36 Big Ideas

As the home to big ideas, The Great Courses has produced thousands of lectures that have introduced millions of lifelong learners to some of the biggest ideas out there. Now, enjoy 36 lectures specially curated from some of our most popular courses and get a fresh learning experience in a wide range of disciplines.

How does electromagnetic radiation traveling at 186,000 miles per second tell us everything we need to know about the distant stars? Why do we prefer random rejection over always getting what we want? How does science explain our subjective experience - if it even can? These are just a few of the many scintillating questions whose answers you'll get in this lecture series. Scientists, historians, linguists, psychologists, archaeologists, and other experts guide you through topics, concepts, and events that are sure to amaze you.

You'll learn how the world's largest untranslated written language was made with strings and knots. You'll explore the idea of time's arrow, which offers stirring insights into the one-way direction of time. You'll focus on a strange (but true) sensory phenomenon in which people associate letters with colors. You'll investigate the fascinating cultural universality hidden inside heroic journeys by characters such as Little Red Riding Hood and Arjuna in the Mahabharata. And much more.

Profound topics, deep insights, great professors - this lecture series is the perfect introduction to some of our most popular courses, and to some of the many ways in which our courses explain the seemingly unexplainable.

The complete list of contributors includes Professors Edwin Barnhart, Grant L. Voth, H. Craig Heller, Indre Viskontas, John McWhorter, and John R. Hale.

Disclaimer: Please note that this recording may include references to supplemental texts or print references that are not essential to the program and not supplied with your purchase.