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12 Essential Scientific Concepts
Science is such a vast arena of knowledge that people looking for a better grasp of its secrets often wonder where to begin. The answer: with the essentials. Now, finally satisfy your desire for scientific inquiry in a way that makes this enormous field accessible, understandable, and undeniably captivating. Professor Viskontas boils down the scientific world into 12 key concepts every educated person should know. Devoting two lectures to each concept to give you more time to engage with it, her 24-lecture series is an engaging and enlightening introduction to everything from the behavior of subatomic particles to the latest theories about the Big Bang. Throughout, you'll get accessible looks at key building blocks of scientific knowledge, including brain plasticity, fluid mechanics, electromagnetism, genetics, quantum theory, emergence, evolution, thermodynamics, the Big Bang, and the nature of matter. Each concept is presented in a clear, concise way that will inform and delight you, and that will give you the opportunity to probe the invisible life of living cells, visit the universe seconds after its birth, and much more. Concepts that may have eluded you in school, that you may not be familiar with, or that you simply never appreciated for their intricate beauty are now brought to vivid life in a way that sticks. Welcome to the world of science - reduced to its powerful essence.
13 pages, Audible Audio
First published January 1, 2014
18 people are currently reading
209 people want to read
About the author
Indre Viskontas
6 books70 followersIndre Viskontas is a sought-after science communicator across all mediums. She co-hosted the 6-episode docuseries Miracle Detectives on the Oprah Winfrey Network and has appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show, major radio stations across the US, including several appearances on the NPR program City Arts & Lectures and The Sunday Edition on the CBC in Canada. She currently co-hosts the web series Science in Progress for Tested.com and VRV. She is also the host of the popular science podcast Inquiring Minds, which boasts more than 7 million downloads. As a working singer, she is especially interested in the intersection between art and science, particularly when it involves music, and her new podcast, Cadence: what music tells us about the mind is now available on iTunes.
Follow her on twitter: @indrevis
Combining a passion for music with scientific curiosity, she is affectionately known as Dr. Dre by her students at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where she is pioneering the application of neuroscience to musical training, and at the University of San Francisco, where she is an Adjunct Professor of Psychology. She received a BSc in psychology and French literature from the University of Toronto, an MM degree in vocal performance at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and a PhD in cognitive neuroscience at UCLA.
As a scientist, Dr. Viskontas has published more than 50 original papers and chapters related to the neural basis of memory and creativity, including several seminal articles in top scientific journals. Her scientific work has been featured in Oliver Sacks’ book Musicophilia, Nature: Science Careers and Discover Magazine. She has also written for Mother Jones.com, American Scientist, Vitriol Magazine and other publications.
She often gives keynote talks, for organizations as diverse as Genentech, the Dallas Symphony, SXSW and Ogilvy along with frequent invited talks at conferences and academic institutions. Her 24-lecture course Essential Scientific Concepts was released by The Great Courses in 2014, selling more than 20,000 copies in its first year. Her second course, Brain Myths Exploded: Lessons from Neuroscience was released in early 2017.
Follow her on twitter: @indrevis
Combining a passion for music with scientific curiosity, she is affectionately known as Dr. Dre by her students at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where she is pioneering the application of neuroscience to musical training, and at the University of San Francisco, where she is an Adjunct Professor of Psychology. She received a BSc in psychology and French literature from the University of Toronto, an MM degree in vocal performance at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and a PhD in cognitive neuroscience at UCLA.
As a scientist, Dr. Viskontas has published more than 50 original papers and chapters related to the neural basis of memory and creativity, including several seminal articles in top scientific journals. Her scientific work has been featured in Oliver Sacks’ book Musicophilia, Nature: Science Careers and Discover Magazine. She has also written for Mother Jones.com, American Scientist, Vitriol Magazine and other publications.
She often gives keynote talks, for organizations as diverse as Genentech, the Dallas Symphony, SXSW and Ogilvy along with frequent invited talks at conferences and academic institutions. Her 24-lecture course Essential Scientific Concepts was released by The Great Courses in 2014, selling more than 20,000 copies in its first year. Her second course, Brain Myths Exploded: Lessons from Neuroscience was released in early 2017.
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September 15, 2016
From the course guide:
Professor Indre Viskontas is a Cognitive Neuroscience Affiliate at the Memory and Aging Center at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), where she studies the emergence of creativity
in patients with dementia. In addition, she is a member of the collegiate faculty at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where she is pioneering the application of neuroscience to musical training. She completed her B.Sc.in Psychology and French Literature at Trinity College in the University of Toronto, her M.M. (Master of Music) in Vocal Performance at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and her Ph.D. in Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).
IOW, she's a really smart gal, has an excellent narrative voice, & she's pretty to boot. She seems to be very active in a lot of projects both in science & art. I like the idea of marrying art & science together. When she first said it, I was reminded of Fenyman's remarks on the subject. She quickly followed with the same quote, so a great beginning.
Lecture 1 - The Miracle of Life was interesting, but not very satisfying. She spouted a lot of good & interesting scientific facts, but never got to the meat of matter, the question she started with - What is life? She describes how water & carbon work together creating amino acids, which form peptides, then polypeptides, & finally proteins. She mentions sugars, lipids, hormones, & more, but doesn't really discuss the how the energy is stored & released. She mentions DNA, but never mentions a current thought that spreading DNA is one of the purposes of life. She barely mentions viruses & never asks the hard question of whether they are alive or not. Maybe in the next lecture?
Lecture 2 - The Organization of Life gets into the basics of a cell & she does a wonderful job explaining what some of the parts do. She does mention viruses, but without any real discussion as to whether they're alive or not. Again interesting, but she seems to have lost her point because we jump from viruses to the human brain & a discussion of neurons. Wow! OK, the brain is highly organized, but our versions of how subjects are related seems to differ.
Lecture 3 - Evolution:The Tireless Tinkerer was well done. Her thumbnail of Darwin was very good. I like how she says nature tinkers & distinguishes that from design. In another book I recently read, the point was made better by stressing 2 points: First by not the 'fittest', but the 'good enough' AND at spreading copies of its DNA. She pretty much says the same thing, but not as clearly.
Lecture 4 - Other Mechanisms of Evolution She gets into the subtle differences in some of the methods of evolution along with just enough statistics to back things up without losing me. Her illustration of a jar of marbles for genetic drift (random choice of 2 colors) was pretty good. I loved her explanation of the Hardy-Weinberg Principle & its importance. Then she used that to ground genetic variation.
Lecture 5 - DNA and Heritability Mendelian inheritance with a thumbnail of Gregor was well done. Then she really digs into DNA in detail, a bit more than I needed, but it was all interesting & understandable, some new to me, & the rest a good refresher. It also set the stage well for the next lecture.
Lecture 6 - Epigenetics, Mutations, and Gene Insertion was really interesting because she outlined how environmental factors can affect our genetics. Nature versus nature is not a valid question because they're too intertwined with too many variables. I wish she'd gotten into GMOs & their various types/methods, though. A lot of this was new to me & I may listen to this lecture again.
Lecture 7 - The Illusion of Coherence—How We See was a bit of whiplash again as we suddenly went from genes to the eye & how the brain handles sight. I hadn't realized we parsed our vision into 3 parts of the brain & then put it together again. I found it all fascinating.
Lecture 8 - Acoustic Perception Deconstructed was mentioned in the previous lecture & now she goes into great detail about it. The evolutionary angle on it was new to me & I've never had the sense explained so well.
Lecture 9 - Our Changing Brain amazed me. She really hits her stride here as she explains how & why the brain can change. In this section, she describes it at the cellular level.
Lecture 10 - Plasticity, Brain Training, and Beyond gets into the regions of the brain, which ones can change, how, & why. Being a taxi driver could give you a bigger hippocampus. Who knew? Very interesting about epilepsy. She also raises an interesting question about aids for the brain & parallels an old joke in doing so:
Man: Would you sleep with me for a million dollars?
Woman: Sure!
Man: Would you sleep with me for $10?
Woman: What?!!! Do you think I'm a whore?
Man: We've already established that. Now we're negotiating price.
I'm not sure if she thought of this joke, but she parallels it as she asks if she's still human with a chip in her brain to keep her from having seizures? What if she has artificial limbs or a other replacements? What if everything is human save for the brain, though? Like the joke, there are easy judgements & then one that makes me reevaluate them all. Unfortunately, she doesn't spend any time exploring this, though.
Lecture 11 - Magnetism and Its Magic this & the next 2 lectures were OK. Not really her thing & I was already familiar with most of it. She's competent enough, but it came off as more work & less sheer pleasure than when she discusses the brain.
Lecture 12 - Electrical Forces, Fields, and Circuits
Lecture 13 - Thermodynamics—Heat, Energy, and Work
Lecture 14 - Metabolism—Energy in the Cell is now ready for discussion using the principles just discussed. This seems like a real leap, but it wasn't as wrenching as some of the earlier ones. This was fairly well done, but she got into a LOT of detail & then said a portion was beyond the scope of the lecture. I wish she'd either quit a little earlier or kept going.
Lecture 15 - Fluid Mechanics—Pressure, Buoyancy, Flow she did a pretty good job, especially describing Bernoulli’s principle, but the air flow pressure difference doesn't account for all the lift in an airplane's wing. I checked the study guide & she's got it wrong there, too. This was the same mistake I was taught in school & I hated it then because we knew the math didn't work. Here's a good, fast video explaining it correctly. Why is this still around? Disappointing, especially here & it underlines that she's outside of her area of expertise.
Lecture 16 - Navigation and Propulsion in Fluids was pretty good, but kind of long for the information it imparts. Again, a bit rote, not really her thing.
Lecture 17 - The Big Bang That Didn’t - She ends this lecture with 3 ideas for the end of the universe leaving out a fourth that she does mention in lecture 22. This lecture was the best of this half dozen. I won't bother reviewing them all. I'll just say that she's obviously learned the material, but just enough to lecture on it. I don't get the feeling she really knows it any better than I already did (I'm sure she does.) since she managed to confuse me a few times. There is none of the vigor of her lectures in her areas of expertise. She mentions Fenyman saying that 'if you can't explain something simply, you don't really understand it' several times. While she didn't fail, I wouldn't give her high marks.
Lecture 18 - The Four Forces of Nature
Lecture 19 - The Elements of Everything
Lecture 20 - Looks like a Particle, Acts like a Wave
Lecture 21 - Quanta, Uncertainty, and a Cat
Lecture 22 - String Theory, Membranes, and the Multiverse
Lecture 23 - Emergence—Simple Rules, Complex Systems
Lecture 24 - Order out of Chaos were both interesting & parts of it were quite good. Emergence is very interesting, but she didn't mention chaos theory at all. This whole section might have been better at the beginning of the course.
All in all, this set of lectures has its moments. I might listen to parts of it again, but half of it is certainly explained better elsewhere. Still, it's a worthy effort & she's easy to listen to, especially in her areas of expertise.
Professor Indre Viskontas is a Cognitive Neuroscience Affiliate at the Memory and Aging Center at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), where she studies the emergence of creativity
in patients with dementia. In addition, she is a member of the collegiate faculty at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where she is pioneering the application of neuroscience to musical training. She completed her B.Sc.in Psychology and French Literature at Trinity College in the University of Toronto, her M.M. (Master of Music) in Vocal Performance at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and her Ph.D. in Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).
IOW, she's a really smart gal, has an excellent narrative voice, & she's pretty to boot. She seems to be very active in a lot of projects both in science & art. I like the idea of marrying art & science together. When she first said it, I was reminded of Fenyman's remarks on the subject. She quickly followed with the same quote, so a great beginning.
Lecture 1 - The Miracle of Life was interesting, but not very satisfying. She spouted a lot of good & interesting scientific facts, but never got to the meat of matter, the question she started with - What is life? She describes how water & carbon work together creating amino acids, which form peptides, then polypeptides, & finally proteins. She mentions sugars, lipids, hormones, & more, but doesn't really discuss the how the energy is stored & released. She mentions DNA, but never mentions a current thought that spreading DNA is one of the purposes of life. She barely mentions viruses & never asks the hard question of whether they are alive or not. Maybe in the next lecture?
Lecture 2 - The Organization of Life gets into the basics of a cell & she does a wonderful job explaining what some of the parts do. She does mention viruses, but without any real discussion as to whether they're alive or not. Again interesting, but she seems to have lost her point because we jump from viruses to the human brain & a discussion of neurons. Wow! OK, the brain is highly organized, but our versions of how subjects are related seems to differ.
Lecture 3 - Evolution:The Tireless Tinkerer was well done. Her thumbnail of Darwin was very good. I like how she says nature tinkers & distinguishes that from design. In another book I recently read, the point was made better by stressing 2 points: First by not the 'fittest', but the 'good enough' AND at spreading copies of its DNA. She pretty much says the same thing, but not as clearly.
Lecture 4 - Other Mechanisms of Evolution She gets into the subtle differences in some of the methods of evolution along with just enough statistics to back things up without losing me. Her illustration of a jar of marbles for genetic drift (random choice of 2 colors) was pretty good. I loved her explanation of the Hardy-Weinberg Principle & its importance. Then she used that to ground genetic variation.
Lecture 5 - DNA and Heritability Mendelian inheritance with a thumbnail of Gregor was well done. Then she really digs into DNA in detail, a bit more than I needed, but it was all interesting & understandable, some new to me, & the rest a good refresher. It also set the stage well for the next lecture.
Lecture 6 - Epigenetics, Mutations, and Gene Insertion was really interesting because she outlined how environmental factors can affect our genetics. Nature versus nature is not a valid question because they're too intertwined with too many variables. I wish she'd gotten into GMOs & their various types/methods, though. A lot of this was new to me & I may listen to this lecture again.
Lecture 7 - The Illusion of Coherence—How We See was a bit of whiplash again as we suddenly went from genes to the eye & how the brain handles sight. I hadn't realized we parsed our vision into 3 parts of the brain & then put it together again. I found it all fascinating.
Lecture 8 - Acoustic Perception Deconstructed was mentioned in the previous lecture & now she goes into great detail about it. The evolutionary angle on it was new to me & I've never had the sense explained so well.
Lecture 9 - Our Changing Brain amazed me. She really hits her stride here as she explains how & why the brain can change. In this section, she describes it at the cellular level.
Lecture 10 - Plasticity, Brain Training, and Beyond gets into the regions of the brain, which ones can change, how, & why. Being a taxi driver could give you a bigger hippocampus. Who knew? Very interesting about epilepsy. She also raises an interesting question about aids for the brain & parallels an old joke in doing so:
Man: Would you sleep with me for a million dollars?
Woman: Sure!
Man: Would you sleep with me for $10?
Woman: What?!!! Do you think I'm a whore?
Man: We've already established that. Now we're negotiating price.
I'm not sure if she thought of this joke, but she parallels it as she asks if she's still human with a chip in her brain to keep her from having seizures? What if she has artificial limbs or a other replacements? What if everything is human save for the brain, though? Like the joke, there are easy judgements & then one that makes me reevaluate them all. Unfortunately, she doesn't spend any time exploring this, though.
Lecture 11 - Magnetism and Its Magic this & the next 2 lectures were OK. Not really her thing & I was already familiar with most of it. She's competent enough, but it came off as more work & less sheer pleasure than when she discusses the brain.
Lecture 12 - Electrical Forces, Fields, and Circuits
Lecture 13 - Thermodynamics—Heat, Energy, and Work
Lecture 14 - Metabolism—Energy in the Cell is now ready for discussion using the principles just discussed. This seems like a real leap, but it wasn't as wrenching as some of the earlier ones. This was fairly well done, but she got into a LOT of detail & then said a portion was beyond the scope of the lecture. I wish she'd either quit a little earlier or kept going.
Lecture 15 - Fluid Mechanics—Pressure, Buoyancy, Flow she did a pretty good job, especially describing Bernoulli’s principle, but the air flow pressure difference doesn't account for all the lift in an airplane's wing. I checked the study guide & she's got it wrong there, too. This was the same mistake I was taught in school & I hated it then because we knew the math didn't work. Here's a good, fast video explaining it correctly. Why is this still around? Disappointing, especially here & it underlines that she's outside of her area of expertise.
Lecture 16 - Navigation and Propulsion in Fluids was pretty good, but kind of long for the information it imparts. Again, a bit rote, not really her thing.
Lecture 17 - The Big Bang That Didn’t - She ends this lecture with 3 ideas for the end of the universe leaving out a fourth that she does mention in lecture 22. This lecture was the best of this half dozen. I won't bother reviewing them all. I'll just say that she's obviously learned the material, but just enough to lecture on it. I don't get the feeling she really knows it any better than I already did (I'm sure she does.) since she managed to confuse me a few times. There is none of the vigor of her lectures in her areas of expertise. She mentions Fenyman saying that 'if you can't explain something simply, you don't really understand it' several times. While she didn't fail, I wouldn't give her high marks.
Lecture 18 - The Four Forces of Nature
Lecture 19 - The Elements of Everything
Lecture 20 - Looks like a Particle, Acts like a Wave
Lecture 21 - Quanta, Uncertainty, and a Cat
Lecture 22 - String Theory, Membranes, and the Multiverse
Lecture 23 - Emergence—Simple Rules, Complex Systems
Lecture 24 - Order out of Chaos were both interesting & parts of it were quite good. Emergence is very interesting, but she didn't mention chaos theory at all. This whole section might have been better at the beginning of the course.
All in all, this set of lectures has its moments. I might listen to parts of it again, but half of it is certainly explained better elsewhere. Still, it's a worthy effort & she's easy to listen to, especially in her areas of expertise.
July 29, 2021
This was challenging! There were concepts here, especially towards the end that I had never heard of.
It was all presented in an exciting manner and made me even more curious about the world around us.
It was all presented in an exciting manner and made me even more curious about the world around us.
April 25, 2022
An absolute must read. It quickly sums up all that’s of utmost importance.
October 6, 2024
Boring, full of cheesy professorial attempts at humour, and not all that easy to follow … even for a scientific genius such as myself.
June 13, 2014
Someone needs to tell this woman that English phonemes are perfectly alright when pronouncing proper nouns borrowed from other languages. Granted, this audio book is a live lecture not voiced by a professional voice actor, but this and other vocal annoyances kept me from enjoying the material to its fullest.
Additionally, these lectures would be much better if presented as a video. I suspect a video version is available somewhere, but as an audio book it really falls short. Trying to visualize the many cell structures being described, for instance, is much tougher without visual aids.
Another issue I have is that the book lacks the focus implied by its title. These lectures span greatly in depth and breadth, but do not pinpoint specific areas of focus that are easily consumed during the morning commute. Something to keep in mind for those considering these lectures is that well-more than half are dedicated to biology, with cosmology and physics only arriving late in the game.
Still, I learned a number of things and the subject matter is very interesting. I would call it time well spent despite my preconceptions and pet peeves not aligning favorably with the reality of the audio book itself.
Additionally, these lectures would be much better if presented as a video. I suspect a video version is available somewhere, but as an audio book it really falls short. Trying to visualize the many cell structures being described, for instance, is much tougher without visual aids.
Another issue I have is that the book lacks the focus implied by its title. These lectures span greatly in depth and breadth, but do not pinpoint specific areas of focus that are easily consumed during the morning commute. Something to keep in mind for those considering these lectures is that well-more than half are dedicated to biology, with cosmology and physics only arriving late in the game.
Still, I learned a number of things and the subject matter is very interesting. I would call it time well spent despite my preconceptions and pet peeves not aligning favorably with the reality of the audio book itself.
March 15, 2017
"12 Essential Scientific Concepts" is a 24-part audio course by Professor Indre Viskontas, covering variety of topics starting from biology, neurology physics up to cosmology. I'm familiar with most of her lectures on physics and cosmology, so they didn't surprise me, but I've learned something new in her lectures on biology and neurology (as they are in her professional field). For most of the lectures, she did not go into the details, but instead tried to point out the overview of the questions she posed, some of which are impressive and some are fine.
Although this is not my top favorite courses, it still gives me a lot of questions to think and further research.
Although this is not my top favorite courses, it still gives me a lot of questions to think and further research.
abandoned-dnf
November 11, 2022DNF after 1 1/2 videos. I didn't realize it was Opera Woman. Nope. Can't. Won't.
It's not often I can't make it through a Great Course. Even if the presenter isn't top rate -- and most of them are -- I can usually push past that if I'm interested in the topic. The topic list for this one looked pretty good, but this presenter has worn out her welcome in my ear. She can't tell you what friggin' time it is without bringing up that she sings opera. If she gave a Great Course on opera, that might be vaguely interesting the first or second time she brought it up. Not the 100th, and not when the content is supposed to be about science. There are far too many GCs out there on science to choose from that I'm not going to be aggravated by this one for another ten hours.
It's not often I can't make it through a Great Course. Even if the presenter isn't top rate -- and most of them are -- I can usually push past that if I'm interested in the topic. The topic list for this one looked pretty good, but this presenter has worn out her welcome in my ear. She can't tell you what friggin' time it is without bringing up that she sings opera. If she gave a Great Course on opera, that might be vaguely interesting the first or second time she brought it up. Not the 100th, and not when the content is supposed to be about science. There are far too many GCs out there on science to choose from that I'm not going to be aggravated by this one for another ten hours.
September 7, 2020
The first half was very good. The second was pretty basic, you can also definitely tell where the lecturers expertise is. This was also obviously ripped audio from a video.That said it was still quite interesting, think science 201 level.
November 21, 2023
this was actually good i just dnf because i found the topics boring. no complaint about the actual information though like i’m sure that if i cared enough i’d enjoy it and learn a lot
May 8, 2018
A surprisingly thorough overview of a whole range of scientific concepts. Although it was interesting and fairly informative, it would have been much easier to follow and understand with a visual component.
November 13, 2014
The halting, over-dramatized inflection was annoying. Lectures are not opera or theater. A simple conversational tone would have made for a much easier listening experience.
September 2, 2020
I am going to recommend this book if you are a layperson when it comes to science (that's me!). I've listened to several more engaging Great Courses, but I still enjoyed the course and learned a great deal. Ms. Viskontas is highly intelligent, possesses an amazingly breadth of scientific knowledge, is an excellent speaker and presented her material in a well-organized fashion. She is also a delightful lecturer. The course covered a vast range of topics: A discussion on the definition of life; evolution; DNA and heredity; epigenetics (a favorite of mine); human sight and sound mechanics; the human brain (another favorite); magnetism (I am amazed that I knew so little about the common force and even more amazed that significant scientific questions remain unanswered); metabolism; fluid mechanics; the origin of the universe; quantum physics; and more. I found this breadth of topics exciting and stimulating. I am a businessperson....this Great Course was a good introduction to the great scientific principles.
February 25, 2025
12 Essential Scientific Concepts is a series of lectures that are a quick romp through all of the major disciplines of science, including biology, evolution, genetics, neuroscience, magnetism and electricity, thermodynamics, fluid dynamics, and theoretical physics.
It is obvious that Viskontas's speciality is in the biology and neuroscience, as these beginning lectures are much better than the later ones that wander outside of her expertise. Each lecture sounds much like the introductory class on a topic - Biology 101, Neuroscience 101, Genetics 101, etc.
Each lecture is just enough info to give you an overview that subject, but not deep enough to actually add anything to what you already know. Unless you know little about science, or would just like a quick review, there isn't much to add in this series.
It is obvious that Viskontas's speciality is in the biology and neuroscience, as these beginning lectures are much better than the later ones that wander outside of her expertise. Each lecture sounds much like the introductory class on a topic - Biology 101, Neuroscience 101, Genetics 101, etc.
Each lecture is just enough info to give you an overview that subject, but not deep enough to actually add anything to what you already know. Unless you know little about science, or would just like a quick review, there isn't much to add in this series.
April 17, 2019
Overall a good review of subjects I’ve studied or read about. What I didn’t like is how she seemed to support GMOs. Playing down their creation. Making it more of a problem if unscrupulous manufacturers that sue farmers unlucky to have their crops cross fertilized by a neighbors GMO licensed crop The real problem with GMO is that most of the crops are saturated with pesticides that we ingest regardless of how clean we think we wash them. Also corn silk pollen carried on the wind lands on milkweed and as a result poison caterpillar that die, I have noticed that there are fewer Monarch butterflies in the past 10 years, they use to come to my butterfly bush , don’t remember seeing 1 last year.
http://news.cornell.edu/stories/1999/....
http://news.cornell.edu/stories/1999/....
December 29, 2019
This is easily the worst of The Great Courses I've listened to, out of 20 or so. There were probably 5 lectures that were great, 5 more that were okay, 5 that were terrible, and the rest were somewhere in the middle.
The ones that were terrible might work better as an audiovisual presentation, but in these the lecturer gets lost in details that seem inconsequential to the topic. There were multiple times when it dawned on me that I couldn't recall a single piece of information from the previous 15 minutes or more.
All in all, a big disappointment.
The ones that were terrible might work better as an audiovisual presentation, but in these the lecturer gets lost in details that seem inconsequential to the topic. There were multiple times when it dawned on me that I couldn't recall a single piece of information from the previous 15 minutes or more.
All in all, a big disappointment.
January 28, 2024
A good enough read to know about a range of topics. There are few topics that are engaging such as Emergence and Chaos, whereas few such as Fluid Mechanics, or the Organisation of the Cell are brief and good for people starting for with basic understanding of the same.
Overall, I did find it worthwhile if you haven't been reading on Physics, Chemistry, Biology for some time and want to catch up on the basics before deep diving. For people who are into reading, go for books with depth, will be of much more interest.
Overall, I did find it worthwhile if you haven't been reading on Physics, Chemistry, Biology for some time and want to catch up on the basics before deep diving. For people who are into reading, go for books with depth, will be of much more interest.
July 11, 2025
Overall a fine overview series for some STEM concepts. If you have taken an intro level bio class and some form of physics / engineering course (or listened to lecture series on these topics) you’ll probably already know 90% of the information presented but it’s always nice to refresh.
I have no idea what most of the 12 “essential concepts” were but this didn’t hinder passive enjoyment of the course.
There’s a segment at the end where she talks about her and a bunch of other college age / type individuals moving into a poorer area and gentrifying it and that was a bit odd.
I have no idea what most of the 12 “essential concepts” were but this didn’t hinder passive enjoyment of the course.
There’s a segment at the end where she talks about her and a bunch of other college age / type individuals moving into a poorer area and gentrifying it and that was a bit odd.
October 23, 2022
A lot of stuff I already knew, but I learned a lot of things from the sciences I didn’t know. It seems that this series was a lot more biology oriented than I’d wanted. There was a lot of physics, but minuscule astronomy and little cosmology relative to what is going on. Perhaps it’s author bias? I wonder if a cosmologist gave the lecture, if it would be more cosmology oriented. I recommend it, even though there are parts where visuals were desperately needed.
August 20, 2020
This book takes you from DNA to the stars - it is a fun listen. I think the author did a really good job of presenting challenging material accessibly.Because the coverage is so broad, I didn't wind up as tremendously engaged as I might (or might not) with a deep dive into any one of the topics. I wanted this book to teach me a little while I am doing my walks, and it did that!
January 29, 2022
Top class! Indre Viskontas takes us the listeners across the world, into the history books, to the depths of quantam physics, to the enrapturing beauty of the universe. In 12 essential scientific concepts, she is able to encapsulate the wonderful beauty of the world we live in. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to all her lectures, and I would love to visit these again in the future.
March 6, 2018
A lot of this is familiar from school (evolution, cellular structure) or just life in general (critical period, CERN). But the stuff that was new to me was absolutely fascinating.
Viskontas is enthusiastic and obviously passionate about her subject - always appreciated in a lecturer.
Viskontas is enthusiastic and obviously passionate about her subject - always appreciated in a lecturer.
March 19, 2017
I love this so much that I want to buy the book.
September 21, 2017
I thought it was very informative.
May 13, 2019
Great reminder of some basic science information (and updates for newer concepts) from what I learned in college.
May 16, 2020
Not bad, but a little out of date.
July 7, 2021
Absolutely a must read for anyone interested in broad stroke science in many different disciplines. Very easy to read for the layman.
November 11, 2021
A great review of fundamental scientific concepts. Good for anyone looking to remind themselves of their high school science education.
January 16, 2022
I thought it was going to be 12 basic concepts of science, and that's not the case. Some lectures were super interesting, and others just gave me a nostalgic "Is this gonna be on the test" vibe.
February 9, 2022
Very good presenter but many subjects I personally don’t consider essential. That being said I learn new ideas with every lecture
May 27, 2022
A really well done overview! I didn't listen to every lecture, skipped some that interested me less. But I found her discussion of fluid mechanics especially interesting.
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