James

Annual Listen

Revisado: 12-24-21

I listen to this book every Advent, and always come away with new incites.I highly recommend this listen.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Horrible

Revisado: 03-06-19

Don’t waste a hour. Not funny, not clever, not interesting. Frankly hard to get through.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 17 personas

Riveting, But Believe the Warnings

Revisado: 03-04-19

Spent the better part of my weekend listening to this performance. I could not stop. I'm not much into fiction, mostly listen to lecture series and non-fiction, but this one caught my eye. The writing was very good. John Waters was even better as narrator. The tale is pretty dark and gloomy and definitely R if no not X rated, mostly due to the casual, graphic violence. Plenty of sex, but it's much less explicit. As with most sci-fi thrillers, the end kind of disappoints.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 35 personas

Better to Get Video

Revisado: 01-08-19

The topic is fascinating. The narration is a bit dull, especially the chapter on telescopes. Despite one reviewer, I believe the video portion would make this series much more enjoyable. There were many times when the lecturer referred to a pic of some celestial phenomenon that's impossible to envision. The pdf materials help some. But I can image the simultaneous images aid the explanation.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 13 personas

Western scholar’s parochialism view

Revisado: 12-26-17

Enjoyed this series a great deal. Only criticism is a statement causally made by lecturer. She asserted the Black Death was the largest calamity as far as deaths. I think the loss suffered by native Americans after first contact would count more in shear numbers and definitely more as a proportion of the population.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 4 personas

Influenced Only by the Science

Revisado: 09-06-16

The lecturer is unconcerned with political perspectives when it comes to energy policy. He simply does the math. You think nuclear is the answer? Here's the math on what it takes to generate that form of energy. All detailed without editorializing. Solar? OK, this is how much land is needed for this much energy. He simply weighs the pros and cons for every type of energy. It's just the facts, ma'am.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 51 personas

Great Course, with One Peccadillo

Revisado: 06-03-15

Course was great, very much worth the listen. The one complaint is a common refrain among history scholars of the Civil War. That is "the American southern Whites are the only American Whites who have experienced being conquered by an outside force." Meaning, the Union army was a "foreign" occupying force.
It comes across as an explanation for the backward racial and social attitudes of many White southerns.
But wait, What about the Hispanics of the Southwest who were conquered by the invading American armies and were forced to either emigrate to Mexico or become US citizens. Those Hispanic were (and are) of Spanish decent. Spain, last I checked was a European country, thus considered "White." Thus, is it not true that the Hispanic natives of New Mexico, California,Texas, Arizona, Colorado, Nevada and Utah are American Whites who also experienced a conquering force?
Yet, you'll never hear SW Hispanic say "Mexico's going to rise again!" like southerns are found of saying "South's gonna rise again!" I think we need a better explanation for southern attitudes.
Otherwise, a well balanced and listenable lecture series.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Disappointment in the Extreme

Revisado: 05-22-15

The worst lecture series I have ever heard, albeit partial heard; I could not make to the end.
There was no discernible scholarship in this series. I approached the series with great anticipation: an Amherst scholar talking about the how civilizations have historically contemplated or understood the divine. Perhaps it would give some insights into the Torah, Koran, Gospels, Bhagavad Gita, etc.
Unfortunately, it was nothing more than uniformed musing or impressions of the lecturer. No textual discussions. No analysis of how the concept of the creator has changed age to age and from culture to culture. He does not seem to understand basic theological concepts.
The Christian concept of the Trinity he refers to as "God divided into three." That is a mistake that no scholar of religion should make.
He compared our current societal obsession with celebrity to ancient polytheism. Modern people know our celebrities are mortal. We know celebrities dwell on the earthly plain. The ancients' deities were immortal and did not, generally, dwell on this earthly coil. It was insulting to both ancients and modern people.
This is a topic worthy of serious scholarship. It will not be found in this series.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 5 personas

Lecture Exposes is Prejudices

Revisado: 11-07-14

Over all a very interesting lecture series. But the lecturer is clearly anti Catholic hierarchy. That is revealed at Lecture 41 approx. 20:40 when he discusses Francis of Assisi. First he states that Francis order was known as Fratichelli. Then is states the Church's rejected the "little brothers" and excommunicated them. WOW. The Church excommunicated St. Francis' order? Well not quite. St. Francis and the Franciscans were never excommunicated and were always embraced by pope and the Church. Some orders that the Italian people designated as Fraticelli were considered heretical by the Church. It's a bit disappointing that type of juxtaposition is used to create a false impression of historical facts.
The lecture's anti-Catholic hierarchy is clear in his discussions of the Churches influence on medieval daily life. I emphasize his disdain is directed at Church hierarchy because he goes out of his way to laud the contributions of monks, priests, nuns and other church people in their aid and comfort of everyday people.
With that caveat, I would recommend this series.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 6 personas

Good Catholic Overview

Revisado: 08-13-13

This is the second lecture series I listened to from Prof. Johnson. He is extremely well prepared and keeps the topics interesting. I clearly has no use for the search of the "Historical Jesus" and makes a pretty compelling case for why that search is futile and irrelevant. He assumes you have knowledge of the canonical gospels, which is nice if you are looking for a more advanced course.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 16 personas