Podcast Spotlight - Carlin's Hardcore History

Often my commute from Spokane to Seattle and evenings in the hotel are spent listening to the Teaching Company's Great Courses.  The lectures are an excellent means of making  the 300 mile one-way drive pass much more quickly.  This week's journey heard Machiavelli In Context in the CD player.  This is perhaps the second or third time through this series for me.  Still fascinating with each listening.  With each playing, I become more tempted to pick up a copy of Machiavelli's Discourses on Livy.

After a number of recommendations from friends,  I finally took a listen to Dan Carlin's Hardcore History (see: Hardcore History).  Both Scott and Jake have recommended Carlin's series more than once.  What finally pushed me to giving it a listen was a recent two part series on the Achaemenid Persian rulers.

In two, four hour episodes, Carlin weaves a very interesting and entertaining tale of the Persian empire.  Carlin is a fascinating storyteller and had me riveted to the podcasts throughout.  Putting ancient Persian dynastic history into a contemporary context makes the lessons learned relevant for today's modern listener.  Cyrus the Great as Henry Ford?  Yep, that analogy is included.  

Did I mention that Carlin's delivery and tale weaving was fascinating?  It is! His storytelling is every bit as well executed as many of the Great Courses offerings.

Great stuff and highly recommended.  Perfect accompaniment as background listening during painting sessions.  Almost certainly I am a late comer to this quality series but well worth the time invested.  Are there other historical podcasts that readers recommend?

No painting for me this week, however.

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.