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A lecture series by Sidney Sussex College about great ideas and works is now available on iTunes.

Our hope is to continue these lectures in following years, and there is an almost unlimited reservoir of books and ideas that can be examined in the future. And perhaps, in presenting these introductions on iTunes, we can encourage today’s listeners to be tomorrow’s undergraduates.

Dr Edward Wilson-Lee

The ‘Sidney Greats’ lecture series, conceived by Dr Edward Wilson-Lee and Clive Wilmer, was designed to introduce some of the greatest books and ideas in history to College undergraduates, graduates, Fellows and staff.

Dr Edward Wilson-Lee said, “The series proved very popular, and the 250 spaces available for undergraduate and graduate students were snapped up within hours of being posted.”

The popularity of the lectures, coupled with the desire to reach an audience further afield, encouraged the lectures’ founders to make the series freely available on iTunes and to continue in years to come.

Dr Wilson-Lee said, “This year was something of a dry run, to see how the format would work and to think about which subjects to treat and how.  While we feel it immensely important that students are given access to these classic contexts for their own work and thought, we are also interested in thinking about the evolving notion of ‘great ideas’, as well as the relation of ideas to books in this digital age.”

The series begins fittingly with Homer’s epic poem The Iliad introduced by Prof. Adrian Poole of Trinity College. Subsequent lectures in this first instalment are as follows: Dr Edward Wilson-Lee discusses the Bible and reflects on some of the narrative and rhetorical forms we have inherited from it, Clive Wilmer reflects on Dante’s Divine Comedy, and Dr Patricia Fara introduces the life and thought of Sir Isaac Newton. Dr Tim Lewens of Clare College finishes the series by discussing Darwin’s Origin of Species and how it relates to modern Darwinism.

The intention of the organizers was to choose speakers who were not necessarily experts on the topic they presented, but who had engaged with the subject in the course of their work and research. The result is an hour-long lecture that provides an interesting and accessible overview of the topic, rather than a lengthy in-depth analysis aimed at specialists.

Dr Wilson-Lee added: “Our hope is to continue these lectures in following years, and there is an almost unlimited reservoir of books and ideas that can be examined in the future. And perhaps, in presenting these introductions  on iTunes, we can encourage today’s listeners to be tomorrow’s undergraduates.”


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