There’s a lot of repetitive manual labor to do around our household this year. Kelly and I are in the midst of re-doing our garden and fixing up a few rooms of our old house. While I could execute my duties in a contemplative and mindful silence, the fact is that I’m not that type of person. I’m also not the audio book type, so when I’m working I like to listen to podcasts. Here’s a selection of what I subscribe to:
C-Realm Podcast
This is the first podcast I ever subscribed to and it’s my favorite. It’s hard to pin down exactly what this show is about other than that the “C” stands for “consciousness,” but in no way would I call it “new age.” The topics vary widely, everything from resource depletion to singularitarians to heady economic theory. The talented, thoughtful and compassionate host goes by the pseudonym, “KMO” and it’s been interesting over the years to hear his ideas change. Lately, KMO has come out of a doomer phase and has shifted his focus to a new set of guests who are articulating the problems and possibilities or our time. KMO also has a paid subscription podcast called the C-Realm Vault, which I also enjoy.
Futility Closet
A romp through historical curiosities. Recent episodes have covered the 1925 serum run to Nome, a 19th century attempt to balloon over the North Pole and Victorian children’s author Favell Lee Mortimer’s offensive travel book.
In Our Time
Host Melvyn Bragg corrals a posse of academics to discuss topics in history, religion and philosophy. When guests drop big words like “hermeneutics” and “teleology,” Bragg always brings them down to earth and makes them explain things in plain English. This show has filled in many gaps in my education and functions as a reminder that not all of the media in this world is fixated on Kim Kardashian’s derriere.
On Being
Like Bragg, On Being host Krista Tippett has an almost supernatural ability to tackle difficult subjects, in this case religion and spirituality. I’m especially fond of a recent episode, a rare interview with poet Mary Oliver.
Radiolab
A highly produced NPR show. Readers of this blog will especially enjoy the episode, “How do you put a price tag on nature?”
Reply All and Start Up
Two podcasts from a new podcasting network founded by This American Life producer Alex Blumburg. Reply All tell stories about the people behind the internet and Start Up is a recursive look at founding a podcasting network.
99% Invisible
An short and to the point show on design and architecture.
Grow Edible
Homesteading advice from Seattle blogger Erica Straus.
Do you have a favorite podcast? Leave a comment!
my best friend is in the “How to put a price on nature” podcast! So great to see it on your list.
I loved the On Being interview with Mary Oliver! I listened to it a couple of weeks ago, and immediately borrowed “Dog Songs” from my local library. I had never read this poet before, but there will definitely be more of her in my future.
You’re trying hard to convert the podcast resisters aren’t you? 🙂
Ha! Indeed.
The Moth and Katy Says are two other good podcasts. The latter can be a little chatty but usually has good info on biomechanics and body alignment.
How do you listen to these–headset? One of those around the neck radios? Or, do you just listen with the podcast escaping into the air where others can hear it, too.
Hep PP,
A friend gave me her old iPhone–it still works (not as a phone but as an mp3 and podcast player). I listen through headphones.
I am fairly new to tech, and i have a hand me down phone as well. I love the NPR podcasts you listed, as well as Fresh Air and This American Life. Do u use the podcast app? my friend suggested another app, so I may try it. also confused as to why I can’t find the archives of This American Life.
I listen to many of the mentioned podcasts and on occasion tune into the Freakonomics podcast. Use the Podcasts app or directly via website.
The Point on WCAI Cape Cod public radio, lots of interesting alternative topics mixed in with local interest.
WTF with Marc Maron, interesting interviews with stand up comics and other performers.
A Prairie Home Companion’s News From Lake Wobegon.
Wait Wait, Don’t Tell Me! the NPR News Quiz.
Car Talk, funny advice on car repair.
Geekspeak, explanations of the geeky tech world.
Photography Tips From The Top Floor, best photography podcast anywhere.
The Bugle, funny and biting news commentary.
The Splendid Table, cooking advice.
The Giz Wiz, funny show about gadgets.
Risk! “Stories you never thought you’d dare to share”.
Amateur Traveler, great travel podcast.
National Archives Podcast Series, great esoteric history lectures from the British National Archives.
Ramblings with Clare Balding, touring England on foot.
Cool Tools, picking up where The Whole Earth Catalog left off.
Seminars About Long-term Thinking, revolutionary lectures from Stewart Brand’s Long Now Foundation.
Boing Boing Gadgets.
The Kitchen Cabinet, fun BBC food and cooking show.
Cory Doctorow’s Craphound, eclectic mix of anti-establishment discussions and spoken word versions of his novels.
Indie Travel, mostly about long-term and budget travel.
Sedge Thompson’s West Coast Live, fun interviews with a wide variety of people, mostly recorded in the ’90s I think.
Sparkletack, The San Francisco History Podcast, the format for local history podcasts that I think everyone should emulate.
Ted Talks, experts on many different topics share revolutionary ways they are making the world a better place.
Sustainable World Radio! Permaculture podcast; they interview the most interesting people from all over the world, from a traditional Mayan Herbalist to Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping.
“Duncan Trussell family hour” is a hysterical and spiritually uplifting podcast that sounds a lot like c-realm…very cool.
Oh yeah, and on the hardware and software side, I use an iPod Shuffle most of the time. No glass screen to break and all solid-state so it lasts practically forever. Nice tactile buttons so I can control it without having to look at it while I am doing yardwork or housework.
I mostly use a single earbud called “Short Buds”. It provides both channels of audio summed into that one earphone so I can hear what is going on around me and has just one 15″ or 22″ fabric covered cable so it doesn’t get tangled or get in the way of the hedge trimmers.
Unfortunately they are not sold be Best Buy which used to be my go-to headphone vendor since the extended warranty you can buy from them for a few bucks pays for most of the headphone’s replacement cost when the cables eventually break after 3 months.
When using a larger IOS device I use the Overcast app. Nice alternative to Apple’s sometimes flaky Podcast app and you can listen to podcasts at higher speed without it sounding like they are speeded up.
I have been loving Benjamen Walker’s Theory of Everything
http://toe.prx.org/
I love listening to podcasts/interviews throughout my day. I take a remote Brookstone speaker into the garden on occasion.
Some of my favorites:
Red Ice Creation http://www.redicecreations.com/radio/nonsubscriber.php
Veritas Radio http://www.veritasradio.com/radio.html
Sanitas Radio http://www.sanitasradio.com/disclaimer.html
Caravan to Midnight, John B Wells
and any and all interviews of Clif High of HalfPastHuman
and of course, Root Simple podcasts. Keep up the great work!
Check out: neilkramer.com
Neil is a transplanted Englishman living in the Pacific Northwest. He’s got a gift for lyrical language and waxes philosophical on subjects mundane and magnificent. Although not everyone’s cup of tea I most enjoy listening to him when he gets going on things like esoteric transcendence and our own innate divine nature (note: he’s not religious in any traditional sense).
Plus I just plain love listening to his accent.