Life Lessons from the Great Books
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Life Lessons from the Great Books
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Narrated by:
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J. Rufus Fears
About this listen
Study more than three dozen works that span the timelines of Western history, from ancient Greece and Rome to the modern age. Whether written 2,000, 200, or 20 years ago, the enduring works of literature still speak to us and place our unique experiences into a larger perspective, offering invaluable lessons for every important moment in life.
Every Great Book you explore over these 36 insightful lectures - from the Odyssey and the Gospel of John to Hamlet and Animal Farm - is a unique expression of the human spirit and a fountain of advice, from how to conduct yourself in times of trouble to how to better appreciate the simple moments in your life.
You'll discover six broad themes that run through history's most compelling stories: the unconquerable human spirit, youth and old age, romance and love, adventure and courage, laughter and irony, and patriotism. In exploring these themes within the context of these Great Books, you learn new ideas about both the works themselves and the broad scope of the human condition.
If you haven't read these Great Books before, the warmth of Professor Fears's storytelling and his insightful approach to literature will have you heading to the library to learn more. And if you've already read these works, you'll discover new themes and ideas that will help you get more out of them.
Regardless of your previous familiarity with these works, you'll come to understand why these masterpieces remain eternal testaments to the variety of human experience and the powerful ways in which literature can guide and inspire us.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.
©2009 The Teaching Company, LLC (P)2009 The Great CoursesListeners also enjoyed...
What listeners say about Life Lessons from the Great Books
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Oliver Gajtanski
- 20-10-16
A great lesson to life
This book will get you interested in history and literature. I loved it and can highly recommend
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 24-04-18
professor fears is one hell of a reader.
an amazing course with a great teacher lecturing. His way of teaching really stuck with me. The book itself is filled with lessons that can be applied today.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Bernd
- 02-12-15
Engaging, inspiring and entertaining
If you could sum up Life Lessons from the Great Books in three words, what would they be?
Hear, amuse and enjoy!
You can learn a lot about history together with human motivations and emotions.
What other book might you compare Life Lessons from the Great Books to, and why?
Some Other books from the series "The great corses" are also fascinating and instructive.
What does Professor J. Rufus Fears bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?
His emphasis, his intonation and to the same time humour and sincerity make the book more interesting.
If you made a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?
A furious ride trough history and mythology.
Any additional comments?
Buy it , hear it and have fun! - And look after the other books from the series.
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- T
- 07-08-19
Amazing
If I could give the performance 6 stars I would
Fascinating insight into some incredible books
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Rajshekhar
- 02-02-16
Simply great!
Outstanding stories that teach you good values from the lessons history has taught us. The contextualisation is what makes the stories interesting and easy to understand.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Jim McCrory
- 14-05-22
Fascinating unpacking of literature
This is one of my favourite Great Courses. Full of fascinating unpacking of great literature.
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Zofia Jaworek
- 02-11-22
Bit pointless
It might be that I am just not used to this style of lectures, being from medicine field, but I found it quite off-putting. Each lecture wavers and meanders around the topic rarely hitting it, with prolonged vague introductions and unrelated side stories. About 10% of time is valuable for learning, about 30% anecdotes and direct citations (we CAN read for ourselves, professor!), 10% not very funny jokes and the remaining 50% is just prolonged pauses between words, making the book artificially lengthy. Because of that, the point the author is making was not quite clear in all the 10 lectures I force feed myself before quitting. This might be a florid eloquence appealing to some but I found it boring and infuriating, and sooo prolonged. And so, for a title "great lessons from this or that", my rating is " does NOT do what it says on the box". More like "How to murder an interesting story".
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Tine
- 20-06-23
Wrongly Named!
This book should have been called "Lessons for Americans from Books by White Western Men". Or maybe even retelling of books by white western men.
I can see this book has an audience and I enjoyed some (not all) of the retellings of the so called Great Books, but it was not the course I had expected and not up to the standard of several other Great Courses I have listened. I appreciate that there is much more books available from white male writers, but not one single book was written by a female or person of colour, giving the so called Life Lessons a very one sided dimension.
Personally I would not have chosen this book if I had been able to see the PDF before buying it,
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