14 Links to Make You A More Intelligent Person

One of the values I try to live is “growth.” As part of that quest, taking control of my continued education and intellectual improvement is crucial.  We live in an age of such democratization of access to resources that can be used to learn– we just have to take advantage of them.  Lots of online self-education lists focus on giving the largest amount of links possible, regardless of how useful they actually are.  Instead of copying that format, I decided to focus more on the quality of the websites.  The following sites are a great base for your own growth as an intellectual individual.

E-Books

1. Project Gutenberg: Over 30,000 free ebooks. Consists of books that have expired copyrights in the United States. If it is an old book, chances are you can find it here.  Downloadable in many formats so you are sure to find one that works best for you. Recommended Reading: Theodore Roosevelt; an Autobiography.
2. ManyBooks.net: Over 25,465 free ebooks available for download.  A much prettier site than Project Gutenberg. It has some cool features like “special collections,” “user’s public bookshelves,” and “cover image gallery.” Recommended Reading: The Art of War by Sun Tzu.
3. Bartleby.com: Another expansive ebook directory. Also includes impressive reference and poetry sections. Recommended Reading: Inaugural Addresses of the Presidents of the United States.

Non-Lecture Videos

1. Hulu News & Information Channel: Most of you probably realize that Hulu is a great resource for watching T.V. shows online. However, not only is it a great place to catch your favorite prime-time shows, but also many educational programs.  This channel has full episodes from National Geographic, NOVA, Biography, The History Channel and many others. Recommended Watching: The Last Days of World War II
2. PBS Video: Tons of free and full-length episodes of all sorts of educational videos.  Anything you’ve seen on PBS you can probably find on this website. Recommended Watching:American Experience.
3. MoviesFoundOnline.com: This site provides links to a multitude of documentaries found on YouTube, Google Video, and other streaming video services. The quality of the movies varies greatly however, so beware. Recommended Watching: 10 MPH

Scholarly Journals

1. Directory of Open Access Journals: The aim of the website is to increase the visibility and ease of use of scholarly journals. It focuses on open access (i.e. free to use) scientific and scholarly journals.
2. Google Scholar: The premier web search for finding information from articles, theses, books, abstracts and court opinions.  Like regular Google Search’s really smart older brother.

Video and/or Audio Lectures

1. TED: TED is a conference held every year that brings innovators, inventors, intellectuals and ideas together.  Most of the talks are approximately twenty minutes long and cover an incredible range of topics.  It is impossible to spend time on this website and not be inspired. Recommended Watching: Lewis Pugh swims the North Pole or John Wooden on true success
2. Academic Earth: From their website, “Academic Earth is an organization founded with the goal of giving everyone the access to a world-class education.” Here you can find entire courses worth of lectures on a huge array of subjects from some of the world’s top Universities and professors, including Yale, Harvard, Princeton, and MIT. Recommended Watching: The Philosophy of Death by Shelly Kagan
3. Forum Network: A website formed of a partnership between PBS and NPR that gives access to video lectures by some of the world’s foremost scholars, authors, artists, scientists, and policymakers. Recommended Watching: NPR’s “Who Needs Libraries?” Series
4. iTunes U: Within the iTunes store you have access to a growing library of lectures from some of the world’s top universities.  The iTunes Store interface makes it easy to locate lectures based on topic and best of all, it is all free.  Download the lectures to your iPod for some serious learning on the move. Recommended Listening: Introduction to Ancient Greek History by Yale professor Donald Kagan (iTunes link)

Intellectual Reading

1. The Browser: “Give us 15 minutes of your time, and we will give you everything that matters in the world.”  This website collects journalism from around the internet which they judge likely to be of lasting value to the general intelligent reader.  Also has a section where they invite experts to recommend the best reading in their given fields of interest. Recommended Reading: America wakes up to the shift in global power from Times Online
2. Longreads: This twitter feed provides links to “long reads” throughout the internet.  If you’re craving something longer than the average blog post, check this site out.  Works great in conjunction with Instapaper.

Continuing Education

1. Online education: Depending on your area of interest, there are tons of online options for continuing your education. Forensic scientist education is just one example of the many, many options available.

Tools To Help You Keep It All Organized

• Instapaper: Found something to read but don’t have time to read it right now?  Maybe you want to read it on your iPhone later?  Use this website and it’s bookmarklet to easily save articles for later reading. Check This Out: Instapaper Frequently Asked Questions
• Evernote: Great note taking app and database manager. It can hold any piece of information you throw at it, including articles, notes, pictures, audio files and more. Check This Out: 14 Practical Ways to Use Evernote

The internet is an incredibly valuable resource for furthering your own education. If there is something you want to learn, there are free resources out there to help you. It’s just a matter of taking the time to find and use them.