Showing results by publisher "Learn25" in All Categories

Written over 700 years ago, Dante’s Divine Comedy remains a classic of the Western literary canon and one of the most masterful poems ever written. Join Italian literature expert Alan Perry to discover why its commentary on the human condition still resonates strongly today. In this powerful audio course, you’ll learn why The Divine Comedy is profoundly meaningful not only to Christians but to anyone grappling with the big questions of existence and morality.

How did our universe begin, and when and how will it end? Is the universe infinitely expanding, as the theory of cosmic inflation insists? If alien life exists, what are the chances of our encountering it, and what would such an encounter mean for humanity? Now, you can sit in on conversations with the world’s leading cosmology experts as they answer these and many other fascinating questions.

Whether you’re a devoted believer, a staunch atheist, or a wavering skeptic, you likely have unanswered questions about religion. If you adhere to a certain religion, you may wonder how the tenets of a different faith may intersect or conflict with yours. If you are a nonbeliever or agnostic, you may wonder how others can have such unwavering faith. In this riveting audio series, Dr. Robert Lawrence Kuhn welcomes 13 esteemed guest experts to help him tackle religion’s most confounding questions.

Do you create your own destiny? Or do you merely play whatever hand the universe has dealt you? This provocative audieries will stimulate your mind by raising these and other timeless questions about free will and determinism. In this series, host Dr. Robert Lawrence Kuhn welcomes a total of 13 guest experts to discuss free will, identity, and the possibility of the afterlife. Each episode is crafted as a series of one-on-one interviews.

Plague has terrified and fascinated humanity for all of recorded history. Now, in the current moment of COVID-19, people around the globe are again struggling to learn how to navigate life during a pandemic. As in times of uncertainty throughout history, we seek the insights of the great minds who have lived through and reflected on similar historical moments.

We love them. We cheer for them like we know them personally. We name roads, buildings, and even towns after them. These are the sports heroes and heroines whose athletic accomplishments amaze and inspire us. Many are remarkable not only for their accomplishments in sports, but also for the courageous ways they approached life.

Join Christopher Fee, co-editor of An Encyclopedia of American Myth, Legend, and Folklore, for an entertaining and revealing look at our nation’s folkloric imagination. In this compelling 24-lecture audio series, you’ll meet figures such as Daniel Boone and John Henry, and learn the stories of characters such as Water Jar Boy and the Woodcutter and the Fairy. Specters also abound, and you’ll encounter frightening figures ranging from the Headless Horseman to La Llorona.

Your first kiss. The birth of a child. Your first big job. These indelible memories shape our identity. Great sports moments do that, too. Join one of America’s most prolific sports history writers and relive 15 spectacular sports moments that transfixed and inspired a nation. David L. Hudson, Jr. is the author of more than 40 books, an award-winning professor, and a judge for professional boxing events. In this audio series, he explores unforgettable sports moments spanning football, baseball, golf, basketball, tennis, soccer, and more.

With a goal of expanding the minds of lifelong learners, celebrated philosophy professor Kevin Corcoran engages thinkers from Descartes to David Foster Wallace to help you discover truth and tackle the big questions of our existence. Through this compelling 15-lecture course, you’ll develop critical thinking skills that will bring clarity and focus to your daily life. Prof. Corcoran begins with Aristotle’s maxim that “philosophy begins in wonder.”

Benjamin Franklin: Made in America traces the fascinating twists and turns that make this Founding Father’s story so remarkable. In 15 dynamic audio lectures, award-winning American history Professor Jeffrey Webb explores Franklin’s career beginning with his post as a young newspaperman and continuing into his leadership roles on the frontiers of cultural, intellectual, political, and scientific developments.

Explore the transformative power of Buddhist philosophy with Dr. Douglas Gentile, renowned psychologist, celebrated professor, and Zen Buddhist monk.

Award-winning psychology professor and leading textbook author Nathan DeWall has been called “one of the most influential psychological science leaders of his generation.” Now, you can join him in a fascinating audio course that helps answer the question, “Why do people behave aggressively?” Aggression is one of the most troubling facets of the human experience. As we know from the nightly news, aggression causes people to harm people they know, people they love, and people they’ve never met.

Now you can join esteemed political scientist Professor Michael Zuckert for a fascinating exploration of America’s enduring passion for rights as sparked by these two documents. In 15 gripping audio lectures, Prof. Zuckert examines the doctrine of rights as it finds first expression in these early documents, exploring American thinking about rights from the founding up to recent battles over controversial rights such as the right to same-sex marriage.

How, Dr. Kuhn asks his interlocutors, can consciousness be explained? How do the microscopic particles that make up our brains cause us to experience the tranquil beauty of a setting sun, the haunting strains of Mozart’s "Requiem", or the flush of romantic love? These interviews - with cosmologists, computer scientists, philosophers, paranormal researchers, and more - explore key questions such as these about the nature and mystery of consciousness.

This 21-lecture course uses the shared heritage of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam as a springboard for interfaith dialogue. As you progress through the course, you’ll explore the ways in which this conceptual framework promotes peace and understanding while recognizing difference. Reframing an old idea, the concept of “Abrahamic religions” endeavors to improve Christian--Muslim relations by patterning them after 20th-century Jewish--Christian dialogues.

In this provocative audio course, you’ll travel through time with history and medieval literature experts to learn why the truth about past events is so elusive. Your journey will be helmed by two award-winning scholars: acclaimed literature and mythology professor Christopher Fee and historian Jeffrey Webb.

Are you curious about meditation but feel like you don’t have time to practice it? Have you tried meditating once or twice but worried that you weren’t “doing it right”? The good news is that anyone can reap the rewards of meditation in as little as five minutes per day, and there’s no wrong way to do it. In this audio course, award-winning psychology professor and Zen monk Douglas Cheolsoeng Gentile helps you “learn by doing,” guiding you in meditation practices designed to make you happier and wiser.

Why do we crave close relationships? In this exceptional audio course, you will join acclaimed psychology professor and best-selling author Nathan DeWall as he tackles this question using captivating case studies and cutting-edge scientific research. In 15 lectures, Prof. DeWall will help you understand not only why humans desire close relationships but also why some close relationships flourish while others fail. The course will bust relationship myths and replace them with practical advice guided by scientific evidence.

Drawing on the letters and records of individual soldiers, this compelling audio course invites you to explore the relationship between events on the battlefield and life on the home front. With more than 600,000 casualties, the Civil War cannot be understood by looking exclusively at famous figures like Abraham Lincoln, Robert E. Lee, and Ulysses S. Grant. As you’ll see, ordinary people — volunteer soldiers, runaway slaves, civilians in both the North and South — shaped the course of history.

America’s first settlements, founding documents, and most important traditions are replete with religious sentiment. Today, religion continues to play an important role in the lives of American people - nearly 80 percent are religiously affiliated - and institutions. These audio lectures bring you face to face with the fascinating people, movements, groups, beliefs, and practices that have made the US one of the most religiously diverse nations in the history of the world.