Kevin Manzel
@kevinmanzel.bsky.social
History. Music. Books. Running. Learning. Always learning. VP Content Strategy, The Great Courses.
The Great Courses could put out a course covering the beginning of the universe every single year and I’d still listen like it was the first time I’ve ever heard it.
November 11, 2025 at 1:49 AM
The Great Courses could put out a course covering the beginning of the universe every single year and I’d still listen like it was the first time I’ve ever heard it.
100% agree!! Thank you!
The Great Courses is one of the shining points of the streaming era.
November 9, 2025 at 11:31 PM
100% agree!! Thank you!
Hearing my teen daughter say that Frankenstein is her favorite book she’s read in all of hs is just the best thing.
November 9, 2025 at 11:29 PM
Hearing my teen daughter say that Frankenstein is her favorite book she’s read in all of hs is just the best thing.
Reposted by Kevin Manzel
There's something fabulous about 14th C Italian painting. It's not quite Renaissance yet. There's still a two-dimensionality, an overlayering of allegory. But people are starting to become true people - real individuals, recognizable. There are *huge* things bubbling up, almost ready to burst forth.
November 7, 2025 at 11:40 PM
There's something fabulous about 14th C Italian painting. It's not quite Renaissance yet. There's still a two-dimensionality, an overlayering of allegory. But people are starting to become true people - real individuals, recognizable. There are *huge* things bubbling up, almost ready to burst forth.
Woot! @stephenressler.bsky.social and The Great Courses are nominated for a WCSFP Buzzies Award in Innovative Programming for Understanding the Marvels of Medieval Technology!! Going up against 3 Nat Geo titles incl Ocean with David Attenborough 👀
November 7, 2025 at 12:27 AM
Woot! @stephenressler.bsky.social and The Great Courses are nominated for a WCSFP Buzzies Award in Innovative Programming for Understanding the Marvels of Medieval Technology!! Going up against 3 Nat Geo titles incl Ocean with David Attenborough 👀
Lecture 8, Dutch Masters: The Age of Rembrandt, 8:45-9:35, may be the greatest 50 seconds in Great Courses professor history. His commentary is pure discursive genius. Go listen. Now.
November 6, 2025 at 2:13 AM
Lecture 8, Dutch Masters: The Age of Rembrandt, 8:45-9:35, may be the greatest 50 seconds in Great Courses professor history. His commentary is pure discursive genius. Go listen. Now.
Of 17th c Dutch painter Frans Hals, William Kloss said, “His portraits sometimes flatter. They always reveal.” So much is said there in so few words. Eloquent and economical 👏 👏
November 5, 2025 at 7:47 PM
Of 17th c Dutch painter Frans Hals, William Kloss said, “His portraits sometimes flatter. They always reveal.” So much is said there in so few words. Eloquent and economical 👏 👏
A couple days late for Halloween, but I am psyched to read this. What a genius idea for an anthology by @coyhall.bsky.social
November 5, 2025 at 12:59 AM
A couple days late for Halloween, but I am psyched to read this. What a genius idea for an anthology by @coyhall.bsky.social
I just remembered that The Great Courses used to play our own lectures as our hold “music” and I think that should be mandated by law everywhere for every company.
November 4, 2025 at 1:07 AM
I just remembered that The Great Courses used to play our own lectures as our hold “music” and I think that should be mandated by law everywhere for every company.
Reposted by Kevin Manzel
My series w/ The Great Courses, "Forgotten America: Rediscovering Events that Changed the Nation," is on Audible.
I noticed this review & had to laugh. Still got 3 stars out of them!
For super cool histories of inoculations, the Capitol Crawl, or the Hayes Code, check it out! 🗃️
adbl.co/3HEk4q6
I noticed this review & had to laugh. Still got 3 stars out of them!
For super cool histories of inoculations, the Capitol Crawl, or the Hayes Code, check it out! 🗃️
adbl.co/3HEk4q6
November 2, 2025 at 3:44 PM
My series w/ The Great Courses, "Forgotten America: Rediscovering Events that Changed the Nation," is on Audible.
I noticed this review & had to laugh. Still got 3 stars out of them!
For super cool histories of inoculations, the Capitol Crawl, or the Hayes Code, check it out! 🗃️
adbl.co/3HEk4q6
I noticed this review & had to laugh. Still got 3 stars out of them!
For super cool histories of inoculations, the Capitol Crawl, or the Hayes Code, check it out! 🗃️
adbl.co/3HEk4q6
Must I always cry at the end of a good book? I feel manipulated… but I still love it.
November 2, 2025 at 2:49 AM
Must I always cry at the end of a good book? I feel manipulated… but I still love it.
Today’s running shirt is my new favorite running shirt.
November 1, 2025 at 9:47 PM
Today’s running shirt is my new favorite running shirt.
“…panicked high schoolers were cramming about Julius Caesar’s exploits as a Roman general and statesman.”
apnews.com/article/aust...
apnews.com/article/aust...
Studying the wrong ancient Roman ruler gets Australian high school seniors out of a history exam
Teachers at nine high schools in northeastern Australia discovered days before an ancient history exam that they had mistakenly taught their students about the wrong Roman ruler — Augustus Caesar inst...
apnews.com
October 31, 2025 at 2:16 PM
“…panicked high schoolers were cramming about Julius Caesar’s exploits as a Roman general and statesman.”
apnews.com/article/aust...
apnews.com/article/aust...
Happy birthday to this good boy!
October 29, 2025 at 12:05 AM
Happy birthday to this good boy!
Tech malfunctions prevented me from listening to anything during Marine Corps Marathon today. As a result, I did get to hear incredible crowd support and an incredible camaraderie among 40k runners. A rare and special thing these days.
October 26, 2025 at 9:21 PM
Tech malfunctions prevented me from listening to anything during Marine Corps Marathon today. As a result, I did get to hear incredible crowd support and an incredible camaraderie among 40k runners. A rare and special thing these days.
While running Marine Corps Marathon this Sunday I was going to listen to a WWII course, but I don’t want to give war any more oxygen. I’ll listen to Art in the Age of Rembrandt. Let beauty reign in the shadow of the Pentagon.
October 25, 2025 at 12:59 AM
While running Marine Corps Marathon this Sunday I was going to listen to a WWII course, but I don’t want to give war any more oxygen. I’ll listen to Art in the Age of Rembrandt. Let beauty reign in the shadow of the Pentagon.
There is an outstanding alt history novel to be written about a contrite Henry VIII praying in the Sistine Chapel with Pope Paul III as Michelangelo paints The Last Judgment www.bbc.com/news/live/ce...
King Charles and Pope pray together for first time in Sistine Chapel - follow live
The pair join a service in the Vatican's Sistine Chapel in a symbolic display of unity between the Catholic Church and the Church of England.
www.bbc.com
October 23, 2025 at 12:36 PM
There is an outstanding alt history novel to be written about a contrite Henry VIII praying in the Sistine Chapel with Pope Paul III as Michelangelo paints The Last Judgment www.bbc.com/news/live/ce...
Love that my modernism lecture featured an extended profile of Janet Sobel, who was not only a Ukrainian emigre but her method of drip painting influenced Jackson Pollock (among others). www.moma.org/collection/w...
Janet Sobel. Milky Way. 1945 | MoMA
Janet Sobel. Milky Way. 1945. Enamel on canvas. 44 7/8 x 29 7/8" (114 x 75.9 cm). Gift of the artist's family. 1311.1968. Painting & Sculpture
www.moma.org
October 22, 2025 at 11:32 PM
Love that my modernism lecture featured an extended profile of Janet Sobel, who was not only a Ukrainian emigre but her method of drip painting influenced Jackson Pollock (among others). www.moma.org/collection/w...
Just finished this book last night. What an utterly bizarre story, from the access Booth had to the Presidential Box to the Jack Ruby-esque death of Booth himself by the gun of all-time weirdo Boston Corbett.
October 21, 2025 at 1:16 PM
Just finished this book last night. What an utterly bizarre story, from the access Booth had to the Presidential Box to the Jack Ruby-esque death of Booth himself by the gun of all-time weirdo Boston Corbett.
Amazing detective work by Great Courses Prof Steven Tuck finding survivors who fled Pompeii and Herculaneum. www.livescience.com/archaeology/...
'It's really an extraordinary story,' historian Steven Tuck says of the Romans he tracked who survived the AD 79 eruption of Mount Vesuvius
"I have found two or three rich guys, but I found a couple hundred middle class and even some desperately poor people who made it out and left records. And that shocked me."
www.livescience.com
October 21, 2025 at 12:31 PM
Amazing detective work by Great Courses Prof Steven Tuck finding survivors who fled Pompeii and Herculaneum. www.livescience.com/archaeology/...
Reposted by Kevin Manzel
RELEASE DAY!
This World of Vile Wonder: Horror Tales of the Scientific Revolution is out now. Nine tales! Appreciate any help spreading the word. Mybook.to/vilewonder
This World of Vile Wonder: Horror Tales of the Scientific Revolution is out now. Nine tales! Appreciate any help spreading the word. Mybook.to/vilewonder
October 20, 2025 at 10:19 AM
RELEASE DAY!
This World of Vile Wonder: Horror Tales of the Scientific Revolution is out now. Nine tales! Appreciate any help spreading the word. Mybook.to/vilewonder
This World of Vile Wonder: Horror Tales of the Scientific Revolution is out now. Nine tales! Appreciate any help spreading the word. Mybook.to/vilewonder
Heard an outstanding and surprising lecture on the rise of auction houses in the modern history of Western art. Nice points on the difference between worth and worthiness, demand and demanding attention.
October 19, 2025 at 7:23 PM
Heard an outstanding and surprising lecture on the rise of auction houses in the modern history of Western art. Nice points on the difference between worth and worthiness, demand and demanding attention.
Reposted by Kevin Manzel
I IMPLORE YOU! IF YOU DO *NOTHING* ELSE THIS WEEKEND!
*Please* sign up for the free trial of Great Courses and watch this course on Constitutional Law (or as we in the biz call it, ConLaw). The link below should take you directly to it.
*Please* sign up for the free trial of Great Courses and watch this course on Constitutional Law (or as we in the biz call it, ConLaw). The link below should take you directly to it.
October 17, 2025 at 10:50 PM
I IMPLORE YOU! IF YOU DO *NOTHING* ELSE THIS WEEKEND!
*Please* sign up for the free trial of Great Courses and watch this course on Constitutional Law (or as we in the biz call it, ConLaw). The link below should take you directly to it.
*Please* sign up for the free trial of Great Courses and watch this course on Constitutional Law (or as we in the biz call it, ConLaw). The link below should take you directly to it.
Listening to Noah Charney’s new idiosyncratic but soooo enjoyable history of Western art, I’m realizing how our library of art history Great Courses are insanely good given how few of them we have.
October 16, 2025 at 1:23 AM
Listening to Noah Charney’s new idiosyncratic but soooo enjoyable history of Western art, I’m realizing how our library of art history Great Courses are insanely good given how few of them we have.