Skip to main content

Recommended podcasts (update)

Two years ago I listed my recommended podcasts. Here’s an updated list.


Guide:

  • Asterisks are meant to show how timeless the episodes are. One asterisk (*) means the last year or so is likely still relevant.  Three (***) means you could (or should) start from the first  episode and it would still be relevant.
  • The number two (2) means they were also on my list two years ago.
  • I don't necessarily listen to every episode, especially for podcasts that do different topics or different guests (like Vox, Spycast, Hidden Brain). You can’t really skip episodes for serials (podcasts that tell a story, like In the Dark).
  • Tiers are based on a combination of quality and personal preference.

Tier 1
In the Dark*** [Crime podcast. Start with season 1. This show is amazing.]
Revisionist History*** (2) [Malcolm Gladwell's podcast. First couple seasons were outstanding. The most recent episodes are just ads for Gladwell's other projects.]
I Spy by Foreign Policy*** [Fun stuff.]
The Memory Palace*** (2) [The first several seasons are best.]
Homilies by Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM [Christian content.]

Tier 2
Nutrition facts with Dr. Greger** (2) [Cheesy delivery but very science-based.]
Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend** [The earlier episodes are best. Adult humor and language.]
Vox Podcast with Mike Erre** [Christian content.]
Unsolved* [Crime podcast. Wisconsin stories.]
Spycast [Interviews with foreign policy and intelligence types. Not pure entertainment, but good education about foreign affairs and the mindset of our intelligence community.]
Presidential*** (2) [Dated, but timeless. Has one episode about each American President.]
Planet Money (2) [NPR. Brings economics down to earth.]
Hidden Brain* (2) [NPR. Psychology.]
Strict Scrutiny [Covers the Supreme Court. Political content from a progressive perspective. The hosts are all female legal scholars.]
Connected Families Podcast** [Christian content. Parenting advice. They sell their workshops pretty hard, but still have good content.]
Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History*** [Great history content, but 1-2 episodes a year.]

Tier 3
Democracy Works

Other notes
Radiolab and 99% Invisible are off my list just because I haven’t listened to them for a while. It’s likely they both still do good work, and you should check them out.
My guilty pleasures are The PFF NFL Show and The PFF Forecast. PFF is Pro Football Focus, and they do football analytics.

Let me know any great podcasts I'm missing out on...

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

New Yorker letter to editor

(In The New Yorker, 2/4/08, p5) Jeanne Guillemin, a senior fellor in MIT's Security Studies Program, wrote an excellent letter to the editor regarding how Americans talk about casualties. I'm unable to find a link to a full-text example, but here is an excerpt: "In wars since 1945, American combat mortality figures have sharply declined, while the exclusivity of the American claim on memorialization has intensified, as if U.S. soldiers were the only casualties in Korea or Vietnam or, more recently, Iraq, and the deaths of many thousands of civilians killed in those distant conflicts merited no acknowledgment and carried no meaning. Whose deaths matter and whose do not always tells a great deal about American politics and culture."
1 comment
Read more

Real Estate in America

We sold our house this summer and bought a new home. The experience has led me to reflect on homes and home-buying in America. As in any industry, there are good and bad incentives at work in real estate. A home seller would like to get the highest price for their house and sell it in a reasonable period of time. The industry operates on a commission system so that the agent seeks to sell the house at a higher price. This incentive works, but only to a point. Consider the impact of $5000 on the seller vs. the agent. Six percent of $5000 is $300. After the realty company and purchasing agent take their cut, the agent isn't left with much. A $5000 difference in the price of the house means little to the agent, but a lot to the home owner. Does an agent become successful by getting the highest price or by turning over lots of houses? The answer is obvious. An agent's ideal world is not one where people get exactly the right price for their homes, it is a world where everyone is wi
2 comments
Read more

Welfare for the wealthy

I was struck by today's Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. Not literally, but in the Crossroads section, on opposite sides of the spread, were two articles that reflect our nation's "welfare for the rich." On 2J, a local economics instructor's article "Tax for Miller Park didn't help economy." He criticized a previous article which had suggested the opposite. The previous article was based almost entirely on reports by Major League Baseball, which clearly has a huge bias. This week's article takes an objective look, and summarizes that taxpayer's don't get much in return, but the fat cat players and executives of MLB walk away with huge paychecks. The drive to fund new ballparks almost never starts with taxpayers--it starts with the deep pockets of baseball executives, PR campaigns and connections with political power. On 3J, George Will was taking on the Fed ("What the Fed should never do"), rightly criticizing it for bailing out Bear
Post a Comment
Read more