Podcasts to make you smarter | Hacker News Reader

Podcasts to make you smarter

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125 pointshappy-go-lucky49 comments

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

+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

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?

Peter Adamson is pretty thorough, living up to the HOPWAG name. However, he's still consistently putting out episodes every Sunday, give it a few years and it'll get there for sure.

This is also his second time in the 14th century, and he'll be going around the horn again at least once more. When he got to around the 6th or 7th century, Peter said he was going to do three passes over pre-renaissance philosophy. First he followed philosophy in the arabic-speaking world, following muslim, jewish and christian philosophers who wrote in Arabic (this is Peter Adamson's academic specialty). After following this thread nearly to modern day, he wrapped around and followed Latin and vulgar European philosophy, in which he's now beginning the 14th century. He has said it's then his plan to wrap back around and cover Greek language Byzantine philosophy before finally charging ahead into the Renaissance. Peter also publishes a companion podcast, The History of Philosophy in India (he alternates weeks publishing normal HOPWAG and the India series). He's also expressed interest creating similar companion series for Chinese, African, etc. histories of philosophy.

It says on the box "without any gaps", and that's really what you're getting, as complete and comprehensive a history of philosophy as you're likely to get in the podcast medium. This series lets you see how ideas evolved as philosophers responded to and engaged with each other throughout the centuries. Adamson does a really good job at framing how the various philosophers would have though about, and came up with these ideas in their own time and contexts. He engages each philosopher's ideas in the context where they were created, while still doing a good job relating these ideas back to what modern philosophers might think.

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.

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

do you know any podcasts better at making you smarter?

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.

What makes something infotainment vs information?

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.

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".

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.)

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.

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

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

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.

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/

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

Covers Science, aviation, and engineering, and aviation

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

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...

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.

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.

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

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

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.

As it happened with blogs in the mid-2000s, we are all listening to the same damn 10 podcasts. Discovering quality podcasts based on topic/keyword is almost impossible.

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

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

I'd add in:

Stuff you missed in history class - Various events from history, covering a wide range of events, small and large.

Make me smart - Kai Ryssdal and Molly Wood covering current affairs in the economy, tech and culture.

I've heard the plugs for Stuff you missed in history class, and the first episode of Make me smart...

...but I'm about 2 months behind in my feed as it is.

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

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

> 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.

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/

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

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

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

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.

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)

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.

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

Somehow, also, a stupid person's idea of a smart person.

I think he is kinda street smart...

Street smart : smart :: street drugs : pharmaceuticals

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

I haven't listened to his podcasts, except for the occasional excerpt that's bubbled up through the internet ether.

I'm mostly judging him through my familiarity with the rest of his public activities: - The Man Show - Fear Factor - Selling garbage supplements and BS health fads without the least amount of scientific backing - the occasional stand-up routine/guest appearance

wow. so you admit that you are dismissing his podcast without actually listening to it.

> but it would be hard to convince me that "makes you smarter" is anywhere near Joe Rogan's resume

do me a favor, as one human to another, listen to just 1 of his podcasts before judging him. Its not even about him, its about the guests that he has on.

Try this one, it is a mind blower: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USg3NR76XpQ

I'll give it a listen, when I have an extra 3 hours free.

I'm not dismissing his podcast, per se, I'm dismissing him and his persona in terms of the phrase "makes you smarter".

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