Can you spare an hour and a half?
August 2, 2011 8:21 AM   Subscribe

Want to learn about Nietzsche? Kierkegaard? Wittgenstein? How about Kafka or Virginia Woolf?

And many others.
90 minutes each.
posted by Obscure Reference (14 comments total) 73 users marked this as a favorite
 
And many others.

I scanned the list, briefly contemplating the world of knowledge available at my fingertips; more than two millennia of thought, summarized and read aloud, saving me even the trivial difficulty of turning a pa-- Rainbow Sponge slowed down 50%???
posted by theodolite at 8:37 AM on August 2, 2011 [1 favorite]


With all the good documentaries out there, sites like this really need to supply transcripts. I can read/skim a transcript for a 90 minute documentary in 10 minutes. I honestly can't commit 90 minutes in the hope of a dazzling insight (given the rarity of such).
posted by storybored at 8:48 AM on August 2, 2011 [7 favorites]


I'm torn on this, it's maddeningly introductory, which makes it perfect for my students. (Though the orators measured tone and pace will make it somewhat less likely that they'll sit through the whole 90 minutes).
posted by oddman at 8:52 AM on August 2, 2011 [3 favorites]


Did someone mention Wittgenstein?

Seriously, I've picked up quite a few of Strathern's books. They are fun reading, but I don't know if I'd want to listen to them.
posted by wittgenstein at 9:15 AM on August 2, 2011 [1 favorite]


These are pirated.

Book: Nietzsche in 90 Minutes by Paul Strathern, published by Ivan R Dee (September 1, 1996). $9.95

Audiobook: Nietzsche in 90 Minutes, narrated by Robert Whitfield, Blackstone Audio, 2004. $11.17
posted by stbalbach at 9:20 AM on August 2, 2011 [1 favorite]


I listened to parts of the Wittgenstein lecture and dropped it after a while. The lecture is tinted with smart-ass remarks about Wittgenstein's project that have more to do with W's personality, than the ideas stated therein. In fact, the lecture was more about the lecturer's opinion re: W, which appears to be wholly uninformed compared to others I have read, and heard. I found the lecturer quite snotty, and boring. I don't know about the other videos, but the lecture about W deserves little more than a D+.

Normally, I save stuff like this as a favorite. I won't be taking that action with this series. It's not only a "poor man's" lecture series, but it appears to be delivered by someone who is full of himself, and poor in the spirit with which - at least Wittgenstein, anyway - approached the topic of philosophy.
posted by Vibrissae at 9:36 AM on August 2, 2011


If you don't have ninety minutes, you can get the job done in three.
posted by Apropos of Something at 9:41 AM on August 2, 2011 [2 favorites]


Efficiency is an ugly aesthetic.
posted by TwelveTwo at 9:50 AM on August 2, 2011


Are these really just someone ripping a still-in-print book-on-tape, and then posting it on YouTube? I don't know what MeFi's official policy on intellectual property is, but I'd find that icky.
posted by benito.strauss at 9:51 AM on August 2, 2011 [1 favorite]


I'm afraid of Virginia Woolf.
posted by monospace at 10:04 AM on August 2, 2011


In theory, I want to like this, but if you're trying to get Wittgenstein in 90 minutes, you're probably doing it wrong...
posted by Lutoslawski at 10:19 AM on August 2, 2011 [2 favorites]


David Hume could out-consume
Wilhelm Freidrich Hegel
And Wittgenstein, the beery swine,
Was just as sloshed as Schlegel.
posted by Mental Wimp at 11:07 AM on August 2, 2011 [1 favorite]


These are really great but... are they legal? I hope so! Because I love the voice and writing. Reminds me of bill bryson.
posted by rebent at 2:49 PM on August 2, 2011


> are they legal?

Nope.

The voice is Simon Vance (aka Robert Whitfield and RichardMatthews).
posted by stbalbach at 3:23 PM on August 2, 2011


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