The Great Courses & Wondrium: Lectures Worth Your Time
Published October 2026 · Last verified October 2026
The Great Courses are real college lectures by top professors — history, science, music, cooking and more. Many are free through your library on Kanopy and Hoopla; a subscription (once called Wondrium) buys the full catalog. Want help? (330) 200-8042.
The Great Courses are real college lectures by top professors — history, science, music, cooking and more. Many are free through your library on Kanopy and Hoopla; a subscription (once called Wondrium) buys the full catalog. Want help? (330) 200-8042.
What's inside this guide
The printable PDF walks through 39 short chapters, in plain language. It also includes at-a-glance pictures.
- Read this first — a whole college on your TV, and often free
- The short version
- What The Great Courses actually are
- A quick word on the name — Great Courses or Wondrium?
- The free route: your library's apps
- The free route: DVDs, CDs and the shelf
- The paid route: the subscription service
- Buying a single course outright
- Choosing which route is right for you
- The professors make all the difference
- Good subjects to start with
- History that reads like a story
- Science you can finally understand
- Music and the arts, opened up
- Practical courses: cooking, photography, writing
- A course as a thoughtful gift
- Religion, philosophy and the big questions
- Taking a few notes, if you like
- Watching with a spouse or friend
- A course for a trip you are planning
- Revisiting a favorite course
- Seeing everything that exists
- Two ways people come to this — and both are fine
- Watching on the big television
- Just listening — courses as audio
- Going at your own pace
- Guidebooks and following along
- Sharing a course with the grandkids
- How it compares to other free learning
- Getting started tonight
- Common mistakes
- Common questions
- Can I really watch these free?
- What is the difference between The Great Courses and Wondrium?
- Do I have to finish a course by a certain date?
- Can I just listen instead of watching?
- Is a subscription worth it?
- The quick recap
- You do not have to do this alone
Get the printable guide
Everything above is a quick summary. The full, printable guide — the same words, laid out to read and keep by the computer — is a free PDF.
Last verified October 2026. Information accurate as of October 25, 2026.
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