lengthy but enlightening

eventhough it was a little hard to finish, many of the chapters had very interesting content. The story was well structured and easy to follow.

I'd say a book wook be a lot more enjoyable, but this was really good for walks and sometimes I'd space out but it doesn't matter too much if you miss some of it.

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Great book, shame about the lecturer

What did you like about this audiobook?

It is a fantastic introduction to the ancient philosophers but the lecturer often stumbles over his words and in some cases even says the wrong words which I think can be rather misguiding especially when discussing philosophy, sometimes one wrong word can change the meaning of the sentence and I feel that this particular speaker doesn't sound confident enough to convey the meanings of the texts well.

How has the book increased your interest in the subject matter?

as I say the subject matter is amazing, it certainly has increased my love of ancient philosophy and lead me to read further on the subject

Does the author present information in a way that is interesting and insightful, and if so, how does he achieve this?

The speaker is rather sub-par (see above)

What did you find wrong about the narrator's performance?

He seemed very nervous and stumbled over many sentences sometimes crossing the meanings of the sentences he said. Not helpful when trying to take in important philosophical points.

Do you have any additional comments?

The rest of this series has much better narrators and they are well worth a listen, this seems to be an unfortunate anomaly.

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Not engaging.

I may have bought this without much appreciating the fact that those are basically lectures, but even as such it is way too boring with no easy way to capture the core ideas. Too lengthy on superficial subjects and not enough base. I'm returning this one.

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2 people found this helpful

spellbinding

excellent throughout, the three great thinkers' ideas and life told chronologically. I've already done two books by Plato while listening and will go back to the relevant lectures when I progress through the bibliography. the great courses never disappoints.

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A great intro to Socrates, Plato and Aristotle

This is a wonderfully paced account of the Philosophy's of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. The course is quite accessible for those with little to no experience of these philosophers teachings. This is a definite recommend.

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A dry and unsatisfying slice of a vast pie

Would you try another book written by The Great Courses or narrated by Professor Robert C. Bartlett?

Covering the three greatest philosophers of Ancient Greece in one lecture series is ambitious to say the least. It started off well with Socrates but then the lectures jumped straight to Aristotle and I got very little sense of Plato's own contribution. That is my first criticism. My second is that the coverage of Aristotle was almost exclusively confined to the Nicomachean Ethics which is fine and perhaps should have made up an entire lecture series in its own right but this emphasis left me no wiser about Aristotle's other works.

Professor Bartlett is not the most captivating speaker. He crams a lot into each sequence so that your head is quickly reeling as it tries to capture points and facts and keep pace at the same time. I shall buy another couple of books and then come back for another go at this rather dry lecture series. My aim was to be equipped to tackle Augustine and Aquinas and I don;t yet feel up to that monumental read so this book has taken me less far than I hoped for.

By no means a waste of time. Not for the faint hearted but it does add enough value to be worth a listen by dedicated students of the subject.

What was most disappointing about The Great Courses’s story?

See above

Who might you have cast as narrator instead of Professor Robert C. Bartlett?

This question is ridiculous. Get a grip Audible

Could you see Masters of Greek Thought: Plato, Socrates, and Aristotle being made into a movie or a TV series? Who would the stars be?

This question is ridiculous. Get a grip Audible

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3 people found this helpful

The ugly philosopher who will never be a swan

"In this intellectually vibrant - yet crystal-clear and accessible - series of 36 lectures" - Description of Lectures

Representing the colloquial interpretation of philosophy, the lecturer is verbose and provides little to no content. You are therefore liable to be bored with his poor presentation and lecturing. All it not lost though as you may derive some short lived pleasure from his combination of being very pleased with himself without knowing how useless he is at it.

I recommend you skip this for these excellent courses,

The Philosopher's Toolkit: How to Be the Most Rational Person in Any Room
Patrick Grim, The Great Courses

The Great Ideas of Philosophy, 2nd Edition
Daniel N. Robinson, The Great Courses

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A Monumental Waste of Time

The lectures are so mind numbing academically dry and boring.

How can any academic professor take the wonderful works of these great philosophers and come up with something so devoid of any richness, joy or meaning to life.

If philosophy is aimed at imparting wisdom to enrich our life’s then Robert C Bartlett has failed spectacularly.

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I wanted to hear their philosophy

Would you try another book written by The Great Courses or narrated by Professor Robert C. Bartlett?

I wanted to hear their philosophy, but this lecture as far as I could stand it was about how brilliant they were without showing any of the brilliance.

Who might you have cast as narrator instead of Professor Robert C. Bartlett?

I really don't like Prof Barlett's style. I prefer someone the talk to me without appearing to perform

Any additional comments?

It was my mistake for not researching it properly

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6 people found this helpful

Bland, boring, superficial, poorly presented

What would have made Masters of Greek Thought: Plato, Socrates, and Aristotle better?

In a course entitled Masters of Greek Thought: Plato, Socrates, and Aristotle the field to cover is of course bast and some judicious choices have to be made if you want to bring some depth to treatment and avoid bland superficality, this Professor C Bartlett unfortunately fails to do: his approach is anodyne, dull, repetitive and often very poorly reasoned. I got the impression that he did not spend much time preparing for this course.

What will your next listen be?

I am going straight to the source this time: Plato's Republic

What didn’t you like about Professor Robert C. Bartlett’s performance?

He lacked vigor and mental finesse. His sentences are boring and his treatment of the subject meandering and often inconsistent.

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