Podcasts to make you smarter

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20170707-the-24-best-podcasts-to-make-you-smarter

125 49 9 years ago

It's refreshing to see recommendations that aren't just the same rehashed list. Thanks OP, I plan to give a few of these a try.

kenjackson• 9 years ago

What's the old rehashed list for podcasts that make you smarter? I feel like I should listen to those too!

dingdongding• 9 years ago

Depends on what you like listening. I listen to Exponents by Ben Thomson, The Tim Ferris Show, This weekend in startups, Freakonomics radio, How I built this and Planet Money

DamnInteresting2• 9 years ago

These lists are usually characterized by having RadioLab in the #1 slot. I'm not saying I disagree, RadioLab can be amazing. But the lists do little good for a veteran listener like me if they're all mostly the same.

Other podcasts that frequent such lists are 99% Invisible, Planet Money, Freakonomics, and Stuff You Should Know. Newer lists will include Revisionist History. Those are all good podcasts, deserving of praise, but anybody who's been listening for any amount of time is well aware of them.

HenryTheHorse2• 9 years ago

Unless you download podcasts from websites, almost all podcast apps (iTunes, Overcast, Spotify etc) have a "Top 10" or "highly recommended" section.

33W2• 9 years ago

Here's my list:

Side Hustle School

Art of Charm

NPR Marketplace

Parent Savers

Radical Personal Finance

Intelligence Squared

Intelligence Squared US Debates

HBR Ideacast

Happier

Serial

Slate Money

Common Sense

NPR Politics

Hardcore History

Freakonomics

Stuff You Should Know

99% Invisible

Planet Money

ryanx4353• 9 years ago

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.

splawn• 9 years ago

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)

InitialLastName5• 9 years ago

I'm sure he's got interesting moments, but it would be hard to convince me that "makes you smarter" is anywhere near Joe Rogan's resume.

maniccowboy• 9 years ago

Joe Rogan is the smart person's idea of a stupid person.

ryanx4353• 9 years ago

Honest question: have you ever actually listened to any of his podcasts? Or are you just judging him by what you've heard others say about him

andrewprock• 9 years ago

Obviously missing podcasts:

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• 9 years ago

The Skeptic's Guide to the Universe

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.

cyberferret• 9 years ago

Not on the list, but I do enjoy listening to Helen Zaltzman's "The Allusionist" - very useful for broadening one's knowledge of the spoken language...

gumboshoes• 9 years ago

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.

jlebar2• 9 years ago

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.

thesmallestcat• 9 years ago

I saw a great TED talk about that, let me tell you about it.

gertef• 9 years ago

do you know any podcasts better at making you smarter?

Chathamization• 9 years ago

I listen to a lot of history podcasts, and though they vary a good deal in quality, the ones by experts in the field (people with a PhD in History focusing on the subject) like The Fall of Rome podcast, the Ottoman History podcast, or the Religions of the Ancient Mediterranean podcast are an excellent source of information. If you look for them, though, keep in mind that a lot of history podcasts have similar names. For example, the aforementioned Ottoman History podcast is different from The History of the Ottoman Empire podcast.

The one by amateurs vary a lot in quality. Some - like the History of England podcast - seem to be done by amateurs who are extremely well informed (though skip the first 20 episodes of the History of England podcast if you give it a go). Others seem to be about the same quality as someone giving to you a synopsis of a Wikipedia page they just read. When in doubt I'd stick to the ones by experts in the field.

Paul-ish• 9 years ago

What makes something infotainment vs information?

milkytron• 9 years ago

From my computers dictionary:

Infotainment - broadcast material that is intended both to entertain and to inform.

Information - facts provided or learned about something or someone.

From that, I believe infotainment is intended to be consumed as entertainment, while also being intended to inform. As opposed to just raw data or facts which aren't necessarily distributed with the purpose of entertaining.

gramstrong• 9 years ago

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.

I guess define "smart".

jlebar2• 9 years ago

I would actually have no problem saying that a podcast that stretches your critical thinking muscles makes you "smarter".

But do any of the listed podcasts do that? To work a muscle or your brain, you have to actively...well, work. I haven't tried all of the podcasts they listed, but of the ones that I have tried, they're all passive entertainment. (And again, nothing wrong with that.)

Dowwie• 9 years ago

What would it take to make a crowd-ranked list of podcasts, authored by the HN community? HN accounts ought to be linked, and posts karma-weighted.

Hmm. I'm on the cusp of losing my productivity.

j_s• 9 years ago

Ask HN: What podcasts are you listening to? | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14529759 (last month)

tambourine_man2• 9 years ago

I've been waiting for HN to have a curated list of podcasts and YouTube channel for years

nathan_f77• 9 years ago

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].

[1] https://www.samharris.org/podcast

[2] https://themoth.org/podcast

cbcoutinho• 9 years ago

My two favorite podcasts currently:

    The Meateater podcast - talks about hunting and wildlife issues
    
    Waking up - Sam Harris's podcast where he interviews guests on a number of issues

tambourine_man2• 9 years ago

I'd suggest BBC's In our Time. Science, philosophy, poetry, history, etc. Good stuff and easy listening enough.

joaomsa2• 9 years ago

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] https://historyofphilosophy.net/

[2] http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qykl/episodes/player

jzymbaluk2• 9 years ago

+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

piva00• 9 years ago

How do you think HOPWAG compares to "Philosophize This!"?

I ask because I have invested some time on Philosophize This and after the first 20 episodes it got much more enjoyable but I could see myself switching to another in-depth history of philosophy podcast if it's much better.

The only problem I see is that HOPWAG seems to be still on the 14th century, is it supposed to stop there or is it still ongoing and will someday arrive at modern times?

JoshCole• 9 years ago

One podcast that I learn from not mentioned in this list is http://www.writingexcuses.com/

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.

waiseristy• 9 years ago

Another good one : http://omegataupodcast.net/

Covers Science, aviation, and engineering, and aviation

philip1209• 9 years ago

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.

https://www.highresolution.design/

christophergray• 9 years ago

The art of memory applied to memorizing foreign language vocabulary (including Chinese), bible verses, etc.

http://www.magneticmemorymethod.com/category/podcast/feed/

http://masterofmemory.com/feed/

ben_utzer• 9 years ago

The Infinite Monkey Cage non apple links are here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00snr0w/episodes/downloads

BenGosub• 9 years ago

If you are into macroeconomics can't recommend David Beckworth's podcast enough. https://soundcloud.com/macro-musings

Podcasts to make you smarter

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