In the preparation of this little work the writer has kept one end in view, viz.: To make it serviceable for those for whom it is intended, that is, for those who have neither the time nor the opportunity, the learning nor the inclination, to peruse elaborate and abstruse treatises on Rhetoric, Grammar, and Composition. To them such works are ...

The Speed Of Light

This week we are discussing the speed of light. The medium most of you are listening by, radio waves, travel at the speed of light. And those of you closer to the radio transmitter will hear In Our Time fractionally before someone further away.
Here's another curious fact to ponder: For anybody listening who is aged 50, the light that reaches us from some of the stars in the galaxy left those stars before you were born.

Genghis Khan
Genghis Khan - born Temujin in the 12th Century, he was cast out by his tribe when he was just a child and left to struggle for survival on the harsh Steppes of what is now Mongolia. From these humble beginnings he went on to become Genghis Khan, leader of the greatest continuous land-based empire the world has ever seen. His conquered territories stretched from the Caspian Sea to the borders of Manchuria, from the Siberian forest to what is now Afghanistan.

He was a charismatic commander and a shrewd military tactician. He was swift to promote those who served him well, ignoring race or creed, but vengeful to those who crossed him, killing every inhabitant of a resistant town, even the cats and dogs. Generally regarded as barbarians by their enemies, the Mongol armies were in fact disciplined and effective.

So how did Genghis create such an impressive fighting force? How did he draw together such diverse peoples to create a wealthy and successful Empire? And what was his legacy for the territories he conquered?

Doctors: The History of Scientific Medicine Revealed Through Biography

(12 lectures, 30 minutes/lecture)
Taught by Sherwin B. Nuland
Yale School of Medicine
M.D., Yale School of Medicine

In today's era of modern Western medicine, organ transplants are routine, and daily headlines about the mysteries of DNA and the human genome promise that the secrets of life itself are tantalizingly within our reach.
Yet to reach this point took thousands of years.
One step at a time, through leaps of progress and hurdles of devastating disappointment, humanity's medical knowledge has moved forward from a time when even the slightest cut held the threat of infection and death, when the flow of blood within the body was a mystery, and "cells" were not even a concept, and when the appearance of a simple instrument allowing a physician to listen to the beat of a diseased heart was a profound advance.
How was medical science able to make this extraordinary journey? What major discoveries made it possible? Who were the fascinating individuals responsible for those discoveries, and what qualities prepared each of them for their unique roles in medical history?
The scope of medical history reveals a compelling story.
In Doctors: The History of Scientific Medicine Revealed Through Biography, Dr. Sherwin Nuland draws on the lives of 12 of medicine's greatest contributors to tell the human story behind the development of Western scientific medicine. (Asian medicine is not considered in this course; nor are those systems categorized as alternative medicine.)
Striving, Disappointment, Genius ... and Greed
This course shows the human side of science. It's a story about strivings, disappointments, triumphs of human genius, and sometimes, greed.  While medical science is described to some degree, this course focuses on personalities and tells the story of medicine, and does not contain the wealth of scientific detail of a pure science course. The focus here is on medical history.
We feel extraordinarily fortunate in being able to offer this course by this instructor. Physician, surgeon, teacher, medical historian, and bestselling author, Sherwin B. Nuland, M.D., F.A.C.S., is Clinical Professor of Surgery at Yale School of Medicine. He brings to each lecture marvelous skills in storytelling and in translating medical and other scientific issues into layman's language.
His lectures are presented with both humor and an easygoing, personable approach, reflecting the qualities that have given his written work such lasting popularity. He will introduce you to medicine's trailblazers: those he calls "among the most fascinating, and I might say, among the most daring individuals that you might ever encounter in life, or in your reading, or even in the movies."
Nature's Closet of Secrets
"Each of them—those who are likable, and those who are obnoxious, those who are modest, and those who are egocentric—those who are serene and those who are crazed—each of them has a unique story to tell us," Dr. Nuland says.
"But the thing that unites all of them is their extraordinary zeal for discovering the secrets of nature, what one of the greatest of them, William Harvey, in the 17th century, would eventually come to call 'nature's closet of secrets.' "

God and Mankind: Comparative Religions
(8 lectures, 45 minutes/lecture)
Taught by Robert Oden
Carleton College
Ph.D., Harvard University

Life ... ? Death ... ? Suffering ... ? Redemption ... ? The origin of being ... ? Each of these complex issues raises many, many questions. How do the major religious systems address those questions? And what do their answers tell us?
An Ideal Starting Point for Inquiry
These eight lectures by Dr. Robert Oden are an ideal starting point for pursuing those questions. And if you've been thinking about them for a while, as so many do, you will likely discover he has many fresh insights to offer you.