Podcasts are one of my favourite ways to learn and entertain myself. Here are some of my faves from over the years.
- Planet Money / The Indicator
- Fairly light podcast on economics, very engaging hosts, interesting topics.
- This American Life
- A classic, beautiful stories on being human.
- 99% Invisible
- Learn awesome things about design and little details in life you wouldn’t have otherwise discovered.
- Rumble Strip
- Very direct, down to earth stories about everyday Vermonters. Especially love the ones with her farmer friend or town hall meetings. Note, I hate about 25% of the episodes as she’ll have random guest episodes and they can be awful.
- What Roman Mars Can Learn About Con Law
- Get into the minutia of constitutional law with Roman Mars and his law professor friend.
- Twenty Thousand Hertz
- The most beautifully podcast I’ve ever listened to. Amazing stories about audio in many different ways and a surprisingly genuine and warm. host.
- The Big Dig
- Ever wanted to find out exactly what went wrong in so many ways with a mega project in the United States? This podcast goes into the details on the many trials and tribulations of the Big Dig project in Boston. I learned a lot and it was super interesting!
- Acquired
- Listen to this if you’re interested in going in deep on companies. The hosts go on multi hour deep dives into the histories of the companies they cover. I find it to be super helpful for understanding how companies came to be but also what differentiates them from other companies.
- Search Engine
- In depth episodes on a very wide range of topics (the secret pool in Buckingham Palace, people who buy luggage at the airport, jawmaxxing) which I find very interesting and delightful in their unnecessary depth.
- The Sporkful
- Nice stories about food. The host’s speaking style isn’t my favourite and some of the episodes are a little meh but there are enough good ones in there to make it worthwhile.
- Startup
- Front row seats to creation and development over the years of Gimlet. Really fascinating glimpse into the birth of a company (and all the various things that come with it).
- Reply All
- One of Gimlet’s first successful podcasts, now retired due to a messy series of events but lots of fun and interesting episodes before that happened.
- Heavyweight
- Heartwarming and humanistic stories about the host trying to help a given guest try and resolve a deep seated relationship issue. Personally, I find the non-mainline episodes annoying but the standard episodes are great!
- More Perfect
- An awesomely in depth podcast series on how the Supreme Court works and some of their historic decisions. If you have any interest in the way the American legal system functions I wholeheartedly recommend this podcast.
- The Disconnect
- Want to spend 10+ hours learning about how Texas’s energy grid functions and why it failed? This is the podcast for you, :).
- The End of the World (with Josh Clark)
- Quite different from most podcasts out there. This one touches on a number of far far future scenarios and feels very sci fi at times. Excellent production and you’ll probably learn a few new concepts.
- The Last Cup
- Detailed storytelling surrounding Messi’s final world cup run and all the drama leading up to it. As a fan of Messi this was great to listen to plus it has a very satisfying end.
- Gamecraft
- One of Benchmark’s legendary GPs breaks down the economics and structure of the gaming industry piece by piece. Incredible knowledge contained within. Great if you’re interested in the business of gaming.
- The Secret Life of Canada
- Stories told about the often untold side of things from a indigenous perspective in Canada. A mix of humour and learning about horrific events you’ll likely learn a lot about things you didn’t know happened. The hosts have excellent chemistry with each other and do a fantastic job of covering the subject matter in a way that doesn’t shy away from the facts but also doesn’t leave you feeling irredeemably depressed.
- Lenny’s Podcast
- The best product podcast out there. Learn about a whole range of product related topics and from some of the strongest operators out there. When I feel like learning more about my craft I listen to this, :).
- Containers
- In depth coverage of the systems that power our ports (and how they’ve changed over time). The storytelling here is excellent and you’ll learn a lot about how goods move around the world.