# Do you enjoy podcasts?



## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

Do any of you listen to podcasts? Alternated with audiobooks I find them essential to help me through boring housework that even music does not alleviate.

If so, can you give us a list of those you enjoy? (It might be best not to mention the controversial political or ideological ones, and there are plenty out there.)

Below are some of my current favorites (minus the more scathing controversial, guilty pleasure favorites). All are available through iTunes, but they also have their own less convenient web links:

*Music:*
APM: Composers Datebook
On this day in history, composer Johann van Delius, spurned by his lover, began work on his _Symphonie de Miserable_, etc. Short and sweet.

APM: Performance Today - Piano Puzzler
This is the one where composer Bruce Adolphe writes a short piece in the style of a composer from history and hides a popular song within (rather brilliantly I think). Callers guess the composer and the song. It has gotten repetitive to be honest, but I still enjoy once in a while.

WNYC's Soundcheck
Interesting interviews with all sorts of musical people, classical, pop, obscure or esoteric.

*Science:*
Dr. Karl and the Naked Scientist
I prefer the Dr. Karl segments, charming discussion between BBC callers and the charismatic Australian science personality Karl Kruszelnicki.

Big Picture Science
My favorite of the science podcasts, but not nearly well known enough. This is the podcast of the SETI institute, though seldom about SETI. It is more about science in general. It's quite funny and clever too. Highly entertaining and recommended.

Quirks and Quarks
A more serious Canadian version of the above.

StarTalk Radio
Neil deGrasse Tyson's science talk show. I love Tyson, but I admit I find this show tedious at times because of his frequent use loudmouthed comedians as co-hosts (Chuck Nice is the best of the lot. He is NOT loudmouthed, and aptly named.) The rap music theme song is also a little off-putting, but otherwise a great show. Tyson's wit and intelligence shine through the negatives. Certainly the astonomy vest he wears is beyond cool.
*
Misc:*
A Way With Words
A fun podcast about language and society, word and phrase origins, but may be geared more toward Americans.

WNYC Radiolab
Interesting potpourri of science, social, and artistic matters. It can get a little depressing with its sad state of human affairs slant, but still often quite interesting.

*Fiction:*
PodCastle (Fantasy)
PseudoPod (Horror)
Escape Pod (Science Fiction)
These three have pretty much been replaced by full length audiobooks in my listening habits, but I may return to them some day.

Have I left you anything to suggest?


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## Winterreisender (Jul 13, 2013)

Yes I love podcasts!! There are many great history podcasts out there, the best of which is Mike Duncan's The History of Rome. He managed to do the entire history of the Roman Empire in about 200 half-hour episodes!!

Equally excellent is Peter Adamson's History of Philsophy Without Any Gaps. This is also very educational; it is an overview of all the important ideas in philosophy from the Greeks to (eventually) the present day. At the moment he is doing early Islamic philosophy...

If you enjoy philosophy but prefer something not quite so comprehensive, there is Philosophy Bites, where Nigel Warburton interviews a different contemporary philosopher each week.

Then the granddaddy of educational podcasts is of course BBC's In Our Time with Melvyn Bragg, where Melvyn engages in high level scholarly discussions with prominent academics on a huge variety of themes, from science to literature, history to religion.

And finally, I just love the BBC's Moral Maze. Here a different ethical or moral issue is debated every week, usually something topical.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

^I have these bookmarked. Exactly the sort of thing I was fishing for. Thanks.


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## deggial (Jan 20, 2013)

Winterreisender said:


> Yes I love podcasts!! There are many great history podcasts out there, the best of which is Mike Duncan's The History of Rome. He managed to do the entire history of the Roman Empire in about 200 half-hour episodes!!


ooh, neat! cheers for signaling this :tiphat:


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