Public speaking

Australians continue to study the celebrated funeral oration attributed to Pericles at school and at university. Often the French are surprised to learn this. For them, Australia is simply a distant land with fierce bushfires and very strange animals. Yet studying ancient Greece in Australia dates back to the arrival of Europeans two centuries ago.

TED talks make us all think harder about various amazing phenomena. Their subjects range from personal experience to scientific projects, from minor daily acts to huge social behavioral patterns. I have listened to almost a hundred of them. They are all impressive, but recently I found the real gem.