Podcast Recommendations

[ket_the_jet]

History and Geography

- Dan Carlin's Hardcore History
Shorter episodes than Hardcore History, this one is more Carlin's take on current events and various "what if?" scenarios. For what it is worth, there is also a "Hardcore History: Addendum" podcast that are shorter lectures.
- NPR Politics Podcast
Probably doesn't need an explanation.
- 538 Politics Podcast
Nate Silver and his team track political issues and trends. If you like statistics and surveying mixed in with your standard political coverage and discourse, this is a great podcast.
- Pod Save America
Want to hear a bunch of Obama's aides—Jon Favreau, Jon Lovett, Tommy Vietor, and Dan Pfeiffer—talk about current politics? Yes you do. This podcast is great.


Math and Sciences
- StarTalk Radio
It's Neil DeGrasse Tyson! I am choosy on which episodes I listen to, but they can be really good.
- Breaking Math Podcast
A few University of New Mexico teachers try to make advanced math and physics concepts accessible to everyone. I liked this a lot more than I thought I would.
- Flash Forward
Rose Eveleth examines the future combining audio drama with journalism to unpack tomorrow's mysteries, like cleaning debris in earth's atmosphere, how warranties for sex robots might work, a California secession, or any number of doomsday scenarios.
- Twenty Thousand Hertz
A podcast about sound design. Listen to episode 61, "Dining on Decibels," and see if you like the show.
- Peter Attia Drive
Really intelligent doctor talking to a number of really interesting guests. Listening to his three part interviews with Matthew Walker changed how I sleep, and the amount of importance I give sleeping.


Art and Leisure
- 99% Invisible
A podcast about how unseen art fashions our subconscious and dictates our decisions. Love them all, but the ‘McMansions' episode is what got me hooked.
- How I Built This with Guy Raz
Guy Raz hosts introspective interviews with entrepreneurs and company founders. A good way to feel like you haven't accomplished enough.
- Off Camera with Sam Jones
Well, every once in a while you may want to turn your brain off and see what your favorites celebrities think about this or that. As an interviewer, Sam Jones does a great job driving the narratives in unique directions.
- Unspooled
Paul Scheer and Amy Nicholson tackle the AFI Top 100 films of all time, discussing the history, cinematography, and influence these films have had on the medium and modern life. Worth starting from the very beginning.
- Grierson and Leitch
Film critics Tim Grierson and Will Leitch discuss the newest movie releases and then revisit older films as well. Quite entertaining, though I do skip around to only catch what films I am interested in.
- Decoder Ring
A show that explores cultural mysteries. Why are people afraid of clowns? How did the laugh track come into existence? Find out the answers to these questions--and more!
- You Must Remember This
Karina Longworth looks back at the forgotten histories of early Hollywood. Secrets and scandals abound.
- West Wing Weekly
Joshua Molina (who plays Will Bailey starting in season 4) and Hrishikesh Hirway discuss The West Wing episode-by-episode. They often bring on stars to discuss the plot arcs and roles and behind-the-scenes stuff as well.
- Song Exploder
Hrishikesh Hirway sits down with musicians to break down the creation and composition of singular songs. Pick and choose the ones you are interested in, because there is a lot of pop/punk/EDM.
- The Anthropocene Reviewed
John Green (author, The Fault in Our Stars) explores two aspects of the human existence per episode, and rates them on a five-star scale. A good into episode is "Pennies and Piggly-Wiggly."
- Stuff You Should Know
Probably the most famous of the "two people effectively reading Wikipedia pages" format of podcasts, Chuck and Josh have a great rapport and a funny podcast. Pick the episodes that interest you, or listen to them all. Your call.


True Crime
- Serial
The podcast that made podcasts cool. Sarah Koenig investigates the murder of Hae-Min Lee (season 1) and the Bowe Bergdahl desertion and capture (season 2). Season 3 got inside the criminal justice system in Ohio. Amazing investigative journalism and Koenig has the perfect radio voice.
- Criminal
Rather than exploring a crime (or series of crimes) by a whole season, each episode of Criminal is dedicated to a different crime. Some recent episodes are good jumping off points: "Stowaway," "Off Leash," and "He's Still Neutral" are all really interesting and different.
- Crime Town
Though the approach feels a bit rudimentary at times, Crime Town tells the story of the mob in New England, largely focusing on the Patriarca Crime Family and Buddy Cianci, and Providence, Rhode Island's place in American gangland history.
- S-Town
A reporter receives an e-mail from an eccentric man in Alabama about an unsolved murder in his town. Reporter Brian Reed investigates and finds himself deep in the inter-workings of the town and the eccentric's life.


Sports
- 30 for 30 Podcasts
Behind the scenes looks and introspectives on famous scenes in sports. If you only listen to one, listen to "A Queen of Sorts."
- Effectively Wild: A Fangraphs Podcast
Ben Lindbergh, Sam Miller, and Meg Rowley recount the current happenings in baseball. Dive into data, history, etc. Plus sometimes I they discuss stuff I contributed.
- The PosCast
Michael Schur (Executive Producer of The Office, Parks and Recreation, The Good Place) and Joe Posnanski talk sports and draft random things. A total time-waster, and they'll make sure to remind you.
- The Infinite Inning
The closest thing to a Dan Carlin podcast about baseball, Steven Goldman talks about the history of the game and about helplessness.
- The Wheelhouse with Jerry Dipoto
Jerry Dipoto is the General Manager of the Seattle Mariners. You don't have to like the Mariners, but he is the only General Manager who has his own podcast. A great look into the interworkings of a front office.


Fiction
- Homecoming
Awesome cast with Catherine Keener, David Schwimmer, Oscar Isaac, David Cross, Alia Shawkat, Michael Cera. Fictional story with a Total Recall/Serenity feel in a modern world. And hey! They're making it into a show with Julia Roberts!
- Sandra
Another fictional "story" podcast, stars Kristen Wiig, Alia Shawkat, and Ethan Hawke. Definitely recommend; excited for season 2.
- Wolverine: the Long Night
If superhero fatigue hasn't set in with Marvel movies and whatnot, Wolverine: the Long Night is an audio play starring Richard Armitage as the titular character. Gave it a shot. The mystery was solid enough. The sound design was great. Second season just concluded.

Feel free to post some of your favorites as well!
-wtk

[Not a Zombie]

Thanks for the recommendations! Im installing floors this weekend, will check some out! I really enjoy the podcast No Dumb Questions. The do some of everything, history, engineering, religion, philosophy, ect. Super fun

[Phallen Cassidy]

How do you have time to listen to all of this? So far no podcast has really grabbed me, though I do enjoy Mike Rowe's The Way I Heard It -- probably the only one I continue to go back to. Each episode is short, informative, and clever. I can say I found Serial pretty interesting for the season and a half I heard. A friend of mine has a D&D-esque podcast which is actually pretty funny, it's called Fiction First and follows the three members of a fantasy detective agency. If you're interested, I think the Frat Night Fright case was their best so far.

On the whole, I find it difficult to keep up with long podcasts since I'm going to be interrupted while listening and have to rewind it a bunch of times. What've you got that's short?

[ket_the_jet]

How do you have time to listen to all of this?

Well, a few things help. First of all, I use Overcast as the application rather than the standard iPhone podcast application. Overcast has a "smart speed" option that automatically skips over pauses in conversation so that the podcast has a better flow and talking speed. Per the application's statistics, I have saved 215 hours of my life just in the pauses that last longer than a second being condensed. That's both amazing and, mildly, troubling.

Another thing is that I listen to most podcasts at 1.75x speed. This allows me to go through several podcasts while doing ordinary activities--chores, errands, walking the dog, going running, etc. I also listen to podcasts while I am at work, which might be a poor reflection on my work ethic (as if you all finding me on Gemp most days doesn't already reflect that for me).

Finally, once you listen to podcasts regularly, you tend to understand the advertisement breaks as they come. I am fairly good at predicting when these will happen, and quickly skip ahead 30 seconds with a single button push to avoid the tyranny of sponsor marketing.

So all in all, an hour of podcasts might take...35-40ish minutes?

As for your second question, my recommendation is to just pause your podcasts and revisit them when you have a chance. But like anything, find what you are interested in and run with it.
-wtk