It’s a wrap for the week:
Subscribe to Our Feed and Tell a Friend About Open Culture
Back when we started out, we mentioned a radio show — and now podcast — coming out of Stanford that offers a “down-to-earth and no-nonsense approach” to philosophy that’s engaging, if not entertaining. It’s called Philosophy Talk, and you can catch some of the old programs on iTunes.
Now, about 6,000 miles and eight time zones away, another philosophy podcast, Philosophy Bites (iTunes – Feed – Web Site), has been launched in England by David Edmonds and Nigel Warburton (see bios here). Interviewing top philosophers, the two delve into some essential philosophical questions — what is the meaning of life? what is the nature of reality? what is evil?, etc. And then they get into some other good questions: Can philosophers contribute to public life, and is wine tasting subjective?
The latest podcast (which can be accessed via the feed, but not yet via iTunes) features an interview with Alain de Botton, who has managed to write snappy bestsellers that tackle philosophical questions. It takes a rare writer to pull that off, and his books are definitely worth a look. After launching his career with How Proust Can Change Your Life, he has more recently published The Consolations of Philosophy and The Architecture of Happiness. And it is this last book that the latest podcast revolves around.
As a final note, Nigel Warburton has also put out another podcast, Philosophy: The Classics (iTunes) in which he reads from a recently published book with the same title. You may want to give it a listen.
For more podcasts along these lines, see our Arts & Culture podcast collection.
One of our readers tipped us off to a couple of vintage jazz clips on YouTube. First up is footage of Miles Davis and John Coltrane playing a nice rendition of “So What,” the leadoff tune from Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue (1959), an album that ranks at the very top of the jazz canon. There is a reason why it has five stars and 649 reviews on Amazon. It’s just a damn good album.
Next up, we give you Coltrane playing “My Favorite Things,” which was first released in 1960 on an album with the same title. This complex reworking of the song made famous by The Sound of Music came to be Coltrane’s most requested tune. And the video (1961) shows Trane literally and figuratively breathing new life into the soprano saxophone.
Our collection of podcasts will help you start speaking Mandarin or Cantonese. To learn more languages, see our complete collection of foreign language lesson podcasts.
Our collection of podcasts will help you start getting comfortable in English. To learn more languages, see our complete collection of foreign language lesson podcasts.
Another week, another wrap:
Subscribe to Our Feed and Tell a Friend About Open Culture
Get the best cultural and educational resources on the web curated for you in a daily email. We never spam. Unsubscribe at any time.
FOLLOW ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Open Culture scours the web for the best educational media. We find the free courses and audio books you need, the language lessons & educational videos you want, and plenty of enlightenment in between.
©2006-2021 Open Culture, LLC.
All rights reserved.
