The Modern World, Part One
Global History from 1760 to 1910

History of the Modern World is also fantastic, and up on coursera. A good look at the rise and fall of imperialism, the industrial revolution etc https://www.coursera.org/learn/modern-world

Mi è venuto in mente oggi: su coursera c'è un corso molto interessante che si chiama the modern world, che copre il periodo dal 1760, sono circa 24 ore di lezioni per la parte fino al 1910. e dovrebbe essere disponibile gratuitamente (si paga per il certificato).

Io lo seguii molti anni fa, non so se è il materiale è cambiato.

Per quel che mi ricordo io: non va molto in profondità ovviamente (in un secolo sull'intero pianeta succedono una marea di cose) ma è molto interessante e l'insegnante ha un tono da "storie intorno al caminetto" che è fantastico.

Inoltre riesce a mettere insieme in modo abbastanza gradevole sia la visione di alto livello che gli aneddoti divertenti.

Being more involved with the world - politics, economics, social issues

I feel a bit uncomfortable opening a topic about this issue, as I know there is a lot of stigma around people "not being interested in politics". "They must be stupid", and so on. Well, I know that's not the case for me. I've spent my life so far mostly being interested in science, engineering, technology, neurology, psychology, but also creative ventures. I'm a very curious person I would say, and enjoy finding out a lot about many different topics. However, I have never developed a solid base when it came to geography, politics, economics, culture. Due to undetected depression in primary school, I performed badly and was sent to lower vocational (is how you call it I think - I'm Dutch). Long story short I managed over time to find myself and climbed up to university level. I never did any proper high school though (not on university preparatory level) and so miss a lot of basic knowledge about the world that I feel embarrassed about. On top of that, I'm a very abstract and visual person, and have a great deal of difficulty remembering names (of things, places, people). That's difficult with specifically these subjects. I've been triggered by events in the last few years to get more interested in politics, but after a short burst of reading online articles I'd usually give up because it felt like there was just too much for me to know and catch up on, too many relationships spanning the globe with too many dependencies and stakes. It was overwhelming. With the elections in the US my interest was peaked again and I notice myself reading a lot of articles in the last 3 days. I'm running into the same problems though; not knowing a lot about the history, the games in the shadows, the international relationships, the wars and war crimes, the whole situation with Russia, there's just too much. I feel like knowing everything that is playing, everything that is at stake, and then staying up to date, would leave me no time for the things that really interest me as a passion instead of a necessity.

However, I do see the importance of these subjects and I do want to develop at least a gross feel for it. It will probably never be the focus of my life. My question to you is, could you advise me some good summaries, books, sources of information that can get me up to speed in a reasonable amount of time? In other words, let's say you had to start over. What would you do?

Edit:

I found some sources myself. Coursera:

• The Modern World 1 2

• Understanding Europe: Why it Matters and What it Can Offer You

• The Emergence of the Modern Middle East 1 2

• Corruption

• The Social Context of Mental Health and Illness

• Global Diplomacy: Diplomacy in the Modern World

• Configuring the World 1 2 and 3 to be made available this fall (2016).

• International Cyber Conflicts

There are 2 Coursera online courses that basically have what you seem to be looking for (and you can audit them for free if you don't need a certificate):

https://www.coursera.org/learn/modern-world

https://www.coursera.org/learn/modern-world-2

Also check out Kahn Acedamy's History: https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/world-history

There are two courses on Coursera that I have taken, related to governance, which I found incredibly interesting:

Model Thinking, from University of Michigan and Moral Foundations of Politics, from Yale University. There is also a course on Modern History which sounds interesting (I haven't taken it).

Completing a bunch of courses in your domain of interest definitely helps in applications, supporting your interest in the field. I had done 5-10 courses related to a field that I wanted to get in, but had no prior experience, and it definitely helped boost my application letter. You won't get credit however for these courses.

You could try coursera. They provide free online courses offered by various universities. They are well organized and easy to access. They usually offer some materials and might require or suggest you buy a few books. I'd stick with the required to stuff to save money.

I would also try to not get carried away as it can become an addiction trying to consume as much information as possible. Do one or two courses at a time, max, depending on the amount of free time you have available.

As far as topics? Just start exploring. They have tons. But I'd suggest getting a good variety. For example, a course on Buddhism and then a course on argumentation. A course on history and then one on personal finance. Here are some of their offerings:

https://www.coursera.org/learn/leading-the-life-you-want

https://www.coursera.org/learn/science-of-meditation?

https://www.coursera.org/learn/modern-world

https://www.coursera.org/learn/the-science-of-well-being

https://www.coursera.org/learn/understanding-arguments

https://www.coursera.org/learn/philosophy

Coursera je objavila njihove najpopularnije kurseve u 2021. godini (svi su besplatni). A od ovoga što si naveo, najpopularniji su im Introduction to Electronics, The Modern World, Part One: Global History from 1760 to 1910 i Moral Foundations of Politics.

Biology: MITx Introduction to Biology is the best MOOC I've ever taken (I completed >10 and started dozens). The lecturer is amazing, the problem sets are really fun, and it really made me appreciate biology.

CS: I really enjoyed Algorithms by Roughgarden from Stanford on Coursera.

Economics: Marginal Revolution University intros to Micro and Macro are great (taught by Tyler Cowen and Alex Tabarrok).

History: my favorite course is The Modern World: Global History from 1760 to 1910 (part 1, part 2).

(I have a few more MOOCs I liked listed on my site but listing all of them would be too much here).