To go along with the release of our latest video that explains podcasts, we’re sharing some of our favorite podcasts along with how we listen.
Sachi and I listen to podcasts both together and individually. Most of our listening together happens in the car. However, we have tackled longer form podcasts as a kind educational project. For example, we listened to Mike Duncan’s long-form podcasts on The History of Rome and The French Revolution from his Revolutions series. As we listened, we’d look up images for objects or scenes he described and then debriefed after each episode. We learned together and it became a great way to feel productive and entertained.
I love podcasts, in part, because I can listen and do another activity at the same time, like drawing or exercising. Also, it can allow me precious time away from a screen. Sachi, who always seems to be optimizing for productivity, finds that podcasts motivate her to keep pushing through a home project or even find additional tasks that give her more reasons to keep listening.
How We Listen
We are both fans of the Overcast app (iOS only). We sometimes ask Alexa to play our favorite podcasts, which happens through TuneIn. And other times, we use the Stitcher app.
Our Favorite Podcasts
Lately, we’ve been fans of daily news podcasts that offer a single story or short updates relevant to the day’s news. A few of our favorites are:
The Daily (New York Times)
The Post Reports (Washington Post)
The Indicator (Planet Money/NPR)
Up First (NPR)
Today Explained (Vox)
On the general interest side, we often enjoy podcasts that are more tech, science or design oriented. A few we love:
99% Invisible (Wide-ranging look at the thoughts and ideas behind ideas and products)
Endless Thread (Stories based on popular Reddit threads)
Reply All (Geek-oriented stories by entertaining co-hosts)
Hidden Brain (Interesting psychology and science stories and discoveries)
A few history podcasts that we find interesting:
Hardcore History (Entertaining look at some of the most important people and events in history)
American History Tellers (Stories from American history, with some reenactments)
Revisionist History (Not really historical, but Malcolm Gladwell takes another look at ideas from the past)
I’m a big fan of true crime related podcasts and enjoy:
Criminal (Stories of criminals)
Ear Hustle (A look at the reality of prison life, partially produced from San Quentin)
Mafia (Stories of notorious gangsters)
Sword and Scale (Sometimes graphic and upsetting true crime stories)
Sachi enjoys British media and a few of the BBC Radio 4 shows:
Infinite Monkey Cage (Panel discussions of scientific topics)
In Our Time (Very wide-ranging panel discussions with experts)
From Our Own Correspondent (Discussions between BBC correspondents, journalists)
Related: The Guardian Long Read Podcast (Audio versions of popular Guardian long reads)
On the business and entrepreneur side, we like:
Business Wars (The stories behind the biggest business rivalries)
How I Built This with Guy Raz (Interviews with people who experienced extreme success)
Startup (Series focused on starting a business)
Without Fail (Interviews with people who have done difficult things)
And some general interest/catch-all options:
All Songs Considered (NPR Music podcasts where hosts play their favorite new music)
Freakonomics Radio (A wide-ranging show about the “hidden side of everything”)
Love + Radio (A artfully made podcast that usually focuses on one person’s unique experience)
Pop Culture Happy Hour (Pretty much what it sounds like)
Sawbones: A Marital Tour of Misguided Medicine (She’s a physician, he’s funny. They’re a married couple talking about the history of medicine)
Too Beautiful to Live - A daily podcast hosted by Luke Burbank and Andrew Walsh that covers news, pop culture and witty observations by the hosts.