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The Best of Open Culture 2010

Dan Colman — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 06:10:06 +0000

That’s it. We’re putting a wrap on 2010. We’ll hit the ground running again on Monday. But, until then, we leave you with a handy list of our favorite and most popular posts from 2010, all ordered in a rather random way. If you crave a little more Open Culture goodies, you can always browse through our complete archive here, and follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and RSS. Hope you have a safe, happy and prosperous New Year!

More to come Monday…

The Best of Open Culture 2010 is a post from: Open Culture

My Blackberry Is Not Working!

Dan Colman — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 13:20:41 +0000

Classic… This fruity sketch just aired on the BBC program The One Ronnie. Great work by Ronnie Corbett and Harry Enfield.

My Blackberry Is Not Working! is a post from: Open Culture

45 Great Cultural Icons Revisited

Dan Colman — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 07:55:32 +0000

It’s no secret. We love to highlight vintage video of cultural icons. This weekend, we showed you the last days of Leo Tolstoy to commemorate the centennial of the great writer’s death, and you expressed your appreciation. And it led us to think: why not dig through our archive, and revive some of the great treasures previously featured on Open Culture? And so here it goes: Below, you will find 45+ video & audio clips that record the words and actions of major figures from a bygone era. Artists, architects, filmmakers, actors, poets, novelists, composers, musicians, world-changing leaders, and those not easily categorized – they’re all here. So close, you can almost touch them. Enjoy the list, and if we’re missing some good clips, don’t hesitate to send them our way…

Video

Audio:

45 Great Cultural Icons Revisited is a post from: Open Culture

74 Free Banned Books (for Banned Books Week)

Dan Colman — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 02:47:26 +0000

To commemorate Banned Books Week, the always great Internet Archive has opened up access to 74 banned books. The collection features some serious pieces of literature (James Joyce’s Ulysses, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Tender is the Night, Huxley’s Brave New World, etc.); some traditional children’s classics (Winnie the Pooh); and some sinister books of unquestionable historical importance (Mein Kampf). These books can be downloaded in multiple digital formats, including sometimes ePub and Kindle formats. This gives you the ability to read the the works on the Kindle, iPad, Nook and other mainstream ebook readers. (See note below.) But the old fashioned computer will also do the job.

Censorship remains a serious problem in the US and beyond. The American Library Association recorded 460 attempts in 2009 to restrict books in US schools and libraries. But they estimate that this represents only 20-25% of actual attempts to censor. All of this censorship is neatly (and rather specifically) tracked on Google Maps.

NOTE: Please see our previous post describing how to add files to the Kindle. Meanwhile this page describes how to transfer ePub files to the iPad.

74 Free Banned Books (for Banned Books Week) is a post from: Open Culture

The Illustrated Guide to a Ph.D.

Dan Colman — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 07:43:39 +0000

Matthew Might, a computer science professor at the University of Utah, writes: “Every fall, I explain to a fresh batch of Ph.D. students what a Ph.D. is. It’s hard to describe it in words. So, I use pictures.” Here it goes. Matt’s Illustrated Guide:

Imagine a circle that contains all of human knowledge:

By the time you finish elementary school, you know a little:

By the time you finish high school, you know a bit more:

With a bachelor’s degree, you gain a specialty:

A master’s degree deepens that specialty:

Reading research papers takes you to the edge of human knowledge:

Once you’re at the boundary, you focus:

You push at the boundary for a few years:

Until one day, the boundary gives way:

And, that dent you’ve made is called a Ph.D.:

Of course, the world looks different to you now:

So, don’t forget the bigger picture:

Keep pushing.

You can find Matt’s Illustrated Guide hosted on his web site. This guide/reality check is published under a Creative Commons License. You can also buy a print version for $6.50. (The money goes to charity.) Matt offers more insights for Ph.D. students here.

The Illustrated Guide to a Ph.D. is a post from: Open Culture

Tarkovsky Films Now Free Online

Dan Colman — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 12:00:46 +0000

Andrei Tarkovsky (1932-1986) firmly positioned himself as the finest Soviet director of the post-War period. But his influence extended well beyond the Soviet Union. The Cahiers du cinéma consistently ranked his films on their top ten annual lists. Ingmar Bergman went so far as to say, “Tarkovsky for me is the greatest [director], the one who invented a new language, true to the nature of film, as it captures life as a reflection, life as a dream.” And Akira Kurosawa acknowledged his influence too, adding, “I love all of Tarkovsky’s films. I love his personality and all his works. Every cut from his films is a marvelous image in itself.”

Shot between 1962 and 1986, Tarkovsky’s seven feature films often grapple with metaphysical and spiritual themes, using a distinctive cinematic style. Long takes, slow pacing and metaphorical imagery – they all figure into the archetypical Tarkovsky film. (Watch the scene from Stalker above.)

You can now watch Tarkovsky’s films online – for free. Each film is listed in our collection of Free Online Movies, but here you can access each major film in the order in which they were made.

NOTE: if you access the films via YouTube, be sure to click “CC” at the bottom of the videos to access the subtitles.

Ivan’s Childhood – Web – Buy DVD (1962)
Andrei Rublev - Part 1 – Part 2 – Buy DVD (1966)
Solaris - Web – Buy DVD (1972)
The Mirror - Web – Buy DVD (1975)
Stalker - Part 1 – Part 2 - Buy DVD (1979)
Nostalghia - Web – Buy DVD (1983)
The Sacrifice - Buy DVD (1985) Tarkovsky’s last film and winner of the “Grand Prix Spécial du Jury” prize at the Cannes Film festival.

Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter, Facebook and now Google+

Tarkovsky Films Now Free Online is a post from: Open Culture

Download George Orwell’s Animal Farm for Free

Dan Colman — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 07:04:22 +0000

Writing in The Guardian earlier this month, Christopher Hitchens revisited Animal Farm, George Orwell’s “dystopian allegorical novella” that took aim at the corruption of the Soviet Union and its totalitarian rule. Published in 1945, the short book appears on the Modern Library’s list of the 100 Best Novels of the 20th century, and Time Magazine’s own honors list. But, as Hitchens reminds us, Animal Farm was almost never published. The manuscript barely survived the Nazi bombing of London during World War II, and then initially TS Eliot (an important editor at Faber & Faber) and other publishers rejected the book. It eventually came to see the light of day, but, 65 years later, Animal Farm still can’t be legally read in China, Burma and North Korea, or across large parts of the Islamic world. But, no matter where you come from, you can listen to Animal Farm for free. That’s right, I said it – free. The Internet Archive offers free access to audio versions of Animal Farm and Orwell’s other major classic, 1984. Both texts appear in our collection of Free Audio Books, and you can download them directly from the Internet Archive here (Animal Farm) and here (1984). Enjoy.

Note: Looking for an easy way to download Orwell’s classics, or any other audio book, for free? Just head over to Audible.com and register for a 14-day free trial. You can download any audio book for free. Then, when the trial is over, you can continue your Audible subscription (as I did), or cancel it, and still keep the audio book. The choice is entirely yours.

Download George Orwell’s Animal Farm for Free is a post from: Open Culture

The Best of Open Culture 2009

Dan Colman — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 06:19:37 +0000

Couldn’t let you down. Couldn’t let the year end without giving you a “best of” list. So here it goes. A purely subjective list. 25 items. Some educational; some a little more entertaining; some popular, etc. I hope you enjoy, and you can always search through our complete archive here. Thanks all, and best wishes in ’10.

The Best of Open Culture 2009 is a post from: Open Culture

Free eBooks for Your PC, iPhone, Kindle & Beyond

Dan Colman — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 05:17:00 +0000

Today, we’re rolling out a sizable collection of Free eBooks, most of them classics, that features major works written by James Joyce, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Jane Austen, Nietzsche and others. (We have even thrown in a little Paulo Coelho.) You’ll find 100+ free ebooks in total, and you can download the texts to your computer, smart phone (iPhone, Android, etc.) or Kindle, depending on the format you choose. Our eBooks Primer overviews the different download options, so please give it a quick read over. Below, we’ve posted a quick sample from the new collection (plus a link to the entire list of Free eBooks). Feel free to offer feedback and share the list with friends. Down the road, you can always find this collection in the top navigation bar. Just looks for eBooks.

Austen, Jane – Pride & Prejudice - Google Mobile - Gutenberg - Kindle - Feedbooks
Coelho, Paulo – Warrior of the Light - Feedbooks
Dostoevsky, Fyodor – Crime and Punishment - Google Mobile - Kindle - Feedbooks
Fitzgerald, F. Scott – This Side of Paradise - Google Mobile - Gutenberg - Kindle
Melville, Herman – Moby Dick - Google Mobile - Gutenberg - Kindle - Feedbooks
Nietzsche, Friedrich – Beyond Good and Evil - Google Mobile - Gutenberg - Feedbooks

For more ebooks, please visit Free eBooks: Great Books on Your PC, iPhone, Kindle & Beyond

Note: Don’t forget to check in on Seth Harwood’s big Kindle experiment. What happens when you sell your book for 99 cents on the Kindle? Find out as the experiment unfolds. Story here.

Free eBooks for Your PC, iPhone, Kindle & Beyond is a post from: Open Culture

10 Power Tools for Lifelong Learners

Dan Colman — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 07:31:13 +0000

Every now and then, we like to remind readers of the audio/video resources that Open Culture makes available to lifelong learners. These collections are all free, and can be downloaded to your computers and mp3 players. When you add it all together, you will find thousands of hours of free educational content here from quality sources. If you have a chance, please

Free Audio Books: This page contains a vast number of free audio books, including many classic works of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. Jane Austen, Arthur Conan Doyle, F. Scott Fitzgerald, James Joyce, Kafka, Shakespeare, Orwell and much more. You can download them all straight to your computer or mp3 player, then listen any time. (On a related note, you might want to see our list of Life-Changing Books, according to our readers.)
Free Courses from Major Universities: This list brings together over 250 free courses from leading universities, including Stanford, Yale, MIT, UC Berkeley, Oxford and beyond. Theses full-fledged courses range across the humanities, social sciences, and sciences, including computer science. The page is a gold mine for lifelong learners.
Learn Languages for Free: Spanish, English, Chinese & 37 Other Languages: Centralized in one place are free lessons that will teach you 37 languages. Spanish, French, Italian, Mandarin, English, Japanese, Russian, Dutch, even Finnish and Esperanto — they’re all free and portable.
Free eBooks: Here’s a new collection that features over 100 Free eBooks, most of them classics, that you can access on your PC, smart phone (including iPhone), and Kindle.
Ideas & Culture Programs/Podcasts: In this one collection, we have gathered together some of the most intellectually stimulating programs available via podcast. The programs will keep you thinking and culturally up-to-date, as will our collection of science podcasts. All can be downloaded straight to your mp3 player.
The Best Intelligent Video Sites: Where can you go to find intelligent video? We have listed 46 web sites that feature a steady stream of intelligent content: documentaries, lectures, educational programming and much more.
Smart YouTube Collections: It’s hard to separate the wheat from the chaff on YouTube. But we have done it. Here you will find upwards of 100 YouTube channels that regularly serve up smart video content.
Our YouTube Picks: Over the past few years, we have featured several hundred YouTube videos on Open Culture. And some of the best ones we have brought together in our own YouTube channel. You can subscribe to this collection and watch new videos as we add them.
Great Classic Movies: Our new movie collection features landmark films for the student of cinema. Here, you’ll find numerous Chaplin films from the silent era, 12 Alfred Hitchcock films, and many other great works from the 1920s, 30, 40s and 50s. You’ll even find some great contemporary films as well. Many of the great American directors are represented here.
Open Culture iPhone App: A little something special for iPhone users. When you download our free iPhone app, you can take with you, wherever you go, many of the items listed above. Free Audio Books, Free University Courses, Free Language Lessons, Music and Science Podcasts, etc. Give it a try and tell a friend. Note, that per Apple’s requirements, you will need access to Wi-Fi.

10 Power Tools for Lifelong Learners is a post from: Open Culture