Lectures on history and other subjects added to onboard entertainment

Virgin America, which boasts one of the industry’s widest selections of music, movies and television shows in its onboard entertainment system, is adding something for those deep thinkers on the plane.

Starting Feb. 1, the Burlingame-based airline will begin offering free audio recordings of lectures on such high-minded topics as ancient Egypt, American history, nutrition and economics. The lectures, provided by a company called The Great Courses, can be found on the airline’s Red seatback entertainment system.

Among the 11 lecture that will be offered starting next month will be “Did Slavery Really Cause the Civil War,” “The Enlightenment and an Introduction to the Classical Era,” and “Junk Food Monkeys: What Happens When Baboons Eat like Us?”

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