If you're into history/philosophy, can't recommend enough:
- The History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps [1]
Manages to truly live up to its name while remaining very approachable to someone not very familiar with philosophy.
- In Our Time [2]
Technically a long running BBC radio program with a massive back catalog, but many episodes would certainly interest HN users with very insightful discussions.
These aren't the sorts podcasts I can follow along easily while doing other things though.
+1 for HOPWAG. I've recently caught up with the series completely, including his other series on the history of Indian philosophy, and I can't recommend it highly enough. Peter Adamson is such a pro, he's got the conversational tone and dry wit of a really good professor (which he is), and the series has been so consistently good for nearly 300 episodes now. It's a big time investment, but a very rewarding one.
Podcasts have been my main form of entertainment now for over a year, so I'm gonna drop some history/other brainy recs too for anyone interested.
Hardcore History - essential listening for history fans, skews more toward audio book format than podcast.
History of Rome / Revolutions - a bit drier, but more thorough than hardcore history, I list these together because they're the same author. Very well researched
History of the 20th century - relatively new podcast aiming to tell a multidisciplinary history of the 1900's, very entertaining well produced
The Rhine - The history of Rome, but focuses on the Rhine region, he's planning on following the history of the region into present day
Planet Money - economics for everyone, an npr podcast
Omega Tau - deep deep deep dive interviews into engineering topics. Everything from Rollercoaster design to the gemini missions. English/German bilingual
Intelligence squared - debate club, basically. A thesis is decided, a team argues for, another against, audience decides who won
Would "24 infotainment podcasts" be a better way of describing this list?
Nothing wrong with infotainment. Maybe it will even make you seem more interesting at parties. Nothing wrong with that, either. But it's not the same thing as being smarter.
Eh. Cognitive exercises don't hurt, even if the knowledge gained isn't particularly useful. Just because something is entertaining doesn't mean it won't stretch your critical thinking muscles.
It drills down into the nitty gritty of how to write stories and I learned a lot about writing while listening. They tend to cover a different specific aspect of writing in each podcast. So one podcast may focus primarily on the uses of spacing while another might focus on how to write a pitch for a book.
As an engineer, I find learning about design to be fascinating. The High Resolution Podcast has quickly become a favorite of mine. Every week, the hosts interview leaders in the design industry from leading companies. Topics have ranged from research to diversity.
I'm surprised they didn't mention Waking Up with Sam Harris [1]. I've recently started listening, and he talks to some really interesting people about very interesting topics.
> The Waking Up podcast was selected by Apple as one of iTunes Best of 2015 and won a 2017 Webby Award for best podcast in the Science & Education category.
I also really enjoy listening to the stories on The Moth [2].
I prefer A Way with Words, which is more entertaining and has actual linguists and etymologists. The hosts have nice interplay and it works on multiple levels: goofy fun if you want it but real information if that's not enough. http://waywordradio.org.
This is the biggest omission, IMO. They do a really good job digging through the science, current news and they always follow-up if they make a mistake. It's one of the very, very few places where I feel like I don't have to double check everything they say. I mean, sure you should probably do that with just about everything but the reality is no one really has time for that.
Plus their Science or Fiction game at the end of every episode is fun.
Honestly surprising that Joe Rogan isn't on this list: he constantly has guests on that cover all sorts of interesting topics. Some of his guests are comedians or UFC related, but the other topics he covers are very good as well.
Im sure those snake oil supplements he peddles on there make you smarter too. /s =P
EDIT: I was just halfway joking when I made this comment (I vaguely knew that he sold supplements for body building)... However, I had no idea about the "Alpha Brain" supplement that he sells. And yes, the punchline is that he claims it provides "cognitive enhancement". And No.. there is no solid science behind it and certainly no doubleblind clinical trials. I only know to care about stuff like this from listening to other podcasts such as "This week in microbiology" and "Skeptoid" that perhaps did make me smarter. (at least I don't fall for supplement scams)
[+] [-] joaomsa|8 years ago|reply
- The History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps [1]
Manages to truly live up to its name while remaining very approachable to someone not very familiar with philosophy.
- In Our Time [2]
Technically a long running BBC radio program with a massive back catalog, but many episodes would certainly interest HN users with very insightful discussions.
These aren't the sorts podcasts I can follow along easily while doing other things though.
[1] https://historyofphilosophy.net/
[2] http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qykl/episodes/player
[+] [-] jzymbaluk|8 years ago|reply
Podcasts have been my main form of entertainment now for over a year, so I'm gonna drop some history/other brainy recs too for anyone interested.
Hardcore History - essential listening for history fans, skews more toward audio book format than podcast.
History of Rome / Revolutions - a bit drier, but more thorough than hardcore history, I list these together because they're the same author. Very well researched
History of the 20th century - relatively new podcast aiming to tell a multidisciplinary history of the 1900's, very entertaining well produced
The Rhine - The history of Rome, but focuses on the Rhine region, he's planning on following the history of the region into present day
Planet Money - economics for everyone, an npr podcast
Omega Tau - deep deep deep dive interviews into engineering topics. Everything from Rollercoaster design to the gemini missions. English/German bilingual
Intelligence squared - debate club, basically. A thesis is decided, a team argues for, another against, audience decides who won
[+] [-] jlebar|8 years ago|reply
Nothing wrong with infotainment. Maybe it will even make you seem more interesting at parties. Nothing wrong with that, either. But it's not the same thing as being smarter.
[+] [-] thesmallestcat|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] gramstrong|8 years ago|reply
I guess define "smart".
[+] [-] Paul-ish|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] gertef|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Dowwie|8 years ago|reply
Hmm. I'm on the cusp of losing my productivity.
[+] [-] j_s|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tambourine_man|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] JoshCole|8 years ago|reply
It drills down into the nitty gritty of how to write stories and I learned a lot about writing while listening. They tend to cover a different specific aspect of writing in each podcast. So one podcast may focus primarily on the uses of spacing while another might focus on how to write a pitch for a book.
[+] [-] philip1209|8 years ago|reply
https://www.highresolution.design/
[+] [-] waiseristy|8 years ago|reply
Covers Science, aviation, and engineering, and aviation
[+] [-] nathan_f77|8 years ago|reply
> The Waking Up podcast was selected by Apple as one of iTunes Best of 2015 and won a 2017 Webby Award for best podcast in the Science & Education category.
I also really enjoy listening to the stories on The Moth [2].
[1] https://www.samharris.org/podcast
[2] https://themoth.org/podcast
[+] [-] cyberferret|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] gumboshoes|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] DamnInteresting|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kenjackson|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ben_utzer|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] andrewprock|8 years ago|reply
The Skeptic's Guide to the Universe
EconTalk
The Moth
A couple others for the HN crowd:
Data Skeptic
This Week in ML&AI
Software Engineering Radio
[+] [-] BinaryIdiot|8 years ago|reply
This is the biggest omission, IMO. They do a really good job digging through the science, current news and they always follow-up if they make a mistake. It's one of the very, very few places where I feel like I don't have to double check everything they say. I mean, sure you should probably do that with just about everything but the reality is no one really has time for that.
Plus their Science or Fiction game at the end of every episode is fun.
[+] [-] christophergray|8 years ago|reply
http://www.magneticmemorymethod.com/category/podcast/feed/
http://masterofmemory.com/feed/
[+] [-] BenGosub|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|8 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] cbcoutinho|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tambourine_man|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ryanx435|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] InitialLastName|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] splawn|8 years ago|reply
EDIT: I was just halfway joking when I made this comment (I vaguely knew that he sold supplements for body building)... However, I had no idea about the "Alpha Brain" supplement that he sells. And yes, the punchline is that he claims it provides "cognitive enhancement". And No.. there is no solid science behind it and certainly no doubleblind clinical trials. I only know to care about stuff like this from listening to other podcasts such as "This week in microbiology" and "Skeptoid" that perhaps did make me smarter. (at least I don't fall for supplement scams)