Elusive Wealth

I found a site recently that I find interesting, called AcademicEarth. It has a number of recorded college lectures on a variety of subjects.  For example, here is a sampling of the 17 subjects available:

• Astronomy
• Biology
• Chemistry
• Computer Science
• Economics
• Engineering
• Entrepreneurship
• History
• Mathematics
• Physics
• Political Science

What I find fascinating about the site is that it provides free access to educational material that generally would cost thousands of dollars to obtain. Of course, generally when attending these courses people are looking for a degree, which you certainly can’t get by watching these lectures. Lectures from Yale, MIT, Princeton, Stanford and others are available.

It has been awhile since I have been out of college, and I do not envision myself going back for a graduate degree.  But I still think it is important to grow in both the more practical career related ways, and even in more academic ways.  This site offers that ability to learn new topics from an academic perspective.  It also provides a refresher on some of the classes I took in college and have a passing interest in now.

Possibly the most beneficial feature of the site is that there are 871 lectures in the Entrepreneurship section covering many different subtopics. If you are looking for a new career, or considering starting your own business, this seems like a great resource to get started. Want to learn about some effective communication? Michael Dell has a Stanford talk on the subject.  Need to learn about negotiation?  There are 15 lectures on the subject. There is even a lecture on whether or not to get an MBA — maybe it would change my mind on going back for a graduate degree.