The Great Courses

Logic is intellectual self-defense against such assaults on reason and also a method of quality control for checking the validity of your own views. But beyond these very practical benefits, informal logic—the kind we apply in daily life—is the gateway to an elegant and fascinating branch of philosophy known as formal logic, which is philosophy’s equivalent to calculus. Formal logic is a breathtakingly versatile tool. Much like a Swiss army...

Examine a famous graph algorithm called breadth-first search, which shows the shortest path connecting nodes in a tree. Use this technique to write a program creating an entertaining game, in which a word is transformed one letter at a time, with each new iteration required to be a valid word.

At this legendary site, reconstruct the sequence and rituals of a visit to the oracle in ancient times. Enter the lower sanctuary, making offerings en route to the temple, with its dual warnings to the pilgrim, where the Pythia (priestess) speaks for the god in answer to each seeker's question.

Explore the most iconic Hubble photo of all: the glowing pillars of gas and dust at the core of the Eagle Nebula. Resembling a fantasy landscape, this view shows young stars emerging from their cocoons of gas and dust in an interstellar molecular cloud.

A boy in the woods, raised by wolves and living by the law of the jungle: This story is familiar, thanks to Rudyard Kipling's classic stories and the later Disney film. Revisit the original stories to see what they say about humanity, morality, imperialism, and political responsibility.

This lecture focuses on looking at the world around you with a new lens, showing you how to convey those memories you've kept as an experience rather than just a recounting of facts. You'll travel down the streets of London with Virginia Woolf to explore her home as a stranger might, learning how taking on a new perspective can translate into compelling essays.

Learn about some of the most dangerous ways people can exploit the Internet's vulnerabilities, including DDoS attacks (which flood websites with connection requests), "Trojans" (malware hidden inside an innocent piece of information), and "botnets" (which control computers like puppets). Then, investigate some common defense mechanisms that help pinpoint and capture these threats.

In the first of two episodes on nuclear physics, study the atomic nucleus, which consists of positively charged protons and electrically neutral neutrons, held together by the strong nuclear force. Many combinations of protons and neutrons are unstable; such nuclei are radioactive and decay with characteristic half lives.

Cream-puff pastry is unique in that it's a twice-cooked pastry dough. And its applications go far beyond what you'd expect. In this lesson, master the aft of baking and experimenting with puff pastry and use it to create some unbelievably decadent desserts. Among these: chocolate eclairs, cream puffs, and deep-fried Mexican churros. Along the way, you'll also get tips on making pastry cream, chocolate ganache, and caramel topping.

According to Dr. Benaroch, to best treat a patient, you sometimes have to treat the patient's family. See this principle in action through a 16-year-old complaining of chronic bronchitis and a 60-year-old found unresponsive with low blood sugar-both of whom have families to help support a doctor's efforts to diagnose and heal.