Recommend me some podcasts

SmashedHombre

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I'm looking for some new, intelligent podcasts to listen to. Be it on nature, science, politics, literature, history or just a general show that covers a host of global issues. I really don't mind. Just something insightful and well analysed with a decent panel. Not interested in sports podcast's though.

Not to keen on some of the tabloid and broadsheet podcast's as I've noticed they don't tend to go in to a very deep analysis on a lot of their covered issues. That said if there are any good ones you lot can recommend, I'm happy to give them a go.

At the moment I listen to Intelligence Squared, some Ancient History podcast presented by an Oxford professor (it's more exciting than it sounds...honest) and Dan Carlin's Hardcore History.
 

SmashedHombre

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mehro said:
And those who cant read. You got problems with the alphabet, Smashed one?
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heh I like to listen to them whilst I am reading or writing. Music distracts me, bizarrely podcast's don't.
 

narnar

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I don't mind reading about history etc. the title hardcore history just makes it sound like it was for kids/geeks.

horrible history, now there was a book.
 

DoctorEvil

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SmashedHombre said:
I'm looking for some new, intelligent podcasts to listen to. Be it on nature, science, politics, literature, history or just a general show that covers a host of global issues. I really don't mind. Just something insightful and well analysed with a decent panel. Not interested in sports podcast's though.

Not to keen on some of the tabloid and broadsheet podcast's as I've noticed they don't tend to go in to a very deep analysis on a lot of their covered issues. That said if there are any good ones you lot can recommend, I'm happy to give them a go.

At the moment I listen to Intelligence Squared, some Ancient History podcast presented by an Oxford professor (it's more exciting than it sounds...honest) and Dan Carlin's Hardcore History.
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What is the name of that podcast, and what does it cover? I may give it a try.
 

SmashedHombre

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DoctorEvil said:
What is the name of that podcast, and what does it cover? I may give it a try.
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If you're looking for ancient/medieval history podcasts I took all of mine from here

Ancient & Medieval History Podcasts

I've just found a podcast on Byzantium as well which I am far too excited about. Hopefully it's a good un as I have read about 3 books on the Byzantine empire and am fascinated by it
 

Tumbling-Dice

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DoctorEvil said:
Yep thats a good one.

Another good history podcast is "the history of Rome". Less flashy, but not bad.

A science related one, with emphasize on how questions such as how our brain handles moral questions, and many others is called "Radio Lab".
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Thanks for the recommendations, I'll be coming back to this thread to google a few. I've just finished listening to the Dan Carlin podcast with Gwynne Dyer and it was excellent. The one on economic recession/depression was good aswell.
 

DoctorEvil

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USDevil said:
What's this about? Might have to give it a listen.
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History.

Most episodes discuss various episodes from history, where the main idea is to try to bring the story to life. Some things are covered with a lot of details, such as how was to be a Roman soldier encircled by Carthaginian soldier and knowing that you will probably be dead in a matter of hours. Most of those come in several parts and take 2-3 hours to listen to.


There are two types of shorter episodes. In one Dan Carlin interview a professional historian. In another they discuss things from a more general viewpoint. (In contrast to focusing on specific events.) Examples include the show on slavery, and the show where they ask whether substance abuse (mostly alcohol) had any influence on world history.

All in all, it is a top notch podcast, if possibly slightly depressing. (Peaceful times make boring history.)
 

mehro

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SmashedHombre said:
I'm looking for some new, intelligent podcasts to listen to. Be it on nature, science, politics, literature, history or just a general show that covers a host of global issues. I really don't mind. Just something insightful and well analysed with a decent panel. Not interested in sports podcast's though.

Not to keen on some of the tabloid and broadsheet podcast's as I've noticed they don't tend to go in to a very deep analysis on a lot of their covered issues. That said if there are any good ones you lot can recommend, I'm happy to give them a go.

At the moment I listen to Intelligence Squared, some Ancient History podcast presented by an Oxford professor (it's more exciting than it sounds...honest) and Dan Carlin's Hardcore History.
Click to expand...
So this Dan Carling guy, first of all, he doesn't have a radio voice. I couldn't get in to hardcore History at all because of his voice. So I tried his other podcast, Common Sense. The last episode was about Afghanistan. He seemed like a very sensible guy and managed to bring everything down to oil, which many believe is the case. His final solution was that the US should pull out of Iraq and Afghanistan and if any middle eastern country does put an oil embargo on the US (which is what the US is scared of according to him) then the US should go to war with that country. Seriously? If a country doesn't want to sell you something you go bomb them? I might give the next episode a listen but he doesn't seem to be a very bright chap to me.
 

SmashedHombre

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Well I have never listened to his other podcast, and I agree about his voice but you learn to ignore that. He is incredibly passionate about history though, and he really does know his stuff so you can learn to forgive his voice. I found this web page What are the most intellectually stimulating podcasts? | Ask Metafilter that seems to list a few podcasts I am going to try out in the near future. But there are so many out there, if you don't like Dan Carlin's then there will be a better one for you. Just search google, or have a look on itunes- they give some good recommendations on there
 

mehro

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I've subscribed to most mentioned here and some others.

The 2 on the caf, loving Over the Bar.
Dan Carlin's Common Sense
Ethicist (not heard it yet)
the moth podcast
npr:planet money
npr:science friday
npr:wait wait.. don't tell me
npr: you health something
stuff you should know
this american life
wnyc's radio lab
real time with bill maher
intelligence squared
 

USDevil

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DoctorEvil said:
History.

Most episodes discuss various episodes from history, where the main idea is to try to bring the story to life. Some things are covered with a lot of details, such as how was to be a Roman soldier encircled by Carthaginian soldier and knowing that you will probably be dead in a matter of hours. Most of those come in several parts and take 2-3 hours to listen to.


There are two types of shorter episodes. In one Dan Carlin interview a professional historian. In another they discuss things from a more general viewpoint. (In contrast to focusing on specific events.) Examples include the show on slavery, and the show where they ask whether substance abuse (mostly alcohol) had any influence on world history.

All in all, it is a top notch podcast, if possibly slightly depressing. (Peaceful times make boring history.)
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Sounds like my cup of tea then. My TV stays on History or Discovery channels when not on sports. Cheers.
 

mehro

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So I've tried a whole bunch now (15+) and here are the best ones imo:

Wait Wait.. Don't Tell Me
This American Life
Stuff You Should Know by How Stuff Works
Radio Lab
The Moth Podcast
BBC Global News

The presenters from This American Life (Ira Glass), Wait Wait (Peter Sagal), and Radio Lab are excellent.
 

narnar

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I listen to Chariots of Iron the odd time. It is very American orientated but is still quite amusing sometimes.
 

Solius

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I thought Smashed was back, feck you narnar.
 

Jimble

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download all the old russell brand podcasts, I thought he was a bit of a tool until I listened to these, and realised he is a comic genius, very clever man too
 
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