December 1, 2016

The Charlie Rose Archive is Back Up

We’re not sure exactly when it happened, but Charlie Rose’s video archive is back up on CharlieRose.com. This archive features over 10,000 interviews with notable authors, entertainers, political figures, business leaders, and more going back to when Charlie Rose started his show in 1991. These videos used to be up on the abandoned video platform Google Video, but when that shut down, the Charlie Rose show moved over to Hulu. On Hulu most of the archive disappeared and the new shows were only viewable in the United States. Now the archive has been restored in its entirety and the videos are hosted and playable right on CharlieRose.com.

Back in 2012 we went through the entire Charlie Rose archive and picked out 350 of the best Charlie Rose interviews to feature on LearnOutLoud.com. We’ve fixed the links and embeds, and we’ve put those interviews back up into our free directory:

350 of the Best Charlie Rose Guests on LearnOutLoud.com

We hope to add more of the best of Charlie Rose interviews to our site next year.

We’ve done a few blog posts on Charlie Rose interviews. He has interviewed many great film directors and actors which we featured in a previous blog post:

Top 10 Charlie Rose Interviews of Film Directors and Actors

Another blog post we did featured videos from the Charlie Rose Brain Series which covers many topics related to the latest findings in neuroscience:

Charlie Rose Brain Series

We’ll now feature some of the best of the best guests that Charlie has interviewed over the years. We’ve separated these by Personal Growth Experts, Business Leaders, Political Figures, Writers, and Entertainers:

Personal Growth Experts:

A Conversation about Nutrition with Dr. Andrew Weil

A Conversation about the Science of Happiness with Martin Seligman, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, and others

An Interview with Steven R. Covey

A Conversation about Health and Disease Prevention with Dr. Mehmet Oz and Dr. Michael Roizen

Business Leaders:

An Hour with Jack and Suzy Welch

An Hour with Management Consultant Jim Collins

A Conversation with Business Guru Tom Peters

A Conversation with Lee Iacocca

A Conversation with Michael Milken & Muhammad Yunus

A Conversation with Jeff Bezos on Amazon.com

The Future with Eric Schmidt, Marc Andreessen, and Bill Gates

An Exclusive Conversation with Warren Buffett (at the start of the 2008 financial crisis)

Political Figures:

An Hour with Illinois Senator Barack Obama on Nov. 23, 2004

A Conversation with Guest Host Judy Woodruff and Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney

A Conversation with Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger

An Hour with Mikhail Gorbachev

A Talk with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President of the Islamic Republic of Iran

A Discussion on Abortion with Arianna Huffington and Laura Ingraham

A Conversation with Noam Chomsky

An Appreciation of William F. Buckley

Two Conversations with Filmmaker Michael Moore

A Conversation with Bill O’Reilly

Writers:

A Conversation with Author David McCullough

A Conversation with Author Tom Wolfe

A Conversation with Carl Sagan on Pale Blue Dot

Gore Vidal Discusses His Life

An Interview with David Foster Wallace

A Conversation with Author John Updike on The Greatest American Short Stories of This Century

Author Christopher Hitchens on Hitch-22

A Remembrance of Hunter S. Thompson

A Remembrance of Intellectual Susan Sontag

Entertainers:

A Conversation with Opera Singer Luciano Pavarotti

A Conversation with Radio Personality Garrison Keillor

A Conversation with Basketball Legends Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Julius Erving, and Bill Russell

A Conversation with Musician David Bowie

A Conversation with Comedian George Carlin

A Conversation with Rapper Kanye West

A Conversation with Julia Child

A Discussion of the Music Wars on the Internet with Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich and rapper Chuck D of Public Enemy

An Interview with Conan O’Brien on October 20, 1993

A Conversation with Mick Jagger

An Interview with Fred Rogers

An Interview with Terry Gross

Also at the turn of the century Charlie Rose conducted a series of interviews about some of the most important things in the 20th century with all-star guest panels discussing the most formative events, the most important person, the greatest minds, the most influential artists, and the greatest athletes of the 20th century. Here are those specials:

A Discussion about Formative Events of the 20th Century

A Panel Discussion about the Idea of the Most Important Person of the 20th Century

An Hour Panel Discussion about the Greatest Minds and Breakthroughs of the 20th Century

An Hour Panel Discussion about the Most Influential Artist of the 20th Century

A Discussion about the Greatest Athletes of the 20th Century

Enjoy these and many, many more great shows from the modern master of interviews, Mr. Charlie Rose:

350 of the Best Charlie Rose Guests on LearnOutLoud.com

September 28, 2016

Watch Frontline: The Choice 2016 – Free PBS Documentary

Watch Frontline: The Choice 2016

The 2016 U.S. Presidential Election is Tuesday, November 8th and Americans will soon decide who will be our next President. Each presidential election the PBS series Frontline produces an election special that profiles the two major candidates. Their two-hour special aired last night on PBS and is now available to stream on their YouTube channel. This special covers the biographies of the frontrunners Hillary Rodham Clinton and Donald Trump, and the long and very different paths they took to reach this point. With interviews from biographers and people closest to each of the candidates you get an idea of what has driven these individuals throughout their careers. You’ll hear the story of Hillary Clinton and her entry into Democratic politics from her years as first lady of Arkansas and then the United States, to her role as Senator of New York and Secretary of State. You’ll also hear about the rise of Donald J. Trump, the wealthy American businessman who came of age in the 1980s and kept his brand alive into 1990s and became a reality TV star in the 2000s. You’ll hear about the scandals and hardships they’ve faced throughout their long lives in the public eye and their persistence through it all in “Frontline: The Choice 2016”.

Watch Frontline: The Choice 2016

And just to revisit some history you may want to check out the PBS Frontline documentaries from the past two presidential elections which are also available on YouTube:

Frontline: The Choice 2008

Frontline: The Choice 2012

Also Clinton and Trump sparred in their First Presidential Debate on Monday:

2016 First Presidential Debate: Trump vs. Clinton

In the First Presidential Debate Clinton and Trump touched on issues such as trade, foreign policy, race relations, and other key issues. The 90-minute debate is available on streaming video on YouTube and on MP3 audio download.

For another interesting debate check out this recent debate from Intelligence Squared U.S.:

Blame the Elites for the Trump Phenomenon

In this debate from Intelligence Squared U.S. the two sides argue over who is responsible for the rise of Donald Trump. One side argues that the Trump Phenomenon is due to the elites of both parties ignoring the voice of the declining American middle class. They argue that the political elite’s devotion to special interests and their bailouts of the big banks has created frustration in middle America who have not seen much recovery from the financial disaster of 2008. The opposing side blames the voters and the media for the rise of Donald Trump, emphasizing that his rise is largely a response to his stirring up fears about immigration, crime, and terrorism. Neither side are particularly fans of the Trump Phenomenon, but they both offer interesting insight into how this unprecedented candidate has rose to such heights. The two-hour debate is available to stream on YouTube and also is available on MP3 audio download from the Intelligence Squared U.S. website.

May 31, 2016

Great Political Debates from Intelligence Squared U.S.

Listen to some informed and civil political debates about issues facing the United States in these great debates from Intelligence Squared U.S.. These Oxford-Style debates set forth a motion and then usually have two people on each side debating for or against the motion. Along with debating back and forth, the participants also each get opening and closing remarks to summarize their viewpoints. The moderator of the debates is author and journalist John Donvan, and he does a superb job of keeping the debates well mannered, intelligent, and moving forward. Each debate generally runs 90 to 100 minutes along with questions from the moderator and from the audience. The audience votes on the motion before the debate and then afterwards. Whichever side changes the most members of the audience to vote for their side by the end is declared the winner. These debates can be watched on YouTube or listened to on MP3 from the Intelligence Squared U.S. website. There is also a 50 minute version of the debate on the Intelligence Squared U.S. website (which is the podcast and radio version). We recommend the full version for the most coherent debates, but either way you’ll learn a lot. Challenge your own political beliefs on these complex issues with these intelligent debates!

1. The Two-Party System is Making America Ungovernable

Has the two-party system in America created a toxic dynamic where the most extreme members of each political party can no longer work together? In this debate hosted by Intelligence Squared, Ariana Huffington and David Brooks argue that Democrats and Republicans are stuck in a rotten two party system that forces both sides to obey the party line at the cost of personal beliefs. Their proposed solution is a broader social movement to de-align the two parties and make way for a centrist alternative. In contrast, humorist P.J. O’Rourke is joined by Zev Chafets to argue for how durable the two-party system has remained when put under almost two centuries of stress, and caution against a de-polarized political atmosphere where smaller, single issue-based interests are enabled to fight it out on a national stage.

2. The Rich Are Taxed Enough

In this debate from Intelligence Squared, the two sides square off about the taxation of the rich in the United States and whether they should pay more than they currently do to cover the costs of government spending. Both sides agree that government is running deficits that need to be paid for and that entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare need reform before they spiral government down into much more debt in the coming decades. The side arguing for the motion suggests the best way to raise revenues is to “broaden the base” of the tax system, to cut out of control government spending, and to cut tax rates so that wealthy individuals will invest more into the economy and boost employment which will in turn boost individual income and generate more in overall taxes. The side arguing against the motion suggests that it is a necessity to raise taxes on the rich because of the current deficits government is running and because a more progressive approach in the tax system is the fair thing to do and will ultimately benefit the growth of the economy. They also argue for closing tax loopholes which have prevented the rich from paying their fair share. Both sides feature economists that throw out a lot of statistics supporting each of their arguments, but the moderator John Donvan tries to get beyond the numbers to the core ideas behind each side.

3. Don’t Give Us Your Tired, Your Poor, Your Huddled Masses

The topic of immigration has become a lightning rod for pundits on both sides of the political spectrum. This debate hosted by Intelligence Squared pits two sides in a nuanced argument pro and con over whether or not America is, or should be the place for the world’s “Tired”, “Poor” and “Huddled Masses”, as immortalized by poet Emma Lazarus at the Statue of Liberty. Arguing for stronger immigration Policy, Kris Kobach and Tom Tancredo work to dispel the nostalgia surrounding America’s melting-pot roots, arguing that open immigration in the modern world is unsustainable in a welfare state. No stranger to border issues, San Antonio mayor Julian Castro is joined by Tamar Jacoby to argue for effective enforcement that is at the same time consistent with core American values.

4. Obesity is the Government’s Business

Obesity has become an epidemic in the United States, but what is the best way of dealing with it. In this Intelligence Squared debate the two sides argue over what role the government should play in confronting this health crisis. The side arguing for the motion that obesity is the government’s business, feels that it is time for the government to step up their efforts in educating the public about the causes of obesity and giving the public more opportunities for exercise and health eating. The side arguing against the motion comes from a more libertarian stance that feels the government is not good at accomplishing much and that when it comes to fighting obesity the data isn’t there in regards to the programs that it has currently put forth. It’s a fun debate over the role of government when it comes to this important issue we are facing.

5. Abolish the Minimum Wage

At some point in anyone’s life, the minimum wage is all there is to live on, so how has this 75 year experiment worked out for the American economy? For this debate hosted by Intelligence Squared, James Bernstein is joined by Karen Kornbluh to argue for the moral merits of upholding the minimum wage, stating that it serves as a necessary safety net to ensure that lesser-skilled workers are treated fairly. On the opposite end of the table, Russell Roberts and James Dorn argue that a set wage slows job growth by rendering employees artificially more expensive; this in turn makes it harder for them to find work, and needlessly interferes with an individual’s personal bargaining freedom.

6. For a Better Future, Live in a Red State

In this lively debate hosted by Intelligence Squared, two sides argue for and against the claim that the future in America may be brighter if one lives in a more conservative-leaning “Red” state. Arguing for this motion, popular radio host Hugh Hewitt and the Wall Street Journal’s Stephen Moore note migration patterns have favored more affordable red states in recent years, leading many to wider job opportunities coupled with a lower cost of living, and clear sense of traditional values. On the other side, former California Governor Gray Davis is joined by centrist pundit Michael Lind, to argue that Blue states are generally more innovative, feature higher quality education and offer a better healthcare infrastructure. Regardless of who’s side you prefer, the debate offers an interesting snapshot of the changing interstate dynamics at play in an America that is getting more polarized across ideological lines.

7. It’s Time to End the War on Terror

Is the term “War on Terror” an outdated description that has outlived the current state of play in the global effort to curb terrorist activity? For this Intelligence Squared debate, Security expert Peter Bergen is joined by former Obama-administration expert Juliette Kayyem to argue that while terrorism is still very much a threat, the nature of that threat has changed in the decade since September 11th. With Al Qaeda on its last legs, the “War on Terror” calls back to another era, where the American-led fight to abolish Osama Bin Laden’s terror network has given way to a more sporadic, less focused enemy. On the flip-side, Micahel Hayden and Richard Falkenrath argue that the legal tools made available when a country is in a declared state of war allows for lawful execution of operations that would otherwise be considered illegal.

8. Income Inequality Impairs the American Dream of Upward Mobility

Listen to a stimulating debate over income inequality in America and whether or not it hinders the mobility of lower or middle income households to be upwardly mobile economically. Both sides agree income inequality is increasing and that upward mobility is not as good as it should be, especially among the poor. But they disagree as to whether income inequality is the cause of this lack of upward mobility. The side against the motion argues that the data is not there to support that upward mobility is declining in America. They feel that the ever-increasing wealth of the top 1% creates incentives and opportunities for the lower and middle classes to rise up the economic ladder. The side arguing for the motion says it is too soon to tell whether future generations are declining in economic mobility since the increasing income gap has only been on the rise since the late 1970s. They plead that common sense shows us a declining middle class and a working poor that is finding it harder and harder to move up the economic ladder as they struggle to make ends meet. They argue that higher taxation of the super rich can be funneled into innovative programs such as education to bring back the thriving middle class in America. It is a well argued debate from both sides with interesting results at the end from the audience that votes on the motion.

9. The Constitutional Right to Bear Arms Has Outlived Its Usefulness

Is the Second Amendment a historic anachronism designed during a time without police and when militias were more important to American national defense? Or does it embody American attitudes towards independence, and remain a vital means of maintaining the security of a free state? In this fierce debate hosted by Intelligence Squared, Alan Dershowitz & Sandy Levinson argue that the right to bear arms would be defined differently if written in 2015, with the basic right of self-defense superseding the specific right to carry weapons. On the opposing side, David Kopel and Eugene Volokh agree that everyone has a basic right to defend themselves, but go further by pressing that the tools necessary (aka. guns) should be explicitly safeguarded for anyone that wishes to use them.

10. Legalize Drugs

Watch this stimulating debate on the motion to legalize drugs. Since the drug war began 30 years ago it has cost the U.S. government $2.5 trillion dollars and has currently locked up over 100,000 nonviolent drug offenders in federal prison. The side arguing for the legalization of drugs points out how the drug war has primarily been waged against minorities and the poor in a disproportionate ratio to drug usage. They argue that drug use does not equal drug abuse, and that many drugs such as marijuana are less harmful to society than the current legal drugs of alcohol and prescription drugs. The side arguing against legalizing drugs points out the detrimental effects some drugs have had on communities such as meth and heroin, and how the drug war has to an extent deterred drug usage. Be sure to wait for the results of this excellent debate from Intelligence Squared U.S.

11. The GOP must Seize the Center or Die

Following the defeat of Mitt Romney in 2012, Intelligence Squared hosted this contentious debate over the future of the Republican party and how it can best win over the electorate. The side arguing for the motion points out that the country is diversifying and changing and that conservatives need to shift their current ideology more towards the center particularly on social issues which have caused fission amongst Republicans. They feel that because Republicans have been so staunchly anti-government, they have become the party of “no” which prevents government from doing much of anything and it has produced exasperation amongst the populace. The side arguing against the motion feels that if conservatives compromise their core principles of limited government and move more towards the center, they will cease to be a viable alternative to the Democrats and they will continue to lose more elections. It’s a well carried out debate featuring prominent conservative voices such as David Brooks and Laura Ingraham.

12. Containment Is Not Enough: ISIS Must Be Defeated

Watch or listen to this debate from August 2015 with the motion “Containment Is Not Enough: ISIS Must Be Defeated”. In the debate, foreign policy experts argue over what the Obama administration’s next steps should be in dealing with ISIS. The side for ISIS being defeated proposes that containing ISIS in the region poses a threat to the surrounding region and the enemies of ISIS around the World, and that this threat will only grow over time. These foreign policy experts do not advocate putting “boots on the ground” of U.S. troops, but they feel a much stronger resolution needs to be put in place to roll back and defeat ISIS. The side for containing ISIS and staying the course with the current U.S. policy, feels that containment is the best option at this time while we wait for the conflict to play out, and that ultimately the turmoil in Syria and Iraq are not our battle to win. They also cite the lack of political will for a full scale war against ISIS in the wake of two wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. It’s a good debate that helps to make sense out of a very complicated and messy situation in the Middle East and the results of the debate are quite interesting. Towards the end of the debate questions are received from the audience including questions from David Petraeus and Ayaan Hirsi Ali. The debate can be watched on YouTube or downloaded on MP3 from the Intelligence Squared U.S. website.

13. Eliminate Corporate Subsidies

Watch a debate over corporate subsidies in America and whether or not they should be eliminated. In this debate both sides agree that there are some subsidies that are good and there are some subsidies that are bad (such as the unnecessary oil & gas subsidies). But overall each side has differences over whether subsidies are good in general. The side arguing against corporate subsidies says the U.S. government simply cannot afford them, and that the state of corporate welfare in American is favoring big business over small business and making it hard for the little guy. The side arguing for corporate subsidies highlights a lot of areas where subsidies can be helpful in spurring innovation with emerging technologies and lead to great economic success in the future. The results of the debate produce a big swing in opinion in the audience, but we won’t give away which way it goes.

14. Abolish the Death Penalty

Is America a culture that lives by the credo “an eye for an eye”, or is it becoming apparent that many Americans are rethinking their stance on the Death Penalty? In this passionate debate hosted by Intelligence Squared, Diane Russ Tierny and Barry Scheck argue that killing inmates on death row is an unacceptable risk to innocent lives that any modern society should abolish, going further to cite statistics demonstrating that capital punishment does not lower crime rates, and is racially skewed. On the other side, Robert Blecker and Ken Sheidegger argue that the death penalty should always be an available option for the cruelest offenders, citing rising prison incarceration costs, and basic concepts of human justice as a compelling reason for death to remain the most serious punishment legally possible.

15. Freedom of the Press Does Not Extend to State Secrets

Hear an interesting debate on the freedom of the press and whether or not they have the right under the 1st amendment to publish state secrets. Both sides agree that some state secrets need to be kept such as the identities of spies, nuclear secrets, and other secrets which might obviously endanger the United States. But they disagree as to whether the press or the government has the power to determine the release of other state secrets which may be more controversial. They also debate over new incarnations of “the press” such as the Wikileaks leak from Julian Assange. It’s an interesting and sometimes confusing debate over the freedom of the press in this new digital information age.

April 12, 2016

1000 New YouTube Video Lectures, Interviews, & Debates

1000 new YouTube videos have been added to our LearnOutLoud Free Audio & Video Directory bringing our total number of free resources to over 11,000. We’ve gone through some of the best educational channels on YouTube and picked out the most popular videos from the past few years. Here are the channels we’ve added titles from along with some choice titles we thought you’d like:

Aspen Institute – Featuring over 40 talks from their annual Aspen Ideas Festival.

Marianne Williamson Talks Spirituality and Politics

Self Directed Biological Transformation (SDBT) with Deepak Chopra

The Four Desires: Creating a Life of Purpose, Happiness, Prosperity, and Freedom with Rod Stryker

Will Massively Open Online Courses Transform the Way We Learn?

Big Think – Longer interviews and lectures from this popular and intellectually stimulating YouTube channel that features leading thinkers from a variety of backgrounds.

Big Think Interview with Karen Armstrong

Michio Kaku: The Universe in a Nutshell

William Ackman: Everything You Need to Know About Finance and Investing in Under an Hour

Book TV – New interviews from C-SPAN’s Q&A series bringing the total number of Book TV titles to 250.

Q&A with Bethany McLean on The Hidden History of the Financial Crisis

Q&A with Medea Benjamin on Drone Warfare

Center for Inquiry – Talks from this secular and skeptical nonprofit educational organization.

A Lecture by James “The Amazing” Randi

Michael Shermer: The Believing Brain

Commonwealth Club of California – New lectures and interviews from this popular public forum bringing our total to over 100 titles.

Finding Faith and Spirituality in the 21st Century

Jane McGonigal: How Games Can Make a Better World

Noam Chomsky: Philosophies of Language and Politics

Patty Duke Tells All

Robert Reich: Inequality for All

The Mind, Madness, and Gun Violence

The Mythbusters at the Commonwealth Club

The Psychology of Building a Bulletproof Personal Finance System with Ramit Sethi

Conversations with Harold Hudson Channer – A few archived conversations from the New York public access show “Conversations with Harold Hudson Channer”.

Conversation with Buckminster Fuller

Conversation with Oliver Sachs

Conversation with Timothy Leary

Conversations with History – Long running interview show on UCTV hosted by Harry Kreisler and covering politics, economics, and much more. We now feature over 100 interviews.

My Forty Years at Berkeley with Harry Kreisler

Philosophy and Activism with Peter Singer

Understanding Human Nature with Steven Pinker

Cutting Edge Conscious – Talk show featuring guests that may broaden your horizons about consciousness.

Bruce Lipton: The Frequency That is “You”

Byron Katie: Question Your Thoughts and End Your Suffering

Dan Millman on Finding Your Life Purpose

Joe Vitale: The World Is Our Mirror

European Graduate School – Lectures from this graduate school focused on art and philosophy.

Jacques Derrida & Gilles Deleuze: On Forgiveness

Jean Baudrillard: Violence of the Image

Slavoj Zizek: The Irony of Buddhism

Forum Network – Lectures from WGBH in the Boston area. We now feature over 200 titles from their YouTube channel.

Emily Dickinson: My Wars Are Laid Away in Books

How Working Women Can Manage Stress with Dr. Kathleen Hall

Sarah Lewis: Rise

Scott Stossel: My Age of Anxiety

The History of the Universe in One Hour by Max Tegmark, Professor of Physics at MIT

Google Talks – Many more talks from authors and notable speakers at Google bringing our total to over 500 of their best talks.

Alain de Botton on The News: A User’s Manual

Ariane De Bonvoisin on The First 30 Days: Your Guide to Making Any Change Easier

Chip Conley on Emotional Equations

Daniel Dennett on Intuition Pumps and Other Tools for Thinking

Dr. David Agus on The End of Illness

Elizabeth Kolbert on The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History

Eric Ries on The Lean Startup

Kelly Starrett on Deskbound

Martha Stewart Talks at Google

Richard Dawkins on The Magic of Reality

Shawn Achor on Before Happiness

Steven Johnson on Future Perfect: The Case For Progress In A Networked Age

Gresham College – Over 20 lecture series from professors at Gresham College in London.

Christian Themes in Art

The Great Plagues from the Middle Ages to the Present Day

Psychology Lectures with Glenn D. Wilson

Rhetoric: Belinda Jack on the Mysteries of Reading and Writing

Hoover Institution – Interviews from the show “Uncommon Knowledge” hosted by Peter Robinson and featuring primarily conservative thinkers. Over 60 interviews to choose from.

Milton Friedman on Libertarianism

The Sixties with Christopher Hitchens and William F. Buckley

The Word According to Tom Wolfe

Thomas Sowell: Basic Economics

Intelligence Squared U.K. – Over 40 debates from the United Kingdom’s leading debate forum along with some lectures they feature.

Between You and I the English Language is Going to the Dogs

Jesus Would Have Voted Democrat

Karl Marx Was Right

Let Them Come: We Have Nothing to Fear From High Levels of Immigration

We Never Had it So Good

Intelligence Squared U.S. – Over 30 debates from the leading debate forum in the United States.

Death is Not Final

Good Riddance To Mainstream Media

Legalize Drugs

The Constitutional Right to Bear Arms Has Outlived Its Usefulness

Politics and Prose – We now have over 75 author talks from this important book store in Washington, D.C..

Mary Roach on Gulp

Norman E. Rosenthal, M.D. on The Gift of Adversity

Thom Hartmann on The Crash of 2016

The 92nd Street Y – Over 100 talks added from The 92nd Street Y in New York City including contemporary and classic talks they have recorded.

Allen Ginsberg Reads at the 92nd Street Y

Arthur Miller: Death of a Salesman Reading

Christopher Hitchens and Tariq Ramadan Debate: Is Islam a Religion of Peace?

George Carlin at the 92nd Street Y

Love Your Enemies: Robert Thurman, Sharon Salzberg and Uma Thurman

Maya Angelou: Mystical, Magical, Musical, and Lyrical

On Sigmund Freud: Psychobiography with George Makari

The (Neuro) Science of Genius with Michio Kaku, Antonio Damasio, and JoAnn Deak

Vladimir Nabokov: Selected Poems and Prose

UCTV – Many new programs from UCTV. We now feature over 250 of their videos which are also usually on MP3 audio download through the UCTV website.

Fat Chance: Fructose 2.0 with Robert Lustig

Overthrowing the Emperor of All Maladies: Moving Forward Against Cancer with Siddhartha Mukherjee

Weapons of Mass Distraction with Pico Iyer

University Channel – New talks from the University Channel or UChannel offering talks from numerous academic institutions.

A Conversation with Studs Terkel

How Human Psychology Drives the Economy with Robert J. Shiller

Moving Beyond Fast Food Nation with Peter Singer and Eric Schlosser

Why Work? Business, Professions, and the Common Good with David Brooks, Alex Sink, and Steven Reinemund

And we’ve added a number of interesting talks from a variety of other channels:

Art 101

Brian Weiss: Past-Life Regression Session

H.W. Brands on American Colossus: The Triumph of Capitalism, 1865-1900

History of Neuroscience: William Dement

Jiddu Krishnamurti: In Total Silence The Mind Comes Upon The Eternal

Ken Blanchard on Leading at a Higher Level

LinkedIn Speaker Series: Suze Orman

Neil deGrasse Tyson on the New Cosmos

Stephen Hawking on Unified Theory

The Facebook Effect with Mark Zuckerberg

Sell Your Ideas the Steve Jobs Way with Carmine Gallo

Martin Seligman: Flourish

Walter Isaacson on Benjamin Franklin: An American Life

And there’s just so much more! Browse around our free directory for all of these great new talks.

April 6, 2016

Audible Channels Launches with Free Premium Audio Content for Members

The Audible mobile app has a new section which will surely interest fans of audio learning. It’s in beta mode right now and it’s called “Channels”. We’re not sure if it showing up for all Audible app users yet, but we’ll give you an overview of what is probably coming soon to an Audible app near you, if it’s not already there.

The new Audible Channels section of the Audible app on iOS and Android features about 90 channels of relatively short audio content that is free to members to listen to via streaming or you can download for offline listening. Many of the channels are categories such as comedy, meditation, business news, etc. Each of these categories features a playlist of short audio related specifically to that category. This audio content is coming from publishers and partners of Audible including excerpts of audio books and articles from a number of publications that Audible partners with such as The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.

There are also channels featuring professional audio recordings of new articles from Audible’s partner publications and we’ll list a bunch of the publications that have channels: The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, National Review, Harvard Business Review, Smithsonian Magazine, Forbes, cNet, McSweeney’s Fiction, MIT Technology Review, The New Republic Magazine, Reader’s Digest, Science News Magazine, Scientific American, and The Washington Post. There is also some original audio content such as episodes of Charlie Rose, the best TED Talks, Marketplace, BBC Newshour, PRI’s The World, and The Onion Radio.

And then there are some channels that seem to be premium audio shows that Audible has developed including Hot Mic with Dan Savage, Hold On with Eugene Mirman featuring funny live stories, How to Be Amazing with comedian Michael Ian Black as he interviews intriguing people, Limelight Illuminating Comedy, and a few others.

Audible’s Channels free section gives one even more incentive to become an Audible member as it will surely grow into an amazing new way to get premium audio content that isn’t currently in audio book form. If you’re not an Audible member, you might want to check this out. You can subscribe through Amazon (which owns Audible) right now and get two free audio books:

Try the Audible 30-Day Free Trial and Get Two Free Audiobooks

Audible’s Channels section is an interesting move for Audible who’s main focus has been in promoting unabridged audio books and generally longer form audio content to purchase via its memberships or a la carte from its site or on Amazon or on iTunes (who it partners with). Audible has amassed 180,000 titles over the years which has completely dwarfed their competitors in audio book retail. But I’m sure they have seen the magnificent success of over 200,000 free podcasts on iTunes and felt the need to somehow get into that space. Audible tried to get into podcasting 10 years ago with the failed Audible Wordcast. But now they are an Amazon owned company with much more money and power, and with Audible Channels they might give traditional podcasting a run for the money. Will they lure over top podcasters to their subscription service so podcasters can finally start making some serious money? Only time will tell. In the meantime they’ve got some great premium audio content that you won’t find anywhere else and it’s all free for Audible members!

Here is Audible’s official announcement of Channels and you can browse the channels they offer:

Audible’s Intro Page to Channels

Here is Audible’s new video introduction to Audible Channels:

March 28, 2016

Watch 350 Great Courses on the Great Courses Plus

The Great Courses Plus is here in full force and you can now sign up for a free one month trial on TheGreatCoursesPlus.com. For fans of The Great Courses it’s overwhelmingly awesome. You subscribe to The Great Courses Plus, and you can then watch over 350 great courses as much as you want, whenever you want!

After the initial free month, the price is only $19.99/month now! A bargain considering all the great courses you get access to. And if you sign up for a full year the price breaks down to only $14.99/month.

We’ve gone through their entire catalog and there are so many courses and individual lectures we want to watch. We’ll be doing reviews for many of the courses available in the coming years, but in this blog we wanted to list the over 350 courses they are offering as of September 2017. You can browse all these courses by category on their website as well:

Browse Over 350 Courses Currently Offered Through the The Great Courses Plus

They have many apps in place now for convenience of watching across many devices. They have their iOS app now which lets you watch on iPads and iPhones. You can also now watch with their app on Apple TV (4th generation). They’ve got an Android app, an Amazon Kindle Fire app, a Roku app, and an Amazon Fire TV app.

They also now have the ability to download videos into the iOS and Android apps so you can watch them on-the-go without having to connect to the Internet or use your precious monthly mobile data plan. And on the iOS app you can now download lectures for audio-only listening so you don’t have to use your screen (and your battery) while you listen to lectures.

We’ve added links in to The Great Courses Plus for The Great Courses that are available through this new subscription service. You can browse these courses along with others that are available in other formats on our Great Courses Publisher page which features video trailers for many of the courses:

Browse Over 350 Courses on our Great Courses Publisher Page

But we haven’t updated their latest courses in a while and there are about 200 newer great courses we need to add to our site. So instead we decided we’d list all 350+ courses they are offering on The Great Courses Plus right here. Once again you can browse all the courses and lectures on their website as well:

Browse Over 350 Courses Currently Offered Through the The Great Courses Plus

Here are all 350+ Great Courses being offered through The Great Courses Plus:

12 Essential Scientific Concepts
The 23 Greatest Solo Piano Works
The 30 Greatest Orchestral Works
30 Masterpieces of the Ancient World
The Addictive Brain
Advanced Investments
The Aging Brain
Alexander the Great and the Macedonian Empire
Algebra I
Algebra II
America and the New Global Economy
America in the Gilded Age and Progressive Era
America’s Founding Fathers
The American Civil War
Analysis and Critique: How To Engage and Write About Anything
Ancient Greek Civilization
Anthropology and the Study of Humanity
The Apocalypse: Controversies and Meaning in Western History
The Apocryphal Jesus
Argumentation: The Study of Effective Reasoning, 2nd Edition
The Art and Craft of Mathematical Problem Solving
The Art of Conflict Management: Achieving Solutions for Life, Work, and Beyond
The Art of Critical Decision Making
The Art of Debate
The Art of Investing: Lessons from History’s Greatest Investors
The Art of Negotiating the Best Deal
The Art of Public Speaking: Lessons from the Greatest Speeches in History
The Art of Storytelling: From Parents to Professionals
The Art of Teaching: Best Practices from a Master Educator
The Art of Travel Photography: Six Expert Lessons
Bach and High Baroque
The Barbarian Empires of the Steppes
Beethoven’s Piano Sonatas
Behavioral Economics: When Psychology and Economics Collide
Being Human: Life Lessons from the Frontiers of Science
Biblical Wisdom Literature
Big Data: How Data Analytics Is Transforming the World
Big History
The Big History of Civilizations
The Big Questions of Philosophy
Biology and Human Behavior: The Neurological Origins of Individuality, 2nd Edition
Biology: The Science of Life
Black Death: The World’s Most Devastating Plague
Black Holes, Tides, and Curved Spacetime: Understanding Gravity
Books that Matter: The Analects of Confucius
Books that Matter: The City of God
Books that Matter: The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
Brain Myths Exploded: Lessons from Neuroscience
Buddhism
Building a Better Vocabulary
Building Great Sentences: Exploring the Writer’s Craft
The Cathedral
Chamber Music of Mozart
Change and Motion: Calculus Made Clear, 2nd Edition
Changing Body Composition through Diet and Exercise
Chemistry and Our Universe: How It All Works
Chemistry, 2nd Edition
Cities of the Ancient World
Classics of Russian Literature
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: Techniques for Retraining Your Brain
Computer Science: From Apps to Programming
Confucius, Jesus, Buddha, Muhammad
The Creative Thinker’s Toolkit
Critical Business Skills for Success
Cultural Literacy
Customs of the World: Using Cultural Intelligence to Adapt, Wherever You Are
Dark Matter, Dark Energy: The Dark Side of the Universe
The Dead Sea Scrolls
The Decisive Battles of World History
Decoding the Secrets of Egyptian Hieroglyphs
Discovering Your Roots: An Introduction to Genealogy
The Early Middle Ages
An Economic History of the World Since 1400
The Economics of Uncertainty
Effective Communication Skills
English Grammar Boot Camp
English in America: A Linguistic History
The Entrepreneur’s Toolkit
Essentials of Strength Training
Essentials of Tai Chi and Qigong
Everyday Engineering: Understanding the Marvels of Daily Life
The Everyday Gourmet: Baking Pastries and Desserts
The Everyday Gourmet: Cooking with Vegetables
The Everyday Gourmet: Essential Secrets of Spices in Cooking
The Everyday Gourmet: How to Master Outdoor Cooking
The Everyday Gourmet: The Joy of Mediterranean Cooking
The Everyday Gourmet: Making Great Meals in Less Time
The Everyday Gourmet: Making Healthy Food Taste Great
The Everyday Gourmet: Rediscovering the Lost Art of Cooking
The Everyday Guide to Wine
The Everyday Guide to Wines of California
Experiencing America: A Smithsonian Tour through American History
Experiencing Hubble: Understanding the Greatest Images of the Universe
The Fall and Rise of China
Famous Greeks
Financial Literacy: Finding Your Way in the Financial Markets
Food: A Cultural Culinary History
Forensic History: Crimes, Frauds, and Scandals
Foundations of Eastern Civilization
Foundations of Organic Chemistry
Foundations of Western Civilization
The Foundations of Western Civilization
Fundamentals of Math
Fundamentals of Photography
Fundamentals of Photography II
Fundamentals of Sustainable Living
Games People Play: Game Theory in Life, Business, and Beyond
Geometry: An Interactive Journey to Mastery
Gnosticism: From Nag Hammadi to the Gospel of Judas
Great Artists of the Italian Renaissance
The Great Ideas of Philosophy, 2nd Edition
The Great Ideas of Psychology
Great Minds of the Medieval World
Great Mythologies of the World
The Great Tours: Experiencing Medieval Europe
The Great Tours: Greece and Turkey, from Athens to Istanbul
Great Utopian and Dystopian Works of Literature
The Great Works of Sacred Music
Great World Religions: Buddhism
Great World Religions: Christianity
Great World Religions: Hinduism
Great World Religions: Islam
Great World Religions: Judaism
Greek 101: Learning Ancient Greek with Homer and the New Testament
The Guide to Essential Italy
Heroes and Legends: The Most Influential Characters of Literature
Hidden Factor
The Higgs Boson and Beyond
The High Middle Ages
The Historical Jesus
The History and Achievements of the Islamic Golden Age
History of Ancient Egypt
A History of British India
The History of Christianity: From the Disciples to the Dawn of the Reformation
A History of Eastern Europe
A History of England from the Tudors to the Stuarts
A History of European Art
A History of Hitler’s Empire, 2nd Edition
History of India
History of Russia: From Peter the Great to Gorbachev
History of the Ancient World: A Global Perspective
History of the Bible: The Making of the New Testament Canon
History of the English Language, 2nd Edition
History of the Supreme Court
The History of the United States, 2nd Edition
History’s Greatest Voyages of Exploration
History’s Great Military Blunders and the Lessons They Teach
The Holy Land Revealed
How Colors Affect You: What Science Reveals
How Conversation Works: 6 Lessons for Better Communication
How Great Science Fiction Works
How Ideas Spread
How Jesus Became God
How Music and Mathematics Relate
How the Stock Market Works
How the World Learns: Comparative Educational Systems
How to Become a SuperStar Student, 2nd Edition
How to Boost Your Physical and Mental Energy
How to Draw
How to Grow Anything: Container Gardening Tips and Techniques
How to Grow Anything: Food Gardening for Everyone
How to Grow Anything: Make Your Trees and Shrubs Thrive
How to Grow Anything: Your Best Garden and Landscape in 6 Lessons
How to Interpret Nonverbal Communication: From Posture to Personal Space
How to Listen to and Understand Great Music, 3rd Edition
How to Listen to and Understand Opera
How to Look at and Understand Great Art
How to Make Stress Work for You
How to Play Chess: Lessons from an International Master
How to Publish Your Book
How to Read and Understand Shakespeare
How to Stay Fit as You Age
How We Learn
How You Decide: The Science of Human Decision Making
Impossible: Physics beyond the Edge
The Industrial Revolution
The Inexplicable Universe: Unsolved Mysteries
Influence: Mastering Life’s Most Powerful Skill
The Intelligent Brain
International Economic Institutions: Globalism vs. Nationalism
Introduction to Archaeology
An Introduction to Formal Logic
An Introduction to Infectious Diseases
Introduction to Paleontology
Irish Identity: Independence, History, and Literature
Jesus and His Jewish Influences
The Joy of Mathematics
The Joy of Science
King Arthur: History and Legend
Language and Society: What Your Speech Says about You
Latin 101: Learning a Classical Language
Learning Spanish
Learning to Play Guitar: Chords, Scales, and Solos
The Life and Death of Stars
Life in Our Universe
Life Lessons from the Great Books
Living History: Experiencing Great Events of the Ancient and Medieval Worlds
Living the French Revolution and the Age of Napoleon
Lost Christianities: Christian Scriptures and the Battles over Authentication
Lost Worlds of South America
Major Transitions in Evolution
Mastering Differential Equations: The Visual Method
Mastering Stage Presence: How to Present to Any Audience
Mastering Tai Chi
Masters of War
Mathematical Decision Making: Predictive Models and Optimization
Mathematics Describing the Real World: Precalculus and Trigonometry
The Mathematics of Games and Puzzles: From Cards to Sudoku
Maya to Aztec: Ancient Mesoamerica Revealed
The Mayo Clinic Guide to Pain Relief
Meaning from Data: Statistics Made Clear
The Meaning of Death and Dying: A Global Survey
Meaning of Life: Perspectives from the World’s Great Intellectual Traditions
Medical Myths, Lies and Half-Truths: What We Think We Know May be Hurting Us
Medical School for Every Parent: Pediatric Medicine
Medical School for Everyone: Emergency Medicine
Medical School for Everyone: Grand Rounds Cases
Memory and the Human Lifespan
Meteorology: An Introduction to the Wonders of the Weather
Mind-Bending Math: Riddles and Paradoxes
Mind-Body Medicine: The New Science of Optimal Health
Mind-Body Philosophy
Modern Intellectual Tradition: From Descartes to Derrida
The Modern Political Tradition: Hobbes to Habermas
Money and Banking
Money Management Skills
Mr. Lincoln: The Life of Abraham Lincoln
Museum Masterpieces: The Louvre
Music and the Brain
Music as a Mirror of History
My Favorite Universe
Mysteries of Modern Physics: Time
The Mysterious Etruscans
Myths, Lies, and Half-truths of Language Usage
The National Geographic Field Guide to Birds of North America
National Geographic Masters of Photography
National Geographic’s Guide to Landscape & Wildlife Photography
Native Peoples of North America
The Nature of Earth: An Introduction to Geology
The Nature of Matter: Understanding the Physical World
A New History of Life
The New Testament
Nutrition Made Clear
Oceanography: Exploring Earth’s Final Wilderness
The Old Testament
Optimizing Brain Fitness
The Origin and Evolution of Earth: From the Big Bang to the Future of Human Existence
Origins of Great Ancient Civilizations
Origins of the Human Mind
Other Side of History
The Ottoman Empire
Our Night Sky
Outsmart Yourself: Brain-Based Strategies to a Better You
Pagans and Early Christianity
Passions: Philosophy and the Intelligence of Emotions
Peoples and Cultures of the World
The Philosopher’s Toolkit: How to Be the Most Rational Person in Any Room
Physics and Our Universe: How It All Works
Physiology and Fitness
Plant Science: An Introduction to Botany
Polar Explorations
Pompeii: Daily Life in an Ancient Roman City
The Power of Mathematical Visualization
Practicing Mindfulness: An Introduction to Meditation
Privacy, Property, and Free Speech: Law and the Constitution in the 21st Century
Prove It: The Art of Mathematical Argument
Quantum Mechanics: The Physics of the Microscopic World
Raising Emotionally and Socially Healthy Kids
Reading Biblical Literature: Genesis to Revelation
Redefining Reality: The Intellectual Implications of Modern Science
The Remarkable Science of Ancient Astronomy
Robotics
Sacred Texts of the World
Science of Complementary and Alternative Medicine
The Science of Energy: Resources and Power Explained
The Science of Extreme Weather
The Science of Information: From Language to Black Holes
The Science of Mindfulness: A Research-Based Path to Well-Being
The Science of Natural Healing
Science Wars: What Scientists Know and How They Know It
Scientific Secrets for a Powerful Memory
Scientific Secrets for Raising Kids Who Thrive
Scientific Secrets for Self-Control
The Search for Exoplanets: What Astronomers Know
The Secret Life of Words: English Words and Their Origins
The Secrets of Great Mystery and Suspense Fiction
The Secrets of Mental Math
Secrets of Sleep Science: From Dreams to Disorders
Skeptics Guide to American History
Skywatching: Seeing and Understanding Cosmic Wonders
Spiritual Brain: Science and Religious Experience
St. Augustine’s Confessions
The Story of Human Language
Story of the Bible
Strategic Thinking Skills
Stress and Your Body
The Surveillance State: Big Data, Freedom, and You
The Theory of Everything: The Quest to Explain All Reality
Thermodynamics: Four Laws That Move the Universe
Thinking about Cybersecurity: From Cyber Crime to Cyber Warfare
Thinking like an Economist: A Guide to Rational Decision Making
Turning Points in Middle Eastern History
Turning Points in Modern History
Understanding Calculus II: Problems, Solutions, and Tips
Understanding Calculus: Problems, Solutions, and Tips
Understanding Cultural and Human Geography
Understanding Genetics: DNA, Genes, and Their Real-World Applications
Understanding Greek and Roman Technology: From Catapult to the Pantheon
Understanding Investments
Understanding Japan: A Cultural History
Understanding Modern Electronics
Understanding Multivariable Calculus: Problems, Solutions, and Tips
Understanding the Brain
Understanding the Human Body: An Introduction to Anatomy and Physiology
Understanding the Inventions That Changed the World
Understanding the Mysteries of Human Behavior
Understanding the Secrets of Human Perception
Understanding the Universe: An Introduction to Astronomy, 2nd Edition
Understanding the World’s Greatest Structures: Science and Innovation from Antiquity to Modernity
Unexpected Economics
The United States and the Middle East: 1914 to 9/11
The Vikings
A Visual Guide to the Universe
What Are the Chances? Probability Made Clear
What Science Knows About Cancer
Why Evil Exists
William Shakespeare: Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies
Wonders of the National Parks: A Geology of North America
The World of Biblical Israel
World War II: A Military and Social History
World’s Greatest Churches
The World’s Greatest Geological Wonders: 36 Spectacular Sites
Writing and Civilization: From Ancient Worlds to Modernity
Writing Creative Nonfiction
Writing Great Essays
Writing Great Fiction: Storytelling Tips and Techniques
Yoga for a Healthy Mind and Body
Your Best Brain
Your Deceptive Mind: A Scientific Guide to Critical Thinking Skills

Don’t watch them all at once! But now you can if you want to!

February 29, 2016

2016 Presidential Candidates Biographies on Audio

Learn about the major 2016 Presidential Candidates with our latest recordings of their Wikipedia biographies on audio. Currently we’ve recorded entries for the leading Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and the leading Republican candidate Donald Trump.

Here is Hillary Clinton’s biography on audio from her Wikipedia article. This biographical text covers Clinton’s life from her early days to her life as the First Lady, up to her life as a senator and as Secretary of State. The article concludes with her current run for the 2016 presidential campaign. You can download it on MP3 here:

Who is Hillary Clinton?: Her Wikipedia Article on MP3 Audio Download

And we’ve also posted the full biography on audio to our YouTube channel for you to listen to:

And here is Donald Trump’s biography on audio from his Wikipedia article. This biographical text covers Trump’s life from his early business career, to his success on TV’s The Apprentice, to his many high profile real estate deals. The article concludes with his current run for the 2016 presidential campaign. You can download it on MP3 here:

Who is Donald Trump?: His Wikipedia Article on MP3 Audio Download

And we’ve also posted the full biography on audio to our YouTube channel for you to listen to:

And here is Bernie Sander’s biography on audio from his Wikipedia article. This short biographical text covers Sanders’ early life, his political evolution from Burlington Vermont mayor to U.S. Senator, and provides a summary of his various political beliefs. The article also includes information on his run as the democratic candidate in the 2016 U.S. Presidential campaign.

Who is Bernie Sanders?: His Wikipedia Article on MP3 Audio Download

And we’ve also posted the full biography on audio to our YouTube channel for you to listen to:

Get out there and vote!!

January 31, 2016

Our Month of Motivation

For many years now we’ve been featuring in the month of January a full month of motivation to boost you into the New Year. In case you missed any of these motivational free audio & video resources we featured, we’re putting them together in this blog post. Start your 2016 with some of these great free resources:

1. The Speaking Voice

Download and listen to this classic self development book for public speaking The Speaking Voice: Principles Of Training Simplified And Condensed by Katherine Jewell Everts. This audio book “contains practical directions accompanied by simple and fundamental exercises, first for the freeing of the voice and then for developing it when free”. Everts deals with speaking in terms of tone, pitch, inflection, and much more. The unabridged 5-hour audio book is read entirely by one of Librivox’s best narrators, Ruth Golding.

You can also listen to this audio book on our YouTube channel:

The Speaking Voice on our YouTube channel

2. Oprah Winfrey on Career, Life, and Leadership

Start your year off with this inspiring talk from Oprah Winfrey delivered at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Oprah tells her story as she went from radio to television news to talk shows, and how she chose in the 1990s to rise above the trashy confrontational TV of her time to create a show which she would use to raise the consciousness of herself and her audience. She then talks about how she moved on to create her own television network. Throughout the talk she sprinkles in life lessons she has learned along the way from the many people she has interviewed, and she gives inspiring advice to the students at Stanford for their life and career.

3. Bill McGowan on Pitch Perfect: How to Say it Right the First Time Every Time

Bill McGowan gives lots of good advice on public speaking and public presentations in this talk at Google. He gives tips from the use of body language to the choice of our words to where to look when giving a speech. He encourages public speakers to not be apologetic, to prepare & rehearse for a speech, and suggests ways to deal with difficult audience members. And he gives such wisdom as such as don’t eat yogurt before your speech or you’ll be clearing your throat a lot. McGowan gives many, many helpful suggestions for the public speaker in all of us.

4. Magic Lessons Podcast

Need some creative inspiration to start your new year!? Look no further than this new podcast by Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love and her latest work Big Magic.

Elizabeth Gilbert’s Magic Lessons Podcast expounds on ideas she has in her latest book Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear. Gilbert talks about creativity with experts such as Brene Brown, John Hodgman, and Rob Bell, along with everyday creative people who are struggling in their creative lives and Gilbert mentors them along. In her podcast on creativity with Brene Brown, they talk candidly about creativity and fear of failure. They ask the essential question “What’s worth doing even if you fail? What do you love doing so much that the word failure doesn’t even have any meaning?” Some very good thoughts here to start your year!

5. Alzheimer’s Prevention Program: Keep Your Brain Healthy for the Rest of Your Life

Dr. Gary Small presents this lecture from UCTV on the latest findings to aid people in preventing Alzheimer’s disease. He shows viewers the brain of an Alzheimer’s patient which has plaque and inflammation build up. Dr. Small suggests ways to prevent Alzheimer’s including exercise, lifelong learning, a healthy diet (with Omega-3 fatty acids), socializing, reducing stress with deep breathing, and a glass of wine per day might not hurt either. He also covers some studies regarding vitamins and supplements which are not yet conclusive. Can we fully prevent Alzheimer’s disease? Not yet, but there are a lot of things we can do improve brain health and memory and reduce the odds of getting Alzheimer’s. This talk is available on MP3 download on the UCTV website and on video through their YouTube channel.

6. Alain de Botton on Art as Therapy

Philosopher Alain de Botton talks about how we can use art as therapy in the modern world in this talk from The School of Life which De Botton founded in 2008. With the decline in devotion to religion since the mid-19th century, artists and art critics since then have argued that we can use art and culture as ways to address issues previously confronted by religion. De Botton feels that museums are our contemporary cathedrals, but expresses his dismay in the chronological way museums are currently curated which are not particularly helpful to their devotees. He suggests a new way of ordering museums according to different life struggles such as anxiety, love, and more. It’s a humorous talk and De Botton includes many references to paintings throughout the talk so it might be best to watch this one.

7. The Neuroscience of Happiness

Dan Gilbert, author of Stumbling on Happiness, hosts this talk on the neuroscience of happiness at The Aspen Institute. To start the talk, Professor of Neuroscience Kent Berridge talks about the hedonic circuits of the brain, and how they are often in deep regions of the brain and not in the cerebral cortex where many of the “higher-order” functions of the human brain take place. He also talks about the dopamine reward system which doesn’t necessarily produce happiness such as in the case of addiction. Next Richie Davidson talks about his findings in the areas of compassion and meditation, and how meditation can lead to changes in the brain that lead to greater resilience and happiness. They field a number of interesting questions from Dan Gilbert and the audience about brain science, such as the differences in the brains of liberals and conservatives.

8. Optimal Living Interviews

With the Optimal Living Interview series, PhilosophersNotes CEO Brian Johnson talks with various authors on the ways we can optimize and actualize our lives. Guests in the series have included Daniel G. Amen, Tal Ben-Shahar, Robin Sharma, Daniel Siegel, Kelly McGonigal, Robert Greene, Michael J. Gelb, David Allen, Mark Hyman, and many more. Topics include ways anyone can seek out and improve their overall nutrition, hone their daily focus, maintain mindfulness, and work towards a balanced life that is full of purpose. Browse over 75 interviews on this YouTube playlist and find one that interests you!

9. 15 Free Audio Books by James Allen

Self-help movement pioneer James Allen penned over 20 books in his lifetime all of which are in the public domain. You can now download 15 of these audio books through Librivox thanks in large part to volunteer narrator Andrea Fiore who has narrated most of them. You can download and listen to our version of his most popular work: As a Man Thinketh along with 14 others including:

Above Life’s Turmoil

All These Things Added

Byways to Blessedness

The Divine Companion

Eight Pillars of Prosperity

Foundation Stones to Happiness and Success

From Passion to Peace

The Heavenly Life

Light on Life’s Difficulties

Man: King of Mind, Body, and Circumstance

The Mastery of Destiny

Out from the Heart

The Path of Prosperity

The Way of Peace

Download one of these inspirational classics today!

15 Free Audio Books by James Allen

10. King: Man Of Peace In A Time Of War

This documentary available on Hulu starts out with the life and accomplishments of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. during the civil rights movement. The majority of the documentary centers on an interview with Dr. King in 1967 conducted on the popular television talk series “The Mike Douglas Show.” In this interview Dr. King addresses questions regarding his opposition to the U.S. involvement in the war in Vietnam. He speaks eloquently about the need for the U.S. to stop the war, a position which he had held for some time and the majority of the U.S. population was coming to support as well. The documentary also features interviews with notable figures such as Rev. Jesse Jackson and former Secretary of State Colin Powell. It’s an interesting documentary that goes beyond King’s involvement in the Civil Rights Movement to his promotion of peace worldwide. Note: Hulu movies are only available to watch in the United States.

11. Greg McKeown on Essentialism

In this 40-minute talk from Google, author Greg McKeown lays out how to become an “essentialist” by having clarity of purpose and being able to use the power of no to say “no” to things that do not align with your purpose. He uses examples of people such as Rosa Parks and Gandhi as people who were “essentialists” in that they had clarity of purpose and they evaluated their priority and stuck to it. Because if you don’t prioritize your own life, someone else will do it for you. It’s a good talk for anyone that fields a bit scattered in their day-to-day operations.

12. David A. Kessler: The End of Overeating

David A. Kessler, former Commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (and the man who helped bring us “Nutrition Facts” on food labeling), discusses his book The End of Overeating in this talk from the Forum Network. He tries to decipher why obesity rates have risen since the 1960s and focuses on salt, sugar, and fat. He argues that these three elements of food hijack the brains reward system and work much like addictive drugs which keep people eating more and more. He proposes public and personal initiatives to instill values of eating whole foods, and changing perceptions of eating foods with salt, sugar, and fat much like public perceptions of smoking have been changed.

And if you need some more encouragement to reduce your sugar consumption, watch this talk from Dr. Robert Lustig:

Robert Lustig on Sugar

Robert Lustig speaks at Google and gives us the history of the rise of the obesity epidemic as he attempts to debunk the idea that it is due to people being gluttonous and slothful. He goes into the history of the sugar and high fructose corn syrup industry, and how fat free processed foods have had sugar added to make them taste better and have longer shelf lives. He connects the rise of sugar consumption with the rise of obesity globally, and he shows that high sugar consumption has many of the same health effects as high alcohol consumption. He encourages political action in the face of a powerful sugar-based food industry, and on a personal level discourages eating foods high in sugar.

13. Jonah Berger on Contagious: Why Things Catch On

We all have ideas we want to share whether it be with friends or in business, and we would all we like these ideas to be influential and spread. In this talk at Google, Jonah Berger takes a look at why certain ideas spread and go viral either by word of mouth or by social media. Berger covers some internet phenomenon that have gone viral and why. He lists six things that make an idea contagious: 1. Their social currency that represents someone’s status, 2. Triggers in the environment, 3. Emotion (when we care we share), 4. Publicly visible (such as Apple’s white headphones), 5. Practical value (news you can use), and 6. Using stories that carry ideas in them. He then answers questions, such as why are cats so viral?!

14. The Republic

The Republic by Plato is one of the most influential works of philosophy in history. In the form of Socratic dialogue, Plato’s teacher and protagonist Socrates sets out to find an answer to the question: “What is justice?”. Along the way Socrates discusses the ideal city-state and his theory of forms, which includes his famous allegory of the cave. This audiobook is read by Librivox’s star narrator Bob Neufeld.

You can also listen to this version of The Republic via our YouTube channel:

The Republic (on our YouTube Channel)

And if you need some motivation for reading or listening to some of the classics this year, watch this lecture from Big Think:

Jeffrey Brenzel: The Essential Value of a Classic Education

Jeffrey Brenzel, Philosopher and Dean of Undergraduate Admissions at Yale University, argues why you should read old and outdated classics as opposed to just new books. First he lays out his criteria for what makes a work of literature a classic. He briefly delves into some of the classics such as Plato’s Republic and how the thought of Plato and Socrates influenced Western thought up to the present day. He explains that studying classic books helps us understand how we got to where we are now, but also provides us with alternative perspectives that we may not encounter in our daily life that can broaden and enrich our view of the World. Ultimately he argues that while the classics might take more effort to read than your latest bestseller, they produce richer rewards that can change your ideas and your life.

15. Dr. Mehmet Oz on Better Health, Healing, and Living Well

One of America’s most famous doctors gives a ton of health advice in this hour long talk at The 92nd Street Y. Dr. Oz provides his ideas on why people make lasting changes in their lives to live healthier. He goes on to suggest many ways we can all live healthier from diet to exercise to deep breathing to ways to get a better night sleep. It’s a very informative lecture from the enthusiastic health expert Dr. Oz!

16. Your Body Language Shapes Who You Are

Watch the second most popular TED Talk of all time! If you’re not one of the 30 million people who have viewed it thus far, then we highly recommend you watch this one. Social psychologist Amy Cuddy makes a strong case for faking it until you make it, or rather, fake it til you become it, in this inspiring talk. She focuses on the importance of posture and how our bodies can affect our minds which can then lead to better outcomes, and she references numerous studies where posture played an important role in outcomes. At the end of the talk she tells of her own moving experience with “faking it” until she had become the person who she doubted she could be. We recommend watching this TED talk as there are a lot of visual references in it. It’s a must see!

17. Hay House Meditations Podcast

The popular spiritual growth publisher Hay House is offering over 50 guided meditations on their meditation podcast from many of their top authors including Dr. Wayne Dyer, Louise Hay, Judith Orloff, Marianne Williamson, and many more of their bestselling authors. The podcasts vary in their theme and in their running time giving you many options to choose from. There are quick 3-minute meditations to 25-minute meditations, you can find a guided meditation that fits you schedule. Enjoy this podcast from Hay House.

If you like some guided imagery along with your meditation you can also check out Hay House’s Monday Meditation playlist on YouTube featuring over 60 meditations:

Monday Meditations from Hay House on YouTube

18. Top 100 Free Motivational Speeches, Lectures, & Podcasts

To give you a boost this year, we’ve updated our top 100 free motivational audio & video learning resources that we have featured on our site. For the past seven years we’ve featured a Monday Motivation email every week as part of our Free Resource of the Day Emails. From these resources we’ve selected the top 100 free motivational audio & video resources. You can check them all out by clicking the titles below. We’ve attempted to order them according the best of the best, but they are all highly motivational free resources to inspire you to greater health & wealth in all areas of your life.