UKH

It’s been over a year since the last podcast recommendations thread. Any subject, what have you enjoyed?

Cheers,

In reply to ablackett:

I found Fukushima on BBC Sounds interesting and engaging 

In reply to ablackett:

I've been enjoying the Jonathan Pie run on iPlayer:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/p0frw494

In reply to ablackett:

I enjoy Darknet diaries, interviews and tales of computer crime. Incredibly well researched and always compelling tales, despite not having an interest in the darknet.

The Joy of Wh(y) is good, discussion of and interviews with maths and scientists.

Whats your problem, is good. People trying to fix the worlds biggest problems, but avoid the recent episode on baby milk - it just felt like an hour long advert for posh baby formula.

Cautionary Tales, Tim Hartford of BBC More or Less with very well researched lessons from past disasters in all fields.

If you haven’t listened to The Anthropocene Reviewed you really should. Each episode has two aspects of human civilisation reviewed on a 5 star scale. It’s impossibly beautifully written.

In reply to sdw7300:

Cheers, will give that a go.

In reply to ablackett:

The Uncanny podcasts on BBC Sounds. The first series in particular has some thought-provoking episodes. I found the second series less so, possibly because it was first brought out in Spring. You should ideally listen on a dark, rainy night. Preferably alone. In a large, empty house.

In reply to ablackett:

Hidden Brain - psychology stuff
People I (mostly) Admire - Quirky kind of economics stuff
No Stupid Questions - Freakonomics spinoff
The Sharp End - People talking about falling off mountains
The Dirtbag Diaries - Mountain and wilderness kinda stuff

 

Depends what you're into, but I've enjoyed;

Dolly Partons America - I'm not a particular fan of her myself but found the podcast really engaging.

The witch hunt of j.k.howling - again I didn't follow the tweets closely at the time, but I'd say it's mandatory listening for anyone with an opinion on the matter, and speaks of the wider situation so also interesting of you down really care about the j.k case. 

Lateral - gives real life thought experiments for you to try to figure out. Good if there's a few of you in the car to guess along with. 

50 things that made the modern economy - interesting, wide ranging 10 minute episodes by Tim Hartford 

Jam crack - just for the excellent

banter 

Lex Fridman - for some good deepdive interviews with a range of experts on AI, Political extremes, sex workers, Mark Zuckerberg, etc 

In reply to ablackett:

If you like political discussions The News Agents is good I think. Jon Sopel, Emily Maitlis and Lewis Goodall. The last is particularly good, although he is much younger. His back story is interesting, if you google him.

In reply to ablackett:

Thanks all, some good and varied stuff there to have a go at.

I’ve also been enjoying ‘Pantani: death of a pirate’ all about the life and suspicious death of Marco Pantani.

In reply to ablackett:

Not sure what was recommended to you before so these have probably been suggested already, but some of the better ones I've listened to recently:

'The Rest is History' - I only select episodes based on topics I find interesting. History groupies like my wife would recommend listening to them all.

'Winds of Change' - CIA/cold war story.

'Athletico Mince' - Bob Mortimer is becoming a national treasure.

'Blindboy Podcast' - bit of everything, but brilliant.

In reply to ablackett:

My two current favourites:

Ninety pound rucksack - the origins of climbing in the US

Reciprocity - interviews with various kinds of photographers from around the world (though all English speaking)

Edit: also The unconventional soldier. From a military point of view, fleshes out all the stories a remember from newspapers or films going back to WW2. 

In reply to Rog Wilko:

Another good, political one is The Rest is Politics which a couple of friends recommended to me: Rory Stewart and Alastair Campbell discussing hot topics of the day in an informed, engaging and - unusually for (ex-)politicians - civilised manner.

In reply to ablackett:

'Origin Story' (Ian Dunt & Dorian Lynskey digging into the deeper history of various political ideas and figures) and the recent 'Doomsday Watch' series on the Ukraine war. And 'Jam Crack' is always worth a listen of course

In reply to ablackett:

Battleground - Global Player - detailed Ukraine War analysis

Putin - BBC Sounds - The rise of Putin

In reply to ablackett:

The Glass Cannon Podcast.  Five blokes playing 'Pathfinder' (basically D&D).  They're funny, don't take it too seriously and tell a good story.  A bit like TMS, the best bits are often when they're not playing, just chatting, taking the piss, entertaining themselves.  There are about 330 episodes of 1 to 2 hours of the main intial podcast so plenty to listen to.  They started this as a hobby but have turned it into a full time business so they must be doing something right.

Also, 'The Lovecraft Investigations' on BBC Sounds, based on some HP Lovecraft short stories.  This is drama, but presented as a real 'true crime' podcast.  It's a brilliant, brilliant adaptation.  An inspired idea done beautifully, it's fantastically acted, enthralling and very creepy when it needs to be.

In reply to ablackett:

Andrew Huberman

In reply to ablackett:

I've recently enjoyed :

A History of Modern Britain by Andrew Marr

From the Oast House by Alan Partridge

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

All on audible

In reply to ablackett:

Rogan.

Hehehehehe.

In reply to ablackett:

It came up last time, but as one of the little people that Niall preaches to before he inevitably reaches his rapture, you must listen to the Jam Crack Podcast, all the others are shite*.

*Shite, a colloquial term meaning "not quite as good"

In reply to ablackett:

I thought previous show in this series 'Alan Stanford: The Man who bought cricket' was very good.

Not heard all of the Pantani series yet but there seems to be a lot of repetition within it.

In reply to ablackett:

All BBC series (available on Sounds)

Drama:

Tracks (bbc)

Forest 404 (bbc)

Shadow Over Innsmouth (bbc)

Factual:

The Coming Storm

Burn Wild

Very British Cult

In reply to ablackett:

I've recently listened to the following on Spotify on my cycle commute to work

Uncanny - Docudrama **

The Battersea Poltergeist - Docudrama ***

The Witch Farm - Docudrama ***

Impact Winter - Audio drama about Vampires ***

Derelict :Fathom - Underwater sci-fi Audio drama ***

The Leviathan Chronicles - Sci-fi Audio drama **

In reply to kmsands:

I love Origin Story, it's always such a great listen. Interesting topics, well-researched, fair and often extremely funny.

I think a lot of the good political ones have been mentioned but for something a bit lighter I really enjoy Non-censored (Rosie Holt as a parody right wing radio host) and Sports Horn (parody sports breakfast radio show). 

In reply to artif:

Best description I’ve heard of Huberman: “Gloop for men”.

In reply to ablackett: a new one to me , if you like musical discussion :  soul music  On bbc sounds . In-depth discussion of songs . Several of my favourite songs discussed to the n th degree . Go down the list for stuff you are familiar with and then start finding out about stuff you aren’t. Often include an interview with the song writer , when possible . 

In reply to ablackett:

Another vote for Lex Fridman. His interviews on all subjects under the sun with the top experts in their field are brilliant and very entertaining.

In reply to ablackett:

One I discovered in the last year and love is Add To Playlist, with Cerys Matthews (BBC 6 Music) & Jeffrey Boakye. They each choose a song which has a link to the one before, often very eclectic and across all genres, with guests who are typically talented musicians. If you like music and finding new songs/genres/artists then it's brilliant, as well as learning about the technical side and how different effects are achieved.

In reply to ablackett:

Thanks all for the wide ranging suggestions, I've been enjoying Lateral, People I (mostly) Admire, and the Fukashima series on BBC. 

That first episode of Uncanny really gave me the spooks, thank you?

In reply to ablackett:

Have a look at the BBC radio 4 series 'In Our Time'

Dave

In reply to ablackett:

Very Bad Wizards

Irreverent and funny philosophy, psych and (fairly highbrow) popular culture stuff. 

In reply to dmurray:

"Decoding the Gurus" on Fridman is pretty hilarious, as they are on many podcast hosts who take themselves far too seriously.

In reply to ablackett:

I enjoy cycling Europes podcast, starts with the jolly ring of a cycle bell, and then usually something interesting and inspirational, and not just for cyclists, though cycle touring is the main theme.
https://cyclingeurope.org/category/podcast/

In reply to ablackett:

I’ve just found that PJ Vogt, who used to co-present the wonderfully diverse “Reply All” podcast has a new offering it’s called Search Engine, I enjoyed the two part episode exploring why Fentanyl is being cut with other drugs in the USA.