July Favorites

What better way to spend some of the rainier days of this summer in bed or on your sofa, propped up with a pillow or two, enjoying some intellectual stimuli in bite-size portions to satisfy your nerdy appetite? Here are some cool online courses to get your nerdista on!

I recently discovered the nonprofit open-source platform edX, which offers free online courses by university teachers and general educators. It is governed by MIT and Harvard, but its over 40 institutional partners include Georgetown University, Berkley, and the Smithsonian.

Currently, I am half-way through the course "Ideas of the Twentieth Century" by the University of Texas at Austin. Daniel Bonevac, Professor of Philosophy, and his partner Roy Flukinger, senior research curator at the Harry Ransom Center, put together an accessible, entertaining and dense course with lots of material, engaging videos, and cool little quizzes to test yourself after each lesson. Flukinger seems to specialize in visual arts, so every now and then the two of them will digress from the world of general philosophy to examine the development of European painting and, in particular, photography.

Screenshot from the edX course "Ideas of the Twentieth Century"

What came as a pleasant surprise was the fact that each little video (usually between eight and twelve minutes long - and Dan has a very engaging lecture style!) is accompanied by fairly extensive readings. So if a lesson teaches you about the Enlightenment, be prepared to read Locke, Hume, Hobbes and Rousseau in the original. (Why does a course that is literally called "Ideas of the Twentieth Century" discuss Enlightenment thinkers? If you don't know the answer, you might wanna check it out!)

To accompany the course, I ordered some survey books on philosophy and philosophical thought. The picture above features the dtv-Atlas Philosophie (ed. by Franz-Peter Burkard, Franz Wiedmann, and Peter Kunzmann, 15th edition, dtv) - and my very cool shades from Ace & Tate, made of 100% bio-degradable acetate (which, the website tells me, is basically cellulose. Wowzers). The second accompanying read I chose is Kleine Weltgeschichte der Philosophie by Hans-Joachim Störig (7th edition, Fischer Verlag). This one was recommended to me by a co-worker with an M.A. in philosophy, but to be frank, I haven't had a real good look into it yet. The dtv-Atlas is much more accessible and readable, with helpful little charts, diagrams and figures to explain some of the trickier movements and concepts.

Picture found here.

Other courses I signed up for on edX include "Poetry in America" by Harvard University, "European Paintings: From Leonardo to Rembrandt to Goya" by the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, "Objects That Define America" by the Smithsonian, and, you might have already guessed it, the "The Jane Eyre Book Club" by the University of Berkley (starts January 2016). I have a predilection for the arts and humanities, but tech lovers, natural scientists, medical students, or economists will definitely also find a variety of topics to choose from.

Some of the courses will run in real-time when you enrol in them, but most of them will be available even after they have officially been closed (or 'archived', as the platform calls it). EdX offers various certificates of achievement (for a fee) to those participants who complete a course and its assignments. But let's not get too ambitious here - it's summer, after all: Auditing a course is just fine, totally free, and still gives you access to all the cool resources. And you can even do it on the beach! *wink*

Antonio Banderas pretending to read Dante, found here.

Two equally rich and nerdy online education websites, but with considerable costs involved:

• The Great Courses: offers courses in different formats (video or audio, discs or digital) and by eminent lecturers (see Neil deGrasse Tyson's "Why the Universe is Flat" or Robert Greenberg's "How to Listen To and Understand Great Music"). Prices start at $15.95, but most courses are significantly more costly - so keep an eye on the 'Sales' section. Intended audience: the general public.

• Study.com: three pricing plans available, starting at $49.99 per month. Subscribing to a plan gives you to access to all courses and additional resources, including lesson transcripts and (in the case of the pricier options) tests, quizzes and personalized coaching by the course instructors. Intended audience: high school and college students.

Any other online courses and platforms you can recommend? Let your fellow nerds know in the comments below!