Lectures To Paint By

Having a long, yet infrequent commute, I need something to help pass the time on those long, early morning/late afternoon five hour drives to and from Seattle.  Since discovering The Teaching Company's Great Courses lectures thanks to my gaming friend Scott, the commute has been much more interesting and time passes more quickly.

At present, I have churned through six courses, the latest being The Peloponnesian War by Dr. Kenneth Harl of Tulane University.  In 36 half-hour lectures and primarily relying on Thucydides, Harl takes the listener from the causes of the war through its conclusion including a summarization of lessons to be learned from the war.

Harl weaves an entertaining and fascinating story of the conflict with his own insights and personal interpretations intermixed with the traditional viewpoints.  Harl studied under Donald Kagan and frequently Kagan and his works are mentioned within the lectures.  As I listened, I thought it might be worthwhile to check Kagan's narrative against Harl's.

Kagan's The Peloponnesian War was purchased at a Friends of Multinomah Library (Portland, OR) book sale a few years ago for a few dollars.  Like a number of books in my library, it sits unread.  Off the shelf comes Kagan as my thoughts turn towards tackling this massive work.

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These audio lectures are not only useful for long commutes.  I have found these lectures to be the perfect accompaniment to solitary painting sessions in the game room.  As a side benefit, listening to these historical works provides painting motivation and contemplations on existing or possible new projects.  So far, no Peloponnesian project has made it onto my project list yet.