Podcasts
Podcasts have a special place in my heart – I started listening to them during my college days, on my iPod, while working an incredibly boring night-job. Over the years, I’ve come to love many shows – some that are still around and others that are not. Below are a few of my all-time favorites.
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A weekly radio show produced out of Chicago, This American Life’s format usually involves picking a theme and then telling three stories related to said theme. Bar none, This American Life is the gold standard in both radio and podcasting. Some of my favorite episodes include 129 Cars, in which they follow a New Jersey Jeep dealership for a month, Harper High School in Chicago, where they interview students and teachers from the violence-torn high school (29 students were shot in 2013 alone), and Regrets, I’ve Had a Few, which includes a humbling story from a life-long drug addict.
Winner of the Peabody Award, On Being is a radio broadcast and podcast produced by Krista Tippett that focuses on questions like, “What does it mean to be human, and how do we want to live?” Hosting hundreds of different guests, with conversations running across the entire religious and philosophical spectrum, this is truly great show. Some of favorite conversations are with Brené Brown, author of Daring Greatly and Rising Strong, Seth Godin, marketing guru, Walter Brueggemann, an Old Testament scholar, and David P. Gishee and Frances Kissling, which featured a pro-life, pro-choice debate.
A spinoff show from This American Life, produced by Sarah Koenig, this was a phenomenally successful podcast that reviewed the murder of a Baltimore high-school student, Hae Min Lee. Her ex-boyfriend, Adnan Syed, was convicted of her murder and is currently serving a life-sentence. The podcast walks through each part of the case and ends up casting significant doubt on his conviction. You must start from the first episode – and don’t be surprised if you binge-listen through the whole season.
Back to Work is a weekly show that features productivity guru, Merlin Mann, and 5by5 founder, Dan Benjamin, discussing “productivity, communication, work, barriers, constraints, tools, and more.” It is a long-standing show that might take a little to get into (the two of them have hundreds of insider jokes), but has helped me tremendously over the years. From different ways to think about your work, to specific methods of getting things done, you’re bound to find something that will help you make life a little less about work and a little more about real living.
A weekly technology podcast hosted by Marco Arment (creator of Instapaper and Overcast), Casey Liss, and John Siracusa (of Mac OS X review fame). If you like in-depth Apple discussion and more general technology commentary, you’ll enjoy this show.