
A Day's Read
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Narrated by:
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Arnold Weinstein
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Emily Allen
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Grant L. Voth
About this listen
Join three literary scholars and award-winning professors as they introduce you to dozens of short masterpieces that you can finish - and engage with - in a day or less. Perfect for people with busy lives who still want to discover -or rediscover - just how transformative reading can be, these 36 lectures range from short stories of fewer than 10 pages to novellas and novels of around 200 pages. Despite their short length, these works are powerful examinations of the same subjects and themes that longer "great books" discuss.
And with three great professors coming together to offer their own looks at literature, you'll get a multitude of ways to approach and think about grand human themes, including
- the nature of love and the mysteries of fate;
- the riddle of identity and the trials of growing up;
- the complex ties between individuals and their societies;
- the ways we make sense of personal and public history.
In the company of these three professors, you'll also approach the evolution of the modern novel, the development of literary genres such as graphic novels and creative nonfiction, the role of politics and culture in inspiring authors, and much more.
What's more, by exploring literature through three perspectives instead of one, you'll get an opportunity to see how literature professors - just like everyone else - approach and read books in their own unique way. It's like getting three distinct learning experiences, all in one single, affordable package.PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your My Library section along with the audio.
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Unsung Heroes of the Ancient World
- By: Gregory S. Aldrete, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Gregory S. Aldrete
- Length: 13 hrs and 15 mins
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The 24 revealing lectures of Unsung Heroes of the Ancient World reconstruct over a dozen biographies from the classical world—most of them little-known, some of them quite unlikely heroes. With Professor Emeritus Gregory Aldrete as your expert guide, you will meet the ambitious travel writers, dedicated engineers, careful cartographers, diligent farmers, woman philosophers, devoted wives, skilled military generals, African rebels, Persian kings, and impressive athletes who stood out among their peers centuries ago.
By: Gregory S. Aldrete, and others
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The Dead Sea Scrolls
- By: Gary A. Rendsburg, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Gary A. Rendsburg
- Length: 12 hrs and 21 mins
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Whether complete or only fragmentary, the 930 extant Dead Sea Scrolls irrevocably altered how we look at and understand the foundations of faith and religious practice. Now you can get a comprehensive introduction to this unique series of archaeological documents, and to scholars' evolving understanding of their authorship and significance, with these 24 lectures. Learn what the scrolls are, what they contain, and how the insights they offered into religious and ancient history came into focus.
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A comprehensive overview of the Qumran Scrolls
- By Jacobus on 09-25-13
By: Gary A. Rendsburg, and others
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The Philosopher's Toolkit: How to Be the Most Rational Person in Any Room
- By: Patrick Grim, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Patrick Grim
- Length: 12 hrs and 2 mins
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Taught by award-winning Professor Patrick Grim of the State University of New York at Stony Brook, The Philosopher’s Toolkit: How to Be the Most Rational Person in Any Room arms you against the perils of bad thinking and supplies you with an arsenal of strategies to help you be more creative, logical, inventive, realistic, and rational in all aspects of your daily life.
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This should NOT be an audio book
- By Brooks Emerson on 03-21-20
By: Patrick Grim, and others
Subject
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A great team of lecturers
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Cuestionador y generador de nuevas perspectivas de vida
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Keep a Pen Close By to Make Up Your Reading List
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This is one of my favorite literature sets from Great Courses. I loves the mix of speakers, opinions, selections . . . really wonderful teachers, all of them!
Awesome lectures!
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A book for every taste!
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A great way to discover short fiction!
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It's a wide-ranging collection of stories that spans several centuries and a number of different countries. Well-known authors such as Kafka, Hemingway, Balzac, and Joyce are represented along with authors who are lesser known but no less deft in creating small gems. In the course of the 18+ hours, I compiled a huge list of things that I very much want to read, and authors I want to get to know, such as Borges, Calvino, Lagerkvist, Satrapi, Hersey... most of the authors represented here, in fact.
The lecturers break the works down by theme, which is an excellent way of approaching such a broad selection, but in the end, it's the stories themselves, the allure of the whole, that tempts me. But you can't organize everyone's subjective responses to this information, and so theme -- Who are we? How do we love? -- is a good starting point.
I'm a great believer in understanding what we read. I don't just mean comprehending the words on the page, but understanding their context in the world, and in our own lives. Approaching literature in easy bites, learning what ideas and concerns drove the writers represented here, makes it easier to approach their longer works with a greater level of comprehension. This course can go a long way to easing the reader into a greater understanding of not only the works presented but literature in general.
Wonderful Introduction to Short Fiction
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If you like postmodernists...
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Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
It's a perfect opportunity to widen your literary horizon. If you dare tread on unfamiliar area and are not afraid of fresh thought, this lecture is the one for you.What did you like best about this story?
The introduction of "White Sagasso Sea" is the crown jewel.Which character – as performed by the narrators – was your favorite?
Antoinette Cosway, aka Bertha Mason in "Jane Eyre" is my favorite.Any additional comments?
It takes about half an hour to listen to one chapter, another day or two to read the themed novel. But it would take at least one week to fully absorb the emotion yelled to you by the character through plain yet magic words. Thank you, professor Emily Allen."White Sagasso Sea" outshines all!
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