Rated 5 out of
5
by
J Szakos from
A winning course
This is a fantastic research and educational resource collection. Very grateful for producing it and sending it so fast! You have gained a true customer now!
Date published: 2020-08-12
Rated 5 out of
5
by
ChinaDick from
Excellent Professor and Fascinating Subject
The subject is timely and fascinating, and the professor makes it even more relevant. The graphics are also very worthwhile.
Date published: 2020-06-30
Rated 4 out of
5
by
Tom C from
Excellent instructor and engaging topics
My wife bought this and we have watched it together. Not only are the topics interesting they have spurred conversation about them between us. Keep up the good work!
Date published: 2020-04-27
Rated 4 out of
5
by
John Stevenson from
Interesting in unexpected places
I admit it; I am addicted to the Great Courses and their history offerings. I picked up Professor Robbins' class on a whim and found myself enjoying it. While it is not your typical history course, it does relate principles of culture and geography to history and civilizations, often bringing up details that a course on more specific areas of history might have overlooked. As such, it is a nice addition to the Great Courses collection.
The course is easy to follow and the professor is sufficiently animated in his voice with no sense that he is merely reading from his notes. I selected the audio presentation and, though the first lesson did make some geographical references, the audio was easy to follow without any visuals.
Date published: 2020-04-25
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Dick I from
Great course for understanding today's world
I am over half way through and find this course extremely informative. The professor is outstanding and very dynamic. If you want to get a handle on how this world is rapidly changing I can think of no better course.
Date published: 2020-04-08
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Zan dan from
Amazing professor
I just love this course, super good and the professor is very knowledgeable.
Date published: 2020-01-26
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Majasra from
Easy to follow
This is a far cry from the boring geography I had to sit through many years ago in school. It turns the subject into a living, relevant and incredibly interesting topic which leaves you wanting more.
Several weeks after finishing the course I found myself using one of the ideas in a conversation I was having with a friend, much to his surprise- and mine!
I strongly recommend it particularly if you have been put off in the past. It is idea changing in a very palatable way
Date published: 2020-01-26
Rated 5 out of
5
by
CB80 from
very interesting
Well presented. It opened up a new way of thinking for me. One of the most interesting courses i’ve Gotten
Date published: 2019-04-20
Rated 1 out of
5
by
critic11 from
Poor presentation
I was looking forward to this course, but the lecturer's tone is brittle and perfunctory. I do sympathize, being a professor myself and not having the best delivery, but I stopped listening after 2 lectures.
Date published: 2019-01-06
Rated 5 out of
5
by
TimY from
A View Of Our World In The Eyes Of A Geographer
Professor Robbins takes us on a tour of our world in terms of human history, economics, language, diversity, global and regional conflict, attitudes and standards, balkinization and regionalization to help us gain an appreciation of the drivers of change. I gained a great deal of respect for the role of the Geographer in our modern times. A very useful and informative course for anyone trying to understand what is going on, and more importantly WHY, around our home.
Date published: 2018-04-29
Rated 3 out of
5
by
Eddie D from
Title Misleading
The first course of many I decided was not worth completing. Probably because the title and description is a bit misleading. I would title the course Holistic Social ology and remove the word Geography. Geography was used as a pretext on many issues for a discussion of his topics of interest. If people in two different locations had different beliefs, that was call Cultural Geography, therefor just about anything could be discussed because of "Geography". That's not to say the some of this can be interesting, just not what was looking for.
Date published: 2017-10-27
Rated 5 out of
5
by
ebbtide from
I finished this course in May of this year. It was interesting and informative. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Date published: 2017-07-24
Rated 3 out of
5
by
Rossofsky from
Politically Correct, Trendy Course
The professor is friendly, articulate and as smooth as any network newscaster. If you are 13 to 15 years old and afraid of global warming or trees being mistreated, this is for you. I f you are a leftist, progressive, or environmentalist of any age, you will be enthralled with this politically correct, simple vocabulary, fashionable course and you don't even have to enroll at a state university or junior college. By the time you complete the lectures, you will be all set to embark on your protest march and show how much you care for Gaia.
Date published: 2017-01-07
Rated 1 out of
5
by
Rich from
Not too good
At one point, the professor actually physically swoons while listening to some Indian music.
But more importantly, geography has a major role in understanding geopolitics and how states have acted toward one another over history, including warfare. The professor is dismissive of this aspect of geography, saying perhaps it's just a matter of how people think about it. This, at a time of geopolitical threats growing on Russia's border with Ukraine - a region through which it has been invaded several times with huge entailing loses of life and property. And, at a time when China is laying claim to huge portions of the seas and fortifying those claims. And, at a time when N. Korea is becoming is becoming increasingly dangerous while China does little to rein it in, because of its role as a buffer state to China.
In my opinion, the course verges on mis-education.
Date published: 2016-10-24
Rated 5 out of
5
by
NicC from
Worldly Geography: Mapping Nature & Human Factors
Environmental, economic, cultural, and political geographies and cartography when sketched descriptively and explained scientifically raise thematic issues that demand our theoretical and practical attention (species survival & quality of life). Understanding Cultural and Human Geography by Professor Paul Robbins is such a response to the short and long term RECIPROCAL PATTERNS that analyzes the natural, social, and life-affirming / pathological processes on both the global environment and human existence. By mapping ecological processes and geographic transformations, by analyzing the dynamism of spacial determinism and human adaptations, the researched data confronts the BIG QUESTION concerning the mutual relationship between the earth's history and the human factor and its collective impact -- the Anthropocene . Three CAUTIONS need to be kept in mind concern mapping, determinism, and the Anthropocene epoch. MAPPING is both a mathematical and cultural projection that can explain with degrees of accuracy and distort for various reasons. DETERMINISM is not so much as seeing man in nature but as a coming out of nature where adaptation within nature's living space is the product of both body and consciousness, and therefore existential choice is active in the relationship. The ANTHROPOCENE epoch lets us reason consciously and imagine metaphorically the accelerated global exchanges impacting the earth's geography while simultaneously transforming one-way determinism into a metaphor of ALTERNATIVE-ISM -- understanding the epoch as both cause and consequence of GLOBALIZATION -- natural and human.
Due the the complexity of natural operating forces and social factors acting regionally and globally, there is an INTERDISCIPLINARY PERSPECTIVE to the lectures which revolve around four major areas of concern generating controversial questions, topics, and issues that demand solutions.
(1) The discipline of ENVIRONMENTAL GEOGRAPHY addresses: climatology, sea levels, climate change, deforestation and land change, global population growth and demographic transitions, the agricultural Green Revolution and genetically modified organisms, spacial epidemiology and disease pattern mappings, and the political ecology of cause and effect analysis to awaken our understanding concerning the relations between environments and humanity, and document the philosophical and political implications confronting the species. (2) The study of ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY addresses the Columbian Exchange as the essential origin of the Anthropocene epoch of worldwide exchange and its impact (goods, crops, peoples, diseases, etc). Discussed areas concern: mercantile and competitive capitalism, plantation and colonial systems, the Industrial Revolution, trans-national corporations and its concentrated wealth and centralized powers generating core-peripheral relations of exchanges still operative today in places, the incessant and rapid movements of capital investments and technologies (money & credit) conditioning uneven economic developments due to debt interest re-payments to the core for loans, global poverty and human push-pull migrations, urbanization and city infrastructure pressures, threats of unique language traditions and globalization pressures to consolidate them.
Transitioning to (3) CULTURAL and (4) POLITICAL GEOGRAPHIES surveys the risks and contributions among local-regional-global exchanges and its impact on environments, political boundaries, and cultural practices in an age of growing uncertainties and rapid social changes. From local and regional traditions to concentrated geopolitical powers, challenges arise concerning: the ambiguity of authority and power among nation states and variable reaches of international institutions, tensions on unique historical traditions to commodity standardization of cultural heritages including its very language, the violent ruptures of treasured cultural understandings with clashes over the meaning-fullness of sacred and secular rituals generating wars of proxy over official interpretation and acceptance, and geopolitical worldviews and regional alignments that enlighten and prejudice the issues confronting the geographies and mappings of nationhood, statehood, supra-nationalism, and the future of global existence itself. In summary, let me close in the spirit of the professor's own written words, "In Anthropocene geographies, therefore, there is an ethical injunction reminiscent of warnings from pottery stores around the world: You break it, you own it". *** Very Highly Recommended to All Conscious Beings ***
Date published: 2016-09-26
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Tattoodoc from
Intelligent View of the World
Professor Robbins formulates a way to look at geography that is all-encompassing and, while not all new to me, presents new ways to look at our problems and their solutions. By now, 2016, some of his data is beginning to be outdate, but it is all clearly applicable..
Date published: 2016-07-04
Rated 2 out of
5
by
Argonist from
Limited insights here
As a general reader in Geography and world conditions I was looking forward to insights. Unfortunately after 5 lectures I have found nothing new here.
Date published: 2016-01-28
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Moshen from
More facts per minute than any other course
This wide-ranging, multidisciplinary course literally takes you around the contemporary world of the field of geography. I thought geography had to do mainly with map-making, but this course proved my misconception wrong. The professor gives you a sampling of many major subfields of geography, having to do with environment, territory, linguistics, culture and politics (and a little bit on maps). Each lecture is well-structured, beginning with richly told anecdotes, then necessary (and helpful) definitions of terms, then a development of the main idea of the lecture, ending with a lead-in to the concept of the next lecture. I loved that his examples came from every continent and that he left some important debates open for the listener to decide. Overall, this was an informative briefing on crucial issues that matter in the world today.
Date published: 2015-11-20
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Seandalai from
Knowledge vital for interpreting the news
I have completed 7 TLC courses and a couple of Coursera ones. This is by far the most important and immediately relevant one for interpreting the hype around international culture, environment, economics and and human ecology (human/land interaction) It's a well-rounded approach and I was impressed- I have an MA in anthropology, and natural resources. I had taught myself most of this material already in the years since grad school. My use for the course was that I'm homeschooling my high school age kids, and it didn't fail to please. It's accessible; current- it includes several overarching (somewhat controversial) cutting-edge concepts in various fields of biology, ecology and agro-science ; there are lots of bibliographic references for learning more about various topics; the professor is passionate, practical- easy to listen to. The kids were actually quite eager to take the lessons and they generated much discussion around current events and environmental news.
I can't imagine liking a course or professor more, or a better use of time to become a better global citizen.
Date published: 2015-11-19
Rated 5 out of
5
by
BrutusBuckeye from
One of the very best
This course is extremely well designed and delivered. Each lecture is large in its scope, but Prof Paul Robbins communicates the ideas in an deftly structured manner such that the entire lecture is immediately clear and most of it is retained. The course appears to be fairly comprehensive in that each lecture sources examples across geographic space and historic time, which importantly includes the very latest and there also instances of ongoing research work. This makes the course very alive and relevant.
The course includes seminal publications, classic books in the field, and currently active research material. Prof Paul Robbins should be commended for the balance between the numerous elements in each lecture.
Perhaps the very best feature, of the numerous good features in this course, is the manner of teaching. Prof Robbins delves a lot into the 'why' of various topics in the lectures, which makes the lectures more than just descriptive. I often found myself riveted and totally engaged in the lecture waiting to find how a given situation played out and then at the end say back amazed at learning what geographic and cultural factors were actually involved versus what presumptions I had hitherto held in my mind. It has been a long time since I have been this excited by a course (which I might add I had not expected to be before starting the course).
The content of the lectures is rich and presented in an accessible manner, which makes these lectures relevant for a vast audience with different degrees of prior knowledge of this subject area.
If you've ever heard of geography (with emphasis on cultural, political, economic geography as opposed to natural geography) then you should get this course and you will see it from a couple of additional perspectives. If you've never cared much for geography, then you absolutely should get this course, it the very best introduction you could hope for to his incredibly fascinating subject.
(Thanks a lot Prof Paul Robbins for an excellent series of lectures, you have made my perspective of human geography multi-dimensional)
Date published: 2015-10-17
Rated 4 out of
5
by
NYCLifeLearner from
Good Overview of Academic Geography today
I enjoyed this course, and how the professor weaves a picture of contemporary geography. I do wish the course included a lecture on what we call various geographical features. All in all I'm glad I bought the course, though I still have a couple of basic unanswered questions.
Date published: 2015-07-13
Rated 5 out of
5
by
PacificNW from
Eye-opening and Informative Course
This is a very good course on the complexity of the world and its associated interactions with humans, cultures, politics, environment, economics, etc. Professor Robbins does an excellent job of presenting these items and their interactions. This course discusses some of the events of the past but also covers some of the events of today such as the current economic issues between Greece and the European Union.
The world is changing and in many cases the rate of change is increasing. Some of these changes are good and some are not so good. Professor Robbins clearly explains how these changes affecting the world and the people on it. Professor Robbins provides examples were changes to fix problems in one location resulted in problems somewhere else. Consequently, simple solutions to problems are not as simple as they seem and can have widespread and potentially international impact. In some cases, there are no simple solutions.
This course includes an extensive set of visual and audio components to enhance and demonstrate the points being raised by Professor Robbins. Examples include maps, diagrams, pictures, graphics, and audio clips.
I highly recommend this course to anybody would have to have a better understanding of our complex and ever changing world.
Date published: 2015-07-05
Rated 5 out of
5
by
JPT44 from
Excellent
Professor Robbins hits this one out of the park. I really enjoyed it and highly recommend it. In today's world understanding geography is imperative.
Date published: 2015-06-24
Rated 2 out of
5
by
applewood3 from
Underwhelmed
I had high hopes for this course since I have loved geography my whole life. Yet this is more of a superficial intro to human ecology, more like a high school freshman course than a college level class. I never felt the content here got beneath the surface (which I concede is THE definition of geography), or beyond superficial explanations (which is what you take a course for in the first place). But maybe it did accurately present the current state of academic geography.
When I was in high school geography was more along the lines of surface geology (how mountains, valleys and coast lines form, appear and effect humans), then later as an adult I read with excitement the works of authors like Thomas Sowell and Jared Diamond as they explained more deeply how geography shapes human cultures - for instance how in Africa a lack of steady rainfall on a continent with a small interior surface area compared to coastal perimeter created an environment of few navigable rivers and thus more isolation between tribes, and the subsequent effect this has had on communication, cooperation and development of the indigenous cultures - and how this would play a huge role in the development of the later West African slave trade.
Professor Robbins course really covers neither of these aspect of geography, and instead is more of a survey of how modern sociologists understand human development and political ecology; vis-a-vis economics, agriculture, migration and urbanization.
Overall his presentation (in both content and delivery style) is not the quality I've come to expect from the Great Courses; not only is his delivery a bit emphatic and overly enthusiastic (that high school freshman class tone I guess), but also seems a bit repetitious, simplistic and politically correct, and had the effect of discouraging me from wanting to learn more about a subject I love....
Date published: 2015-06-15
Rated 2 out of
5
by
seniorstudent from
Very Disappointing
This course did not come up to my expectations as set by other Great Courses. It is even difficult to say what it is about. Many topics are discussed, the only commonality is that Professor Robbins attaches the word “Geography” to each of them, even when they owe most of their content to other fields, such as agriculture, epidemiology, economics, or politics. This would not be a fatal flaw if the disparate contents of each lecture were individually new, interesting, and stimulating. Unfortunately, I did not find that to be the case.
This series of lectures may be a case where the material is suitable for young undergraduates but not for members of a mature audience who have already encountered most of it as a normal part of their experiences.
The paucity of the content is not helped by the quality of Professor Robbins’ delivery. He speaks in rapid word clusters in which key words get buried.
There are many points of detail that can be criticized but I will select only one. Most of the second lecture is devoted to a dismissal of Jared Diamond’s influential book “Guns, Germs, and Steel” (a Pulitzer Prize winner). This would have been interesting if it had been done respectfully and with a careful rationale. Instead, Professor Robbins distorts Professor Diamond’s argument and evidence and attaches a pejorative term (“determinism”) to his hypothesis. For example, Professor Diamond points out that land masses with a large east-west extent (like Eurasia) are conducive to the spread of agriculture, not to its origin as Professor Robbins asserts. Furthermore, Professor Diamond’s primary criterion for the development of agriculture and hence civilization is the wealth of domesticable plants and animals to be found in a particular region; Professor Robbins ignores this criterion and the supporting data. Professor Robbins offers little counter evidence; he does say that China remained “poor” despite having domesticated rice 7,000 years ago. This is a surprising example in view of the 4,000 years of Chinese civilization and regional dominance. Indeed, China is an important case that supports Professor Diamond’s argument.
Altogether, a very disappointing course.
Date published: 2015-06-05
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Ozymandias from
Simply Magnificent Course
This is one of the best courses i have ever had the privilege of listening to. This offers a profound and utterly engaging sweep across the cultural and economic landscape of the world.
There were numerous highlights including a forthright explication of the challenges created by the impact of human beings and the way in which challenges of food production and environmental issues must be addresedd.
Of deep significance was the survey of economic geography and the critical impact the "Colombian Exchange" (ie the colonisation of the "new world" in 1492)had and continues to have on the shape and nature of the global economy.
The professor kept me entrhalled in every lecture and i would have been happy if this had been a 36 lecture course and any further course from this Professor would have me as an enthusiastic customer.
Date published: 2015-05-08
Rated 5 out of
5
by
BrightWater from
Fasten Your Seat Belts
This is a whirlwind world tour of the the forces that create the world we live in--environmental, historical, social, economic and political-geography is the perspective that pulls all of these together into a picture of "place." There's a lot of information in this wide-ranging overview of the field; and Professor Robbins delivers it in a a well-organized and rapid-fire manner that demands full attention. He also packs the course with examples and case studies that illustrate the multiple, interacting forces and factors that shape the shifting directions of different countries and regions. Historical discussion of the Columbian Exchange, the first global socio-economic shift of our era, preface discussions of contemporary globalization, urbanization, and population, social and economic changes. A great (but very complex) framework for beginning to understand our world and potential directions for its future.
Date published: 2015-03-19
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Quiggy from
Fascinating subject
A group of us get together weekly to watch Great Courses on a variety of subjects. The one on Cultural and Human Geography has been very interesting and has opened our eyes to a variety of happenings in our world as pertain to changes in the planet which is our home. We are all enjoying it.
Date published: 2015-03-15
Rated 1 out of
5
by
TJG1 from
After 25 teaching company courses, a loser here!
I have been purchasing and viewing Teaching Company courses for several years - ranging from music to geology to oceanography to structures to Buddhism to .... This course was the worst I have viewed. I did stop after eight lectures because I could no longer stomach the continual stream of unsupported assertions, manufactured "stories" and pseudo-scientific nomenclature. Perhaps this is what passes for a geography course these days but this is a course that screams for an opportunity to say "Hold on there! Can you please support what you just asserted!"
The "political ecology" lecture finally put me over the top as the professor describes his methodology as essentially constructing some narrative of how a particular situation (e.g an African tribal conflict) came to pass. No facts, no supportive statistics or any testing of the hypothesis...just a string of assertions and vague "logic" which then becomes geographic theology.
I must admit to feeling like I was back in third grade with the condescending style of presentation of this lecturer as well. Perhaps that contributes to my obviously very negative review . I can only hope that the freshmen at the University of Wisconsin have enough critical thinking skills to question some of the more obvious logical reaches presented.
Date published: 2015-02-21
Rated 4 out of
5
by
MisterG from
Great data with some sketchy conclusions
The data, plainly presented, was quite solid, except for the grossly ignorant claim that Europeans thought the earth was flat before Columbus... Really?!?! I would have appreciated more physical geography - mountains and rivers and fauna. IF you get this course, please know that he has a profoundly liberal bias and that he is an Al Gore chicken little when it comes to Global Warming (despite admitting that earth heats and cools naturally). My recommendation is to entertain his lectures, but look at his lefty conclusions with a good deal of skepticism. And my recommendation to the professor is to do some research about the whole flat earth thing and watch some other Great Courses, where they get it right i.e., Lawrence Principe and others.
Date published: 2015-02-02
