UNIVERSITY OF SCIATICA .

During the spell I was laid up with back pain I made
use of time off of work to read books, listen to audio
Cds and watch documentaries on TV and DVD. I call
this time in my life "The University of Sciatica"!

I've already mentioned Melvyn Bragg's "In our Time"
radio series in an earlier blog, but I want to flag up
a couple of other good sources I discovered during
my enforced 'sabbatical'.

'Amazon' are always a good resource if you are house
bound. Great books, reasonably priced delivered to
your door. If you are not a great reader why not try
an audio book? Push the boat out and try a subject
or author you've never heard of - who knows where it
might lead?! You will be the richer for having tried!
Amazon also have a great DVD rental service.

I stumbled across a company based in the USA who
provide university (college) style lectures in a variety
of media. I've bought a few courses in audio CD from
them over the last few months "CS Lewis", "Western
Civilization", "Russian Literature", "Natural Law", "Books
that changed the World", one on Chinese civilisation
"From Yao to Mao" and latterly "The Birth of the Modern
Mind - an intellectual history of the 17th & 18th centuries"!
These and many other courses are available from 'The
Teaching Company' http://www.teach12.com/ Check out their
e-catalog! Some advice; (1) I personally wouldn't order
the transcripts as the courses do come with some,
perfectly adequate, written notes. (2) For customers
outside the USA be aware that your local customs may
impose a charge [eg HMG Customs will levy a charge on
product worth over $50]. These are my only caveats -
this company is an excellent resource; I recommend them
to you.

As for Bible teaching I thoroughly recommend
www.shmedia.org.uk and www.thegoodbook.co.uk Maybe
you too will one day have an opportunity like mine to
create your own curriculum in your own learning experience!
Don't knock it! The Good Book Company also offer
correspondence courses to certificate level through the
"Open Bible Institute" [formerly known as the Moore
College Correspondence Courses]. I've done the 'Bible
Introduction' and 'New testament 1' [that's Mark's Gospel]
in times past and I'm presently having a crack at 'Old
Testament 1' [that's the Pentateuch]. The exams are
optional - but hey if you're going to do the work why not
go for the certificate?! http://www.open-bible-institute.org/

Just one more recommendation; I created my own
'University of Sciatica' t-shirt online at http://www.eshirt.it/
Honest, it's a really easy site to use and they have some
great designs which you can customise, or you can upload
your own image if you like.

Over the last couple of months I've been gradually
increasing the number of hours at work; initially doing
office based stuff and more recently doing clinical work
on the Children's Intensive Care Unit at 'Sonata Smith's
Hospital' in London. Oh, and earlier this month I managed
to do my previously aborted walking trip to the Lake
District. So things are definately moving in the right
direction.