9 ms·

Ask HN: What is the best podcast you listened to in 2021?

• zarfzarf 5y ago
  I've been listening to "Views on Vue" and "JS Party". I will check out Darknet Diaries, sounds cool.
• notreallyserio 5y ago
  No Such Thing As A Bad Movie is consistently entertaining and has helped me find some truly weird bad movies, like The Legend of Simon Conjurer and Night Train to Terror. It's my go to when I want to learn about bad movies but don't have the option to watch video (in which case I watch Best of the Worst).
• 3guk 5y ago
  Quite surprised that How I Built This has not been posted so far - https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510313/how-i-built-this?t=1640525607868 https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510313/how-i-built-this?t=16405... Very enjoyable to hear stories from founders of a selection of interesting companies and very well presented by Guy Raz.
• drBonkers 5y ago
  Martyr Made’s Fear and Loathing in New Jerusalem
  • zhenyakovalyov 5y ago
    i second that.
• ianceicys 5y ago
  Have to recommend the podcast from No Agenda. No Agenda, a show where former VJ Adam Curry and columnist John C. Dvorak, two experts from the media industry, have a conversation about politics. Twice a week they deconstruct the news cycle and give insights into the narrative of the mainstream media, political campaigns and the government. https://www.noagendashow.net/ https://www.noagendashow.net/
  • avl999 5y ago
    This is not a great. I used to listen to it late 2000s-early 2010s era and honestly it was one of the worst podcasts I have heard when it comes to begging for money. Think the Wikipedia call to donations banner times 20. Whenever there used to be a week where they didn't get as many donation as they expected the hosts (esp Adam) would literally throw a fit on air acting pissy and threatening to quit the show. All the whining about the donations completely turned me off and have never looked back, also not to mention a good 20-30 mins of each episode was a glorified add/call for donations.
    • brandonmenc 5y ago
      That whole 30 minutes of “call for donations” is actually them reading letters from donors - most of which are entertaining and informative. Spinning the call for donations into a segment of content this way is pretty brilliant.
  • psbp 5y ago
    I don't have time to get into this, but I think it's pretty embarrassing that this podcast is still recommended. It's not "media deconstruction", it's two out-of-touch, low information conservatives repeatedly being incorrect and then changing their narrative to fit whatever is currently popular in conspiratorial conservative media.
    • zhenyakovalyov 5y ago
      i would agree. i was a listener from 2007 to 2017, the only value that they have provided for me was the obscure and the absurdist humour with jingles and banter. it does not make you smarter or more aware of what’s happening, but you can have an occasional laugh.
  • minimalist 5y ago
    A HN comment turned me onto this podcast several years ago and its one of the ones that has endured and is part of my regular rotation. The hosts present and comment on the coverage of various current events in the broadcast press. Because so much of current events is political, there are plenty of opportunities to quibble regarding opinion and some people get annoyed at their style that lampoons the morning zoo formay. But, I get value from their aggregation and analysis, since I don't own a TV and am kind of insulated from the day-to-day press narrative. So as to not post again in the thread, Le Show by Harry Schearer is a political satire radio show from a man who used to voice a ton of characters for The Simpsons. Hes been doing his show for over 30 years and its still very entertaining. I have listened to it for the majority of my life, when it used to broadcast on the radio (it still does). Give it a listen! https://www.wwno.org/show/le-show https://www.wwno.org/show/le-show
• aurizon 5y ago
  Best is https://malicious.life/ https://malicious.life/ and other good ones. https://www.microbe.tv/twiv/ https://www.microbe.tv/twiv/ https://theintelligence.economist.com/ https://theintelligence.economist.com/ https://www.theskepticsguide.org/ https://www.theskepticsguide.org/ https://www.newscientist.com/podcasts/ https://www.newscientist.com/podcasts/ https://twit.tv/shows/security-now https://twit.tv/shows/security-now https://www.hanselminutes.com/ https://www.hanselminutes.com/ and here https://www.securitydegreehub.com/best-cybersecurity-podcasts/ https://www.securitydegreehub.com/best-cybersecurity-podcast...
  • newsbinator 5y ago
    I used to listen to This Week in Virology every week, but I found that their scientific, er, restraint and skepticism of results unless and until they were Peer Reviewed and Randomly Controlled with huge sample sizes meant the info I was getting from the podcast was perpetually 1~4 months behind. Granted you listen to TWiV exclusively for hits, not for misses, but since I’m not a doctor myself and I was listening to keep abreast of the pandemic, wildly out-of-date info and dismissive attitudes toward anything without an RCT weren’t doing it for me.
  • rolandog 5y ago
    Security Now is quite a jewel of a podcast. I admire Steve Gibson for paying for transcriptions of each of his episodes [0]. That way, you can actually search for something you remembered being mentioned in an episode. [0]: https://www.grc.com/securitynow.htm https://www.grc.com/securitynow.htm
• dpeck 5y ago
  If you’re into things at the intersection of food, science, and culture I highly recommend Gastropod, https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/gastropod/id918896288 https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/gastropod/id918896288. Good production values, the hosts and guests are great, and I love that they’re long enough to really get in depth on whatever subject they’re covering. Big back catalog as well. Particularly interesting was the recent episodes on edibles, lobster, and smoke, but I can’t think of one that I didn’t enjoy and listen all the way through.
• doopy1 5y ago
  I like to listen to Lex Fridman and Joe Rogan when they have guests that I'm interested in. Between the two of them, it's a rare opportunity to see some really interesting people being themselves.
• fredericornetto 5y ago
  Darknet Diaries is great
• fredericornetto 5y ago
  Darknet Diaries is entertaining. I am late to the party with it and I’m so glad I have loads of episodes to work my way through!
• vosper 5y ago
  “Revolutions” and “The History of Rome” by Mike Duncan. I think I enjoyed Revolutions a little bit more, as it’s more recent history. Also, “In our time”, which is my go-to for standalone episodes.
• elisharobinson 5y ago
  THE ALL IN PODCAST
  • thegjp210 5y ago
    yes.
• edmcnulty101 5y ago
  Not all but a select number of Joe Rogan podcasts with Sanjay Gupta and Jewel for example were very good. Always Sunny in Philadelphia podcast (if you love the show)
• bberenberg 5y ago
  If you're into business stories and analysis https://www.acquired.fm/ https://www.acquired.fm/ is amazing.
  • dougweltman 5y ago
    TOTALLY
• mellowagain 5y ago
  One very unconventional suggestion for HN but I really enjoyed the "Trash Taste Podcast". The three hosts have really funny stories and talk about a variety of interesting topics, more than just Anime, despite being branded as an Anime podcast. They also bring in a great selection of guests.
  • s0rr0wskill 5y ago
    I don't usually listen to podcasts but I find myself sitting through 2 hours of Trash Taste every week
• crmrc114 5y ago
  Mysterious Universe. https://mysteriousuniverse.org/plus/ https://mysteriousuniverse.org/plus/ Two awesome Aussies talk about all kinds of insane stuff. Coast to Coast Art Bell style.
• miltondts 5y ago
  Fall of civilizations has the history of many: https://www.youtube.com/c/FallofCivilizationsPodcast https://www.youtube.com/c/FallofCivilizationsPodcast I especially enjoyed https://youtu.be/d2lJUOv0hLA https://youtu.be/d2lJUOv0hLA, as I had no idea the first cities were already so advanced and lasted for so many centuries.
  • wanderingstan 5y ago
    Fall of Civilizations podcast is great, and I also loved the Sumerian episode. I had no idea they predated even Egypt for so much; giving us writing, accounting, base-60 numbers for time and angles, and so many myths (especially the flood) that seeped into all western religion. I started contributing to a cuneiform Python repo. With Unicode, it’s incredible to see symbols from 5000+ years ago in your terminal! 𒉢𒁓𒆷 𒆠 𒆤! https://github.com/wanderingstan/cuneifyplus https://github.com/wanderingstan/cuneifyplus
• rpmisms 5y ago
  EFAP (Every Frame A Pause): https://www.efap.me https://www.efap.me Yes, it's a bit trite, but actually thinking about the media I consume is very enlightening.
• nickff 5y ago
  Odd Lots: they've been covering a lot of interesting issues related to the supply chain crisis https://www.bloomberg.com/oddlots-podcast https://www.bloomberg.com/oddlots-podcast
• zubairq 5y ago
  All in
• alhirzel 5y ago
  The Happiness Lab
• RedBeetDeadpool 5y ago
  Not necessarily meaningful for technologists, but Joe Rogan's interview of North Korean refugee Yeonmi Park, is up there with reading one of the great fictional dystopian novels (1984, brave new world, fahrenheit451). https://open.spotify.com/episode/0G5o6GYjWgbSvKG3W2W2xO https://open.spotify.com/episode/0G5o6GYjWgbSvKG3W2W2xO
  • neillyons 5y ago
    She also told her story on the Jordan Peterson podcast. Had me in tears several times https://youtu.be/8yqa-SdJtT4 https://youtu.be/8yqa-SdJtT4
  • e1g 5y ago
    Yeonmi Park has been caught lying and exaggerating so many times that it’s appropriate to consider her stories as entertainment rather than witness statements. https://thediplomat.com/2014/12/the-strange-tale-of-yeonmi-park/ https://thediplomat.com/2014/12/the-strange-tale-of-yeonmi-p...
    • RedBeetDeadpool 5y ago
      I'd be careful that you yourself don't try exaggerate your claims either. In the exact source your article links describing "serious inconsistencies in her story": > https://thediplomat.com/2014/10/north-korea-defectors-and-their-skeptics/ https://thediplomat.com/2014/10/north-korea-defectors-and-th... The rebuttals come from a Swiss-born businessman, Felix Abt, who I would say is an "interesting" guy himself: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felix_Abt https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felix_Abt https://twitter.com/felixabt https://twitter.com/felixabt He has capitalistic incentives to keep good ties with senior executives of North Korean government agencies and enterprises. Here's an interesting tweet regarding the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act: https://twitter.com/felixabt/status/1471787670003228680 https://twitter.com/felixabt/status/1471787670003228680 On the whole, he seems to think the Chinese government is better than the US, to which I'll say you're entitled to your own opinions. In the "serious inconsistencies" article he focuses on one statement: > “Every morning at riversides like this you can see dead bodies floating. If you go out in the morning, they are there.” His rebuttal came with a: > a photo on his Twitter account that appears to show children happily at play in a North Korean river. But that original statement in the article comes with an asterisk stating that the reporting was erroneous: > *Update: It appears the newspaper misquoted Park. What she actually said was: “Every morning and every … like … some riverside like this [gesturing out the window] you can see the dead bodies floating, and if you go out in the morning and just people dead there.” It should also be noted that the BBC did in fact film a body in the Tumen river on the Chinese side of the border in 2008. I don't doubt there were exaggerations of the story from Park. But the source of the accusation has a rather extreme personality himself. Lastly, you should at least read the article you linked all the way through the section "UPDATE: A Response from Yeonmi Park" until the very end. I would be more surprised to see no exaggerations from a child who left a dictatorship surviving under nutritional deficiencies. Lastly, if you have ever written journalistic articles, you would know reporters oftentimes take aggressive stances to support their own arguments for the sake of publicity. I personally find the claims made in the article to be a bit reaching for straws. As for myself, I don't think it matters if a few details were embellished, when the message still holds as a warning about authoritarian governments, generational forgetfulness, and a climate of increasing censorship. To me, what was important about the podcast was the realization that the things described in dystopian novels are not just works of fiction, nor events of the past, but that it is happening somewhere in our world at this very moment, and that there is a very good possibility that the US can fall into such a reality as well given the increasing levels of censorship and misinformation that various parties all seem to be fighting for in order to control the minds of others. What really scares me is that everyday people like you and me read news like this and go back to our living our normal lives afterwards as if it does not exist, and that reality goes back to being fiction as if it never existed when in fact it is the reality we live in.
• CogitoCogito 5y ago
  I can’t pick a best, but here are the best two: * The British History Podcast * The History of English Podcast Both are very well-made and entertaining. The second might actually be the highest quality series of lectures I’ve ever heard (including sources in person like at university).
• ingend88 5y ago
  Shit you don't learn in school! https://keeplearning.buzzsprout.com/ https://keeplearning.buzzsprout.com/
• krylon 5y ago
  Besides a few other that have been mentioned, I like You're Wrong About (https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1112270.rss https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1112270.rss). It covers ... let's say pop culture history, and how we often are ... completely wrong about how certain events really happened. Atlas Obscura have a podcast, too: https://www.atlasobscura.com/podcast https://www.atlasobscura.com/podcast If you like the website, you're probably going to like the podcast as well. If you know German, I can recommend Sternengeschichten (about astronomy) and Einschlafen Mit Wikipedia (they read articles from the German Wikipedia in a very quiet voice, great for falling asleep, as the title suggests). Of those already mentioned, Fall Of Civilizations deserves special praise.
• bmitch2112 5y ago
  Wayne Green (W2NSD) on Coast to Coast AM with Art Bell from 1995: https://podcastaddict.com/episode/57657880 https://podcastaddict.com/episode/57657880
• ro2nie 5y ago
  Self Hosted Show selfhosted.show/
• berenza 5y ago
  A couple i didn't see mentioned yet: The Jolly Swagman Podcast is surprisingly good, last episode was in October though. https://josephnoelwalker.com/podcast/ https://josephnoelwalker.com/podcast/ Some popsci youtubers started the safety third podcast, which is entertaining. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7QE72cxiBkiwnvGoFfqYOg https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7QE72cxiBkiwnvGoFfqYOg
• guidovranken 5y ago
  Soft White Underbelly Interviews with addicts, homeless, prostitutes, pimps, murderers, gang members and other interesting folk on Skid Row, LA. I've heard some really mesmerizing, tragic and bizarre things on that channel. https://www.youtube.com/c/SoftWhiteUnderbelly https://www.youtube.com/c/SoftWhiteUnderbelly
  • mod 5y ago
    Second this, and add that a lot of interviews are with old timers in Appalachia. I particularly like those ones.
• JSONderulo 5y ago
  All-In pod has become a ritual for me. Also love The Knowledge Project w/ Shane Parrish.
• clon 5y ago
  Event Horizon by John Micheal Godier
• desio 5y ago
  Very Bad Wizards - a philosophy professor and a psychology professor having an informal discussions about issues in science and ethics.
• manesioz 5y ago
  I've enjoyed the Huberman Lab podcast a lot. https://youtube.com/c/AndrewHubermanLab https://youtube.com/c/AndrewHubermanLab
• malshe 5y ago
  People have already mentioned Darknet Diaries so I will mention two other podcasts I really liked The Shrink Next Door: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-shrink-next-door/id1459899275 https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-shrink-next-door/i... The Always Sunny Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-always-sunny-podcast/id1594627983 https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-always-sunny-podca...
• julialaroche 5y ago
  All In pod.
• JonathanBuchh 5y ago
  I have really enjoyed listening to CoRecursive with Adam Gordon Bell. The “Apple 2001” episode is a great one to get started with. It features a David Shayer, who worked on a secret project at Apple for a US Government contractor: http://corecursive.com/063-apple-2001 http://corecursive.com/063-apple-2001
  • dkobia 5y ago
    The Original Remote Developer episode was an absolute gem too. https://corecursive.com/remote-developer/ https://corecursive.com/remote-developer/
• ochoseis 5y ago
  EconTalk is still great after all these years.
  • zubiaur 5y ago
    The recent shift towards philosophy is fascinating. I studied engineering because I thought we made most of the advancements that change the world through the application of technique. It didn’t take me long to realize the importance of economic constraints and the mysterious way in which the market acts as a complex, mediating system. I became fascinated with economics. But then, reading Adam Smith, heck, even Hayek, it’s evident that these guys were also doing philosophy. Their philosophic substrate is what they built their economics on. And that is fascinating. The line separating positive and normative turned out to be blurrier than I thought. I still have an engineering mindset, but I try to be more thoughtful about what can be solved by it, and how the scope in which I apply it matters for my happiness and the ones I love. My objective function is no longer max U. Some of my favorite episodes are, top of my head, Mary Hirschfel on Aquinas and the market; Agnes Callard, on aspiration; Michael Munger on Desires and Morality; the ones with Zena Hits and Jeniffer Fray, but there are so many more. Thanks Russ!
• tscopp 5y ago
  Daily I like: snacks daily, recode, today explained, and up first. If they have an interesting guest I do WTF (Marc Maron) and Smartless (Jason Bateman, Will Arnet and Sean Hayes)
• hhh 5y ago
  I listened to every episode of the Lex Fridman podcast in about 4 months.
• yamrzou 5y ago
  The Huberman Lab Podcast is amazing: https://youtube.com/channel/UC2D2CMWXMOVWx7giW1n3LIg https://youtube.com/channel/UC2D2CMWXMOVWx7giW1n3LIg
• AmadsSalvage 5y ago
  The Red Line podcast has been an excellent deep-dive geopolitics podcast with some high profile guests & multiple perspectives. I always learn so much each episode, it covers a lot of my blindspots in the field. https://www.theredlinepodcast.com/ https://www.theredlinepodcast.com/ Honourable mention to Mobile Suit Breakdown podcast. The episode-by-episode analysis of the Gundam series has greatly improved my literary appreciation for a show I was otherwise only barely interested in. The hosts dig into not just the show but also the world that would have inspired the creators. A lot of background research goes into each installment. https://gundampodcast.com/ https://gundampodcast.com/
• binarynate 5y ago
  Acquired is by far the best podcast I've listened to this year: https://acquired.fm https://acquired.fm The hosts tell the stories of great businesses (for example: TSMC, Berkshire Hathaway, and Standard Oil). They dive into each company's history (which is always fascinating), analyze what made the business tick, and discuss the lessons that can be learned from it. It's a bit like How I Built This, but geared toward founders rather than the general public and also much more entertaining.
• 1123581321 5y ago
  Team Deakins: the great cinematographer Roger Deakins, with his wife, James, interviewed pretty much everyone interesting they knew in film, and had someone interview Roger about most of his notable projects. They wrapped up a couple months ago as it was time to get back to work. I really hope the archived episodes stay up forever as it’s a monumental technical resource as well as a source of some cheery and cordial conversation, much of it between old friends. https://teamdeakins.libsyn.com/ https://teamdeakins.libsyn.com/
• jiipfox 5y ago
  Darknet Diaries is the best one at the moment. Everything is perfectly put together in the show.
• andrei_says_ 5y ago
  You are wrong about Where should we begin
• sdoering 5y ago
  If you are an Audible user in Germany I recommend "Sag mal du als Physiker".
• ixacto 5y ago
  Lex Friedman podcast was by far the best This year followed by Freakanomics.
• AlchemistCamp 5y ago
  My favorite podcasts this year were Lex Fridman's: https://lexfridman.com/podcast https://lexfridman.com/podcast Naval's: https://nav.al/podcast https://nav.al/podcast
• objevt 5y ago
  Weird Studies
• x0xrx 5y ago
  I enjoyed several episodes of “Philosophize This!”.
• larrykubin 5y ago
  For the business/finance/tech types, my favorites have been Panic with Friends (Howard Lindzon), All-In Pod, My First Million, Animal Spirits, Compound and Friends, and Indie Hackers.
• zora_goron 5y ago
  I've enjoyed The Robot Brains Podcast with Pieter Abeel [0] -- interesting insights and anecdotes and great guests! Some of the episodes I enjoyed: - Ilya Sutskever (https://shows.acast.com/the-robot-brains/episodes/ilya-sutskever-explains-the-origins-of-deep-learning https://shows.acast.com/the-robot-brains/episodes/ilya-sutsk...) - Andrej Karpathy (https://shows.acast.com/the-robot-brains/episodes/andrej-karpathy-on-the-visionary-ai-in-teslas-autonomous-dri https://shows.acast.com/the-robot-brains/episodes/andrej-kar...) [0] https://shows.acast.com/the-robot-brains https://shows.acast.com/the-robot-brains
• hpen 5y ago
  Definitely our home boy Lex Fridman
• andrei_says_ 5y ago
  Framelab by George Lakoff - if you’d like insights into how our minds work and the manipulation games played on us.
• thephyber 5y ago
  Dear Men - a relationships podcast by Melanie Curtin. It covers lots of relationship topics: communication, intimacy, sex, emotions, therapy, trauma, etc. The host/author runs a counseling group for men and does surveys on related topics to her “Big Sexy Dataset” (a few thousand opt-in volunteers to her surveys). She frequently does one episode with an interview guest on a given topic, then follows it up with a group of girls on the same topic then follows that with a group of guys on the same topic. A close second is How to Save The World by Katie Patrick. It is primarily about how to find and utilize cross-functional skills to influence/persuade others into improving the world in lots of ways (sustainability, energy use, ethical eating, etc). She takes a really practical approach as opposed to heavy-handed and/or smug tactics frequently associated with these campaigns. A great resource for NGOs, software devs, academics, policy makers, and others.
• stavrosThrow 5y ago
  Cumtown[0] made me literally pass out laughing once. [0]https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cum_Town https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cum_Town
• william_bodie 5y ago
  Bad Blood: The Final Chapter John Carreyrou the journalist first to break the scandal of the blood-testing company Theranos, podcast covering the trial of CEO Elizabeth Holmes. https://www.threeuncannyfour.com/show/bad-blood/ https://www.threeuncannyfour.com/show/bad-blood/ Hanselminutes Scott Hanselman's podcast has many interesting guests covering a myriad of subjects. https://hanselminutes.com/ https://hanselminutes.com/