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Matt's recommended podcasts

  • 1-3 asterisks rates if episodes are ‘timeless’, ie *** means you could start from their first ever episode and it would still be relevant
  • I disable auto-download, so I only download episodes I'm interested in
  • Tiers are based on combination of quality and personal preference


Tier 1
  • Revisionist History***
  • The Memory Palace***
  • Radiolab (various topics)**
  • 99% Invisible (design in life)**


Tier 2
  • FiveThirtyEight Elections (from the FiveThirtyEight web site team)
  • Nutrition facts with Dr. Greger (cheesy but very science-based)**
  • The Phil Vischer Podcast (Christian podcast… format change in January 2018 might bump it to Tier 3)
  • Presidential (has one episode about each American President)***
  • Constitutional (episodes for Bill of Rights and Amendment topics)***
  • Stratfor Talks (foreign affairs)*
  • Planet Money (NPR, topic economics)
  • Hidden Brain (NPR, psychology)*
  • Code Switch (NPR, about race)


Tier 3
  • 1A (NPR, one news story of the day)
  • Science Friday (NPR, I listened for years and then trailed off. Wish they would stick to harder science and not so much culture-science mix, but they are trying to reach a broader audience)
  • London School of Economics Public Lectures and Events (long format, lots of duds but some great ones occasionally, watch for topics you like)*
  • Fareed Zakaria GPS (global affairs)
  • Dan Carlin's Hardcore History (very long form episodes on history. Old episodes cost $.)
  • StoryCorp (NPR, I recognize this is good I just haven’t gotten into it)



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