Never Too Late For An Old Dog To Learn New Tricks: And....it's Fall

And people in real education are in a new term or semester, and so am I. I had to pare down my courses brutally in the lead-up to my daughter's wedding, in fact I dropped out of several because I had no time.

The only one I kept up through the busy time was:

A Brief History of Humankind

Hebrew University of Jerusalem

As it turns out, this is the most compelling course to date. I am actually urging friends to take it, or at least put the book that goes with it on their MUST BUY list. It's not exactly a history course, more anthropology and/or social science, but it's GOOD. It's very, very good. If you get a moment, at least look it up.

Now that I have some spare time I also signed up for:

A History of the World since 1300

Princeton University

The professor is somewhat quirky in his delivery, but I'm getting used to him, and although this is a peer-reviewed essay grading system, which I'm not keen on (some of my peers' ideas leave a little to be desired) I shall stick it out. I much prefer tests/exams, but the content is good, so it's worth the bother.

Next week I shall start a VERY different course:

Terrorism and Counterterrorism: Comparing Theory and Practice

Universiteit Leiden

I'm looking forward to that immensely as it's an area I've never studied before at any level. Having been put on the floor (unharmed, thankfully) by a terrorist bomb in my teens, and then, decades later, befriending a terrorist, my angle may be a little skewed, one way and another. But I want to see what this is all about, and I do hope the location of the university will help avoid the usual American bias.

Finally, also next week, something different again, that just appealed to me as a gardener/farmer: