The schedule of the week

Here is a list of some of the posts you can expect in this coming week and a list of new and old podcasts that I will listen to and are likely to be reviewed as well.

-Teaching Company: Abraham Lincoln
How did Lincoln rise to politics? How did he mature to become the most important president the US have had?

-The Word Nerds: Debate
Is debating about proper argumentation? Is it about impressing the audience, with fallacies or without? Or is it about acting? Ask Dave and Barbara Shepherd.

-Dan Carlin's Hardcore History: Carthage destroyed
Dan Carlin has reached the end of his triple series retelling the wars between the Romans and the Carthaginians. The heroes Hannibal and Scipio die the way heroes die and Carthage is cruelly destroyed at long last. The Punic nightmare, eventually turns into a Roman nightmare.

-Veertien Achttien: Maximilian von Spee
The elusive Germans at sea, villains and gentlemen, sometimes in the same person.

New podcasts that I picked up on are: Medicalhistory, Pods and Blogs (BBC) and Junggesellenblog

My listen list contains:
Namaste Stories
Shrink Rap Radio
The Word Nerds
Making history with Ran Levy - עושים היסטוריה
History 2311 (Temple College) - World history until 1600

Subscribe in a reader
Paste the link
http://feeds.feedburner.com/Anne_Is_A_Man
into the RSS reader of your preference. (What is RSS?  - Help on getting subscription)

I love to get new podcast recommendations. You can let your preferences  know by commenting on the blog or sending mail to The Man Called Anne at: Anne Frid de Vries (in one word) AT yahoo DOT co DOT uk

Simon Bolivar, and others - In Our Time review

Four episodes of In Our Time have been out since the last time I wrote about this excellent program and podcast by the BBC. Since only the latest episode is available for download (feed), for the preceding three, I can but refer you to the on-line streams.

The earliest of these three is about Kurt Gödel and his incompleteness theory in mathematics. Also for you non-mathematicians (like myself) this is a very worthy chapter. When mathematicians felt they had their world in the palm of their hands and were about to grasp its axioms completely, young Gödel, maintained that it is necessarily incomplete.

A similar turn in thinking is observed in the next issue, Vitalism, about the spark of life. When history had just turned us in to the fast moving lane towards mechanical thinking, people started looking for the magical component to life. Was it electricity, or what, that would definitively rescue man, animal, life, from being interpreted as a machine?

Needless to say, Dante's Inferno, is also a must listen to. As IOT must stand stil with all major milestones in our cultural heritage. And where can you get an accessible 40 minutes about this masterpiece?

This week's download is about Simon Bolivar and is as excellent as ever. Better even in some ways as somehow Bolivar presented the team to round some thoughts of within the span of one program. For me it also filled quite a gap in my knowledge. It goes to show, once again, how my perspective is so profoundly positioned in north-western Europe. South-America, as many other parts of the world, drop so frequently out of sight. I knew next to nothing about Bolivar. IOT set this straight.

More In Our Time:
The Translation Movement,
Miracles,
Tacitus,
John Donne (The Metaphysical Poets),
The Arab Conquests.

History 5 on industrialization

Berkeley's History 5 has been one of the first podcast lecture series I discovered back in the days before my blog and it was the first I would follow from beginning to end. I wouldn't have to follow it any more, if I didn't feel this was about the best podcast recommendation I can give to my readers. And so I keep listening, noticing the little differences and making sure it still is you way to go in history podcasts.

Also with the current lecturer, Professor Carla Hesse, History 5 remains the best podcast and the basic baggage I think a history podcast listener should take with him, or her for that matter. In comparison with previous lecturers (Anderson and Laqueur) Hesse goes much faster through the first part of the described era and so we wind up in the Enlightenment and French revolution before the mid-term. And right after the mid-term we have hit the Industrial Revolution.

In Anderson's lecture series, I also high-lighted the issue about this revolution and it is a thrilling comparison with Hesse's take. Both professors emphasize there is no industrialization out of the blue, but whereas Anderson puts the preceding agricultural revolution to the center, Hesse goes a step further.

Hesse's conclusion is, it is better to speak of industrialization and not of a revolution. She argues the process starts earlier and continues much longer. Industrialization also changes its pace and geographical focus throughout history and then the real question is why it happens at all. Here she seems in agreement with Anderson, that there is an important part to be played by the population boom and that that was made possible by more intensive agriculture. However, she doesn't show this as an explanation, but rather as a question, a profound question as opposed to the contemporary Malthus's doomsday scenario, which supposed population could not grow without hitting catastrophical starvation. Why didn't this happen? What made population grow in the first place, before developments in agriculture and industry supported it?

Ideas about global warming, disease immunity and social changes (earlier marriages, more kids) pass the stage. This is only one example of the fantastic quality of this series, year in year out, twice a year. It is only too bad the audio is sometimes really bad. Hesse apparently speaks with her hands and frequently knocks the microphone about, causing drastic changes in the sound levels.

See also:
History 5 by Carla Hesse,
Capitalism and Socialism,
Air pollution in London,
Industrialization in Germany,
Agricultural Revolution first.

Cameron Reilly wonders whether podcasting is dead

If it is. Did video kill it? The big guys, like big media networks, killed it? Did it die for lack of a market? Is there no revenue to be had? Is the technology no good?



Needless to say, podcast Cameron Reilly does not think podcasting is dead. The hype is over and the real thing has only begun.

While he talks of how podcasting is all about creating communities (and he is not the only one who does this), it struck me that he doesn't go into a business model at all. Podcasting does not seem to be an economical activity in itself. So, what is its future? Promotional offering?

Or should technology make podcasts more user-friendly and gap the bridge between the radio and the podfeed, so that the full audience could be reached?

What remains, by all means, is that podcasting is still young and looking to build its life.

More Cameron Reilly:
Biography podcasts,
Sargon of Akkad and Ramses II,
Helen of Troy,
Alexander the Great - Biography Show,
TPN Napoleon 1O1.

Anne's podcast list - November 2008

UPDATE: we now have 268 podcasts reviewed. (click this link for the latest list)

Here is the full list of podcasts I have reviewed since beginning this blog. Each link relates to the latest review I wrote about the podcast. With 200 podcasts in the list and 800 posts in my blog, obviously there are many podcasts with more than one review.

1. 12 Byzantine Rulers
2. 7th Son
   
3. Africa (Stanford Travel)
4. Africa Past and Present
5. All Things Medieval
6. American Environmental and Cultural History (Berkeley ESPM 160AC)
7. American History before 1870
8. Ancient and Medieval Podcast
9. Ancient History - Alternative Theories
   
10. Ancient Philosophy (Berkeley)
    

11. Are we alone?
12. Backstory
    
13. BBC History Magazine
    
14. Behind the Black Mask
    
15. Beyond Good and Evil (Librivox)
16. Big Ideas (TVO)
17. Bike Radar
18. Binge Thinking History
19. Bioethics podcast
20. Biography Podcast (Learn Out Loud)
    
21. the Biography Show (TPN)
22. Biota Podcast
23. Birth of the Modern (Arizona State University)
24. Bommel Hoorspel
25. British History 101
26. Car Talk
27. CATS 2 Culture and Technology Studies (UCSD)
28. Celtic Myth Podshow 
29. CFR Podcast
30. Chronicles Radio Dispatches
31. Church History
32. Dan Carlin's Common Sense
33. Dan Carlin's Hardcore History 
34. David Kalivas' World History
35. Distillations
36. East Asian Thought (UCSD)
    
37. Economics 100B (Berkeley)
    
38. the Economist
39. EconTalk
    
40. Engines of our Ingenuity
41. English 117S (Berkeley)
42. Entitled opinions
    
43. Everything Lincoln
44. Existentialism in Literature and Film (Phil 7 - Berkeley)
45. Exploring Environmental History
46. F1Cast
47. Fact or Fiction
    
48. Forgotten Classics
    
49. Frankenstein, or modern Prometheus (Librivox)
    
50. Fresh Air (NPR)
51. From our own Correspondent (BBC)
52. Geography 110C (Berkeley) Economic Geography of the Industrial World
    
53. Geography 130 (Berkeley)
54. Geography of Europe (Arizona State University)
    
55. Geography of World Cultures (Stanford)
56. German Cultural History
    
57. Geschiedewistjedatjes
    
58. Global Geopolitics (Stanford)
59. Hank's History Hour
60. Hannibal (Stanford)
61. Haring Podcast
62. Harvard Business IdeaCast
    
63. Historical Jesus (Stanford)
64. Historicast
    
65. History 106B (Berkeley)
66. History 167B (Berkeley)
67. History 181B (Berkeley)
68. History 2311 (Temple College)
69. History 2312 (Temple College)
70. History 4A (Berkeley)
71. History 5 (Anderson - Berkeley)
72. History 5 (Hesse- Berkeley)
    
73. History 5 (Laqueur - Berkeley)
74. History 7B (Berkeley)
75. History according to Bob
76. History Compass Blog
    
77. History Network
78. History of Holland (Librivox)
79. History of Rome
80. History of the International System (Stanford)
81. History Podcast
82. Historypod
83. Historyzine 
84. ICT Update
85. In Our Time (BBC)
86. In the Media (WNYC)
87. Inspired Minds (Deutsche Welle)
88. Interview Vrijdag (VPRO)
89. Introduction to German Politics (Oxford)
90. Introduction to Language (Arizona State University)
91. Iran Podcast
    
92. Irving Poetry podcast
93. ITV
94. Jung Podcast
95. KMTT
96. KQED Forum
97. Language (UCSD)
98. Letters and Science (Berkeley)
    
99. LSE Podcast
100. Making History with Ran Levi - עושים היסטוריה
     
101. Marathon Interview (VPRO)
102. Matt's Today In History
103. Medieval & Renaissance Studies Events (Virginia Tech)
104. Medieval Podcast
105. Midwest Writer
106. Military History Podcast 
107. Missing Link
108. MMW 3, the medieval heritage (Chamberlain - UCSD)
109. MMW 3, the medieval heritage (Herbst - UCSD)
110. MMW 4 (UCSD)
111. MMW6 (UCSD)
     
112. Muscular Judaism
113. My Three Shrinks
114. Namaste Stories
     
115. Napoleon 1O1 (TPN)
116. National Archives Podcast
117. Naxos Classical Music Spotlight Podcast
     
118. New World Orders
     
119. Night's Knights
     
120. Nonviolence (Berkeley PACS 164A)
121. Nonviolence today (Berkeley PACS 164B)
122. NRC FM
123. Only in America
124. Open Source
125. Out of the past
     
126. OVT (VPRO)
127. Oxford Biographies
     
128. Oy Mendele!
129. Parnell's History Podcast
130. Peopletalk's Podcast
131. Physics for future Presidents (Berkeley)
132. Philosopher's Zone
     
133. Philosophy 103
134. Philosophy 7 (Berkeley)
135. Philosophy Bites 
136. the Philosophy Podcast
137. Philosopy 6 (Berkeley) Man, God, and Society in Western Literature
     
138. Podcast history of cooking
     
139. Podcasts on Medieval Texts (Virginia Tech)
140. Podwatch
141. Political Science 179 (Berkeley)
     
142. Politics and Warfare (UCSD)
     
143. Pope Podcast 
144. Practice of Art (Berkeley) Foundations of American Cyber-Culture
     
145. Prosperity show
146. Radiolab (WNYC)
147. Rav Dovid's
148. Real Talk
     
149. Red Panda
     
150. Redborne History
151. Religion and Law in the US (UCSD HIUS 155A)
152. Religion and Law in the US (UCSD HIUS 155B)
153. Religions of the Ancient Mediterranean
154. Replaceable You (Stanford)
     
155. Rhetoric 10 (Berkeley)
156. Rpgmp3
157. Schlaflos in München
     
158. Science & the City
     
159. Science Fiction and Politics
     
160. Science Friday (NPR)
161. Sex History Podcast
162. Shrink Rap Radio 
163. Šimek 's Nachts (RVU)
164. the Skeptics' Guide to the Universe
165. Social Innovation Conversations
166. Sonic Society
167. Speaking of Faith (APM)
168. Stanford U History
169. Stem Cells: Policy and Ethics (Stanford)
170. Sterke Geschiedenis
     
171. Straight talk about stem cells (Stanford)
     
172. Sunday Sundown
173. Talking Robots
174. TdF London
175. Teaching American History
176. Teaching Company
     
177. TED Talks 
178. That Podcast Show 
179. The Bitterest Pill
     
180. Theories of Law and Society (Berkeley)
     
181. the Things We Forgot To Remember
182. Time Out for Truth
     
183. Times Talks
184. Tudorcast
185. UCLA Israel Studies
186. University Channel Podcast (aka UChannel Podcast)
187. Veertien Achttien
     
188. Volkis Stimme
     
189. Volkskrant Podcasts
190. We the People Stories
191. Welcome to Mars
     
192. What is Judaism?
193. Wise Counsel
194. the Word Nerds 
195. the Writing Show
196. Wynyfryd's meditation room
197. the Your History Podcast
198. Your Purpose Centered Life
199. zencast
200. zoem
201. האוניברסיטה המשודרת
202. מה שהיה היה
     
203. קטעים בהיסטוריה
     

Subscribe in a reader
Read Anne is a Man more easily; get a subscription. 
Need help to subscribe? Read: What is RSS?

I love to get new podcast recommendations. You can let your preferences be known by commenting on the blog or sending mail to The Man Called Anne at: Anne Frid de Vries (in one word) AT yahoo DOT co DOT uk

Relationships and the brain - Shrink Rap Radio review

Every time Shrink Rap Radio presents an interview Dr. Dave does with a psychologist who speaks about relationships or relational therapy, I guess, everybody should be interested. You do not have to be an amateur-psychologist for that. In the latest issue, when Dr. Dave interviews Dr. Stan Tatkin, I think one should be especially interested. (feed)

The scene must be painfully familiar to all of us and hopefully not from our own relationships, but if so, know it can be helped. The scene is this: a row arises from the tiniest of triggers. A simple tone of voice, one look in the eyes, one touchy subject and the couple is swept into the maelstrom of irritation, confusing emotions, incriminations and the such. Dr. Tatkin offers an unexpected explanation for the phenomenon and takes this into applied couples therapy - and claims it works.

His view is that the way our brain works is the trigger. He claims our brains are first and foremost shaped for survival and hunting. This involves the kind of, non-verbal, immediate triggers into agitated states. What we are much less adapted to, is the proximity of another, of another brain and interpret that as a safe situation. Too easy, within that proximity the hunter, hunted state is triggered.

It is as usual a very interesting podcast. And as usual this is not only thanks to the excellent guest but also to the wonderful interviewer David van Nuys. There is only one thought that came up with me and seemed not to be addressed by Tatkin, nor asked by Dr. Dave, but seems extremely relevant. Is Tatkin's portrayal of the way our brain works and reacts applicable to men and women to the same extent? I was under the impression the female brain works quite differently and doesn't have the strong separation of right and left hemisphere Tatkin describes. That would show to make women much more stable or at least acting differently in relations. Well, listen to the show and see for yourself.

More Shrink Rap Radio:
Psychologist writer,
Dana Houck, Prison Psychologist,
The humane working place,
Nirvana and the Brain,
Psychoanalysis - Shrink Rap radio review.