Podcasting the Past | Hacker News Reader

Podcasting the Past

bunkhistory.org

35 pointstintinnabula9 comments

Podcasting is hard work! I have a podcast called Jesus in Books. I read a book about the historical Jesus Christ, then discuss it. It's pretty tame stuff compared to, say, Dan Carlin's epic Hardcore History, and a lot shorter too. My episodes rarely go longer than 20 minutes, but the time to prepare, record and edit the episode is about 20 hours.

So yeah, podcasting can be time consuming, but I find it's a great way to commit what I've read to memory and formulate my own opinion on the subject matter.

Here's my podcast for anyone who is interested in checking it out: https://soundcloud.com/jesusinbooks

The cheat is to have your podcast be two reasonably witty people interviewing each other.

Then you just talk for 30-120 minutes, and the episode is pretty much done.

This is how most comedian podcasts work.

I'm probably way outside the norm here, but I don't like podcasts. Or videos, for that matter. I'd rather just read the material. Because it's faster, and I can jump around far more easily. I'm guessing that people mostly listen to podcasts while commuting. Which I don't do. I can't imagine listening while working. And even the idea of sitting around listening to someone talk makes me nervous.

Anyway, I'd be curious to hear how others experience them.

I like to hear podcasts when I am performing some mindless task that keeps my hands or eyes busy. Driving or cycling to work, walking around / exercising, doing the dishes or the laundry, cooking, eating lunch when I am by myself, etc.

I find that podcasts are more engaging than just putting up some background music on my headphones in these situations.

I listen to podcasts in two specific situations: when I'm cleaning my apartment, and when I run. Those are the situations in which my brain is not really needed for the task at hand, but it's impossible for me to read anything.

For running, they are particularly helpful: if I listen to music I'll start coordinating my steps to the rhythm of each songs (pushing me out of my own rhythm), and if I don't listen to anything I start focusing on how tired I am.

Outside those situations, I usually do something else. It's often the case that I'll try to listen to something only to realise 30min later that the episode is over and I didn't listen to anything they said.

To discover information pertinent to my immediate task, 1000% agree. I like podcasts when I'm driving or walking the dog, otherwise I struggle to keep following. But for mindless times, they're a boon. Otherwise it's just talk radio or music, (which I also do, but there are alot of times I just want to hear a good story).

Omnibus with raconteur John Roderick, and quiz kid Ken Jennings is one of my favorite podcasts. Light-hearted,odd history.

https://www.omnibusproject.com

If you like John Roderick, you will love his weekly 60-90 minute conversations with Merlin Mann, "Roderick on the Line," which recently rounded the 300 episode mark.

The ease at which John and Merlin weave between interesting subjects and cool stories from mostly-John's bonkers life is really something to behold.

EDIT: Also, John has another podcast with Dan Benjamin, "Road Work," that is a lot more focused on how John's peculiar mind works. It is very good too!

Yes. It's "Roderick on the Line" that makes me think of him as a raconteur.

Don't forget about "Friendly Fire", the war movie podcast. His love of history comes through in that almost as much as in "Omnibus."

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