The Great Courses, now celebrating its 25th year as the leading global media brand for lifelong learning and personal enrichment, is taking to the skies. Virgin America will offer a series of enlightening lectures with stellar professors on demand through the Red in-flight entertainment system.
“Travelers choose to fly Virgin America for a unique travel experience, and we’re excited to help them pass the time in a rewarding and informative way,” said Ed Leon, chief brand officer of The Great Courses. “We hope to connect passengers with a wide sampling of free lectures that will transport them to a world of knowledge that includes Ancient Egypt, espionage, nutrition, cooking from the Culinary Institute of America, the secret life of words, the Inexplicable Universe with Neil deGrasse Tyson and much more.”
The initiative with Virgin America starts February 1 and will include both audio and video lectures from the company’s library of more than 530 titles spanning history, music, science, literature, language, health, nutrition, personal development and more. The lectures will be available along with other on-demand entertainment content.
The Great Courses has sold more than 15 million DVDs, CDs, digital downloads and digital streams of its courses and counts Bill Gates among its longtime fans.
Lectures available on Virgin America flights:
- Neil deGrasse Tyson’s Inexplicable Universe; from the course, The Inexplicable Universe: Unsolved Mysteries (video)
- Cook Like a Pro Chef: Lessons From The Culinary Institute of America; from the course, The Everyday Gourmet: Rediscovering the Lost Art of Cooking (video)
- Sneferu – The Pyramid Builder; from the course, Great Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt
- Um, Well, Like, You Know; from the course, The Secret Life of Words: English Words and Their Origins
- Did Slavery Really Cause the Civil War?; from the course, The Skeptic’s Guide to American History
- The Enlightenment and an Introduction to the Classical Era; from the course, How to Listen to and Understand Great Music
- What is Big History?; from the course, Big History: The Big Bang, Life on Earth, and the Rise of Humanity
- Junk-Food Monkeys: What Happens When Baboons Eat like Us?; from the course, Being Human: Life Lessons from the Frontiers of Science
- Becoming a Spy; from the course, Espionage and Covert Operations: A Global History
- Making High-Stakes Decisions; from the course, The Art of Critical Decision Making
- Not All Carbs Are Created Equal; from the course, Nutrition Made Clear
- Creative Nonfiction: Writing Great Beginnings; from the course, Writing Creative Nonfiction
- How People Respond to Incentives; from the course, Thinking Like an Economist: A Guide to Rational Decision-Making
About The Great Courses
The Great Courses is the nation’s leading developer and marketer of premium-quality media for lifelong learning and personal enrichment. Delivered in engaging, expertly produced video and audio (in convenient online, digital and disc formats), these carefully crafted courses provide access to a world of knowledge from the most accomplished professors and experts. The content-rich, proprietary library spans more than 530 titles with more than 7,000 hours and 14,000 lectures designed to expand horizons, deepen understanding and foster epiphanies in the arts, science, literature, self-improvement, history, music, philosophy, theology, economics, mathematics, business, professional advancement, personal growth and high school curriculum. Creating unique learning experiences since 1990, The Great Courses is the premier brand of The Teaching Company of Chantilly, Virginia, which is owned by Los Angeles-based Brentwood Associates. More information can be found at www.thegreatcourses.com.
