinating, but I love politics, and Roman history is all politics.
• Great Ancient Civilizations of Asia Minor -- 12 CDs: again, in chronological order. Mostly period and pre-period, talking about the ancient history of roughly Turkey.
• The History of Ancient Egypt -- 24 CDs: utterly cool, starting at the dawn of human civilization and running through Cleopatra. Lots of talk about embalming. Loaned to Susan Stewart, July 8, 2011.
• Buddhism -- 12 cassettes: a nice exploration of the subject, although I would have liked more depth.
• God and Mankind: Comparative Religion -- 4 cassettes: overview of the topic, presenting the main issues for comparison more than specific religions.
• Great World Religions II: Islam -- 5 cassettes: good discussion, wanted more depth.
• Great World Religions IV: Religions of China -- 5 cassettes: interesting topic, although a little too quick for the number of religions.
• Great World Religions V: Religions of India -- 5 cassettes: fun, but the professor is a tad etheral, and it covers a lot of ground briefly. I really want a course on just Hinduism.
• Great Minds of the Western Intellectual Tradition -- 42 CDs: yes really, taught by about a dozen professors, from Ancient Greece to the modern day. Topics mainly center on important thinkers in philosophy, economics and politics.  Rather disjointed. I found the earlier parts very interesting, but the later ones much drier, particularly because much of the later course was taught by a philosophy professor who was prone to heavy jargon.
• The Foundations of Western Civilization -- 24 CDs: really excellent survey course. This covers history from the very beginning, to about the end of the Renaissance, focusing on what was particularly important and influential about each culture. The result isn't exactly balanced, but it's unusually interesting, hitting everything from politics to architecture to literature to religion.
• Thomas Aquinas: The Saintly Doctor -- 6 cassettes: a fine in-depth examination of one of the principal Christian philosophers. The first third or so of the course focuses on his life and impact, then the rest is about his teachings. Fascinating to contrast with the Augustine course: one of the main points here is that the two men were about as different as one could imagine. Very straightforward course, that tries to pick out the historical man from the hagiography.
• From Yao to Mao: 5000 Years of Chinese Civilization -- 18 CDs: a reasonably good, if necessarily pretty rapid survey of Chinese history. The teacher is decent, but not one of the best lecturers here. The course tends to be a shade dry, perhaps due to the breadth, focusing more on historical trends and less on the stories of the people. Useful background, but mostly whets my appetite for some more in-depth courses describing, eg, the Han dynasty in more detail. (What stories are told are quite interesting, especially from the Han period and thereabouts.)
• The Age of Henry VIII -- 12 CDs: a fun, personal-level course, going into good depth on Henry, his wives and the key people around him. Focuses primarily on the way Henry's marriages intertwined with The King's Great Matter, and how the politics swirled around the court. Manages to clearly portray each important individual (including a couple of lectures just on Thomas More).
• A History of England from the Tudors to the Stuarts -- 24 CDs: a more sweeping vista of the topic, starting from Bosworth Field and ending with the death of Queen Anne. The primary message is that the history of England over these dynasties is the story of the transition from the Middle Ages to the Modern. Passionately enthusiastic teacher, who manages to inject a lot of that into the course.
• The Story of Human Language -- 18 CDs: the teacher is oddly giggly at times, but this is otherwise a brilliant overview of linguistics. This is all about the big questions in language: how they come into existence, how they die out, how they mutate, whether there was A First Language, and so on. The professor's specialty is creoles, so he spends quite a bit of time explaining how languages turn into pidgins, thence to creoles and on into new languages.
• Ancient Near Eastern Mythology -- 12 CDs: interesting subject, but a somewhat flat professor, I'm afraid; not as exciting a course as some. Covers quite a lot of ground, focusing primarily on Egypt and Mesopotamia, but also spending a great deal of time on the Hebrew Bible as well as some on the Caananites and Hittites. Wanders into discussions of literature, sex, politics and everything else, since all of culture interacted with "mythology" in these times.
• Herodotus: The Father of History -- 12 CDs: medium-grade course. The professor talks a bit fast sometimes, and I get the feeling she may be reading from more detailed notes than some; the result is that she's a smidgeon drier than some. Breaks roughly into three sections -- background, then an outline of the Histories themselves, then analysis of the text as a historical and literary work. I found the section on the Histories to be the strongest, although none of the course is bad.
• The Early Middle Ages -- 12 CDs: good course, so-so teacher. The material is excellent, and broad-based. The first half of the course is largely about the declining days of the Western Roman Empire, before it moves into the core of SCA period. Consistently interesting, but the professor has weird problems with breath control, constantly sighing and gasping. Recommended, but be prepared for the odd speaking style.
• The Terror of History: Mystics, Heretics and Witches in the Western Tradition -- 12 CDs: another course by Teofilio ("Allo. Mah nem is Teofilio Ruiz. My friends all call me Teo. This means God. You may also call me Teo.") Ruiz, he of the very thick Spanish accent, so you need to be ready for the accent. This is Teo's pet course, a wide-ranging discussion of mysticism in period, focusing less on the details of the mysticism and more on how it interacts with the wider cultures. Starts with the relatively positive section on mysticism (defined more or less as "stuff tolerated by the Church"), and gradually moving to the darker section on the witch craze. Good course, although sometimes a bit abstruse, and tends to assume that you have the basic historical grounding.
• The Old Testament -- 12 CDs: really a very good course. The teacher takes a broad-based view of the subject, flitting from literary analysis to history to sociology to mythology. The course doesn't really take much of a stand on whether the Bible is Truth or Fiction: it simply attempts to tease out what we can understand about it and what seems to have really happened historically. It doesn't try to cover the Old Testament comprehensively (there isn't enough time), but it hits all the high points, comparing and contrasting the books in various ways.
• The Italian Renaissance -- 18 CDs: A reasonably good, broad look at the subject. Pretty classic in style, focusing mainly on the high culture and worrying very little about the popular, but that's typical of the topic. Teacher is good, if a tad affected in his style: almost a parody of the effete high-culture teacher. Course bounces around a lot, with lectures on all the main cities, as well as culture, politics, religion and history; the latter half of the course mainly focuses on the history of Florence, especially the Medici. Another course that assumes you know a fair amount about the topic; it's all interlaced enough that you might have to listen twice through if you don't already know the basics.
• Origins of Great Ancient Civilizations -- 6 CDs: An overview of the early days, from Sumer through early Persia, by way of Egypt, the Hebrews, and so on. Roughly chronological, but generally focusing on one empire at a time. Solidly good, although not one of the courses that really rocked my socks.
• Great Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt -- 6 CDs: Similar to History of Ancient Egypt above, and taught by the same teacher, with his odd tendency to repeat himself for emphasis. But a fun course, with a more specific focus: taking a very small number of specific important pharaohs, and using them as emblems of the major eras. Starts with the first legendary pharaoh, Narmer, runs through Akhenaten and his whole controversial family, a couple of lectures on Ramses, and of course finishes off with Cleopatra. Fine course, and in some ways more interesting than the longer one.
• The New Testament -- 12 CDs : A lot of fun, taking a very measured view that is neither too credulous nor aggressively debunking, but looking at the Bible very seriously in historical, literary and theological terms. Spends a considerable amount of time unpacking the book, separating the bits and clarifying what we can learn from it. First half is focused on the life of Jesus (that is, the Gospels and related books); second half is the early evolution of the Church (that is, the rest of the New Testament, with a particular focus on Paul). Good professor who knows his topic well. Loaned to Susan Stewart, July 8, 2011.
• Between Cross and Crescent: Jewish Civilization from Mohammed to Spinoza -- 12 CDs: This is essentially the "Judaism in the SCA" course. Reasonable professor, but prepared for an almost stereotypically city-Jewish accent. I found the course rather slow overall, although someone with more passion for the subject might find it more interesting.
• The Vikings -- 18 CDs: fairly good professor, although he talks a bit fast and at a uniform enough level that it can come across as a bit of a drone. Takes a very broad scope: while the core Viking Age of the 9th - 11th centuries are the heart of the subject, he starts laying the groundwork from the Bronze Age and carries all the way through until Scandanavia turns into relatively ordinary Christian kingdoms a couple of centuries later. Main point is that the Vikings were absolutely at the heart of European history, and those stereotypical raids and migrations fundamentally changed the lands they touched, and the lecture structure follows that. (So he does "Viking Raids on the Carolingian Empire" followed by "The Duchy of Normandy"; "Viking Assult on England" followed by "The Danelaw"; "Viking Assault on Ireland" followed by "Norse Kings of Dublin and Ireland"; "The Road to Byzantium" followed by "From Varangians into Russians"; and "The Settlement of Iceland" followed by a whole bunch of lectures following that.) Also spends quite a while on Scandanavian culture, so generally a well-rounded view of that whole society.
• The Long 19th Century: European History from 1789 to 1917 -- 18 CDs: IMO, the worst course I've bought from teachco. The teacher's style can best be described as unctuous, and the material is astonishingly badly-organized. (Especially if, from the sound of things, he's reading from deeply prepared notes.) He claims at the very beginning to not expect the student to know any background, and then immediately puts the lie to that -- the way jumps from topic to topic leaves me barely hanging on by my fingernails, and I do know at least a little about the subject. Gave up after 4 discs, because I found it too annoying and dull, and I have better things to spend my time on.
• Rome and the Barbarians -- 18 CDs: An excellent history of Rome from an unusual direction. The focus is on Rome's borders, but it argues nicely that Roman history can really only be understood if you understand its interactions with the various barbarians on those borders. It's best to do a more general history of Rome first, to get the basics, but this provides extra depth to understand the context.
• Introduction to Judaism -- 12 CDs: Fun, engaging professor, with a fine sense of whimsy. (Uses "the rabbi Joni Mitchell" to talk about the Garden of Eden.) Mainly focused on Rabbinic Judaism, spending just enough time on the earlier history to set the stage.
• Religions of the Axial Age -- 24 MP3 lectures: Brilliant course, among my favorites. Focuses on the history of religion from around 800 to 200BC, when common memes like the soul were coming into common use. Comparative religion course, but deliberately focuses on how the religions weave and evolve together. Mainly focused on two strands: the Indo-Aryan side, moving from Zoroastrianiam through Buddhism (the four lectures on Buddhism are worth the price of admission by themselves; and the Chinese side, with Confucianism, Taoism and so on. Deliberately spends little time on better-known religions like Judaism.

Not Yet Finished

These are courses that I'm still working on, which will become available later:

• Long Shadow of the Ancient Greek World -- 48 MP3 lectures: Very neat course. The professor has a quaint accent (northern British?), and a generally good teaching style. This is a history of Ancient Greece, but specifically a political history. Its main themes are the development of Imperium, Democracy and Law in the Greek world. So it spends a lot of time on topics you don't hear about so much -- for instance, two full lectures on the rise of rhetoric, which became crucial as Athens went in for radical democracy, and four on how the law courts work. The course is principally focused on Athens, but spends a few lectures on Sparta, and the final quarter mainly on Macedonia. (Where he argues persuasively that Philip II was the really "great" King, and Alexander, aside from his skill on the battlefield, was largely an increasingly paranoid loon.)
• Reason and Faith: Philosophy in the Middle Ages -- 24 MP3 lectures: honestly, a bit too dry, and I made it less than halfway through. Not terrible, but the professor's style is a tad ethereal, and the subject matter is a bit too Profound Dammit, so I kept setting the course aside, and eventually decided that it was in my way.
• Fall and Rise of China -- 48 MP3 lectures: rather a lot of fun. This is specifically a course on modern China, spending just one lecture getting us to 1700. From there, it traces China's relentless descent, through humiliating contacts with the West and the eventual fall of the Empire, the Mao period, and finally up into modern China. The professor is Western, and came to his passion for the subject by accident, but he is a pretty good lecturer and very well-organized.