8 ms·

Ask HN: Best Podcasts of 2025?

49 points by adriancooney 9mo ago

The Rest is Politics, Leading, Philosophize This and Stratechery (paid) are the podcasts that stood out the most in 2025. Curious what other HNers listen to.

thenaturalist 9mo ago
BetterOffline [0] by Ed Zitron [1] dissecting AI hype and boosters. By a long shot. The information density and clarity are outstanding. 0: https://www.betteroffline.com/ https://www.betteroffline.com/ 1: https://www.wheresyoured.at/ https://www.wheresyoured.at/
- shimman 9mo ago
  Zitron is good, if you like him check out "This Machine Kills" and "Tech Won't Save Us."
linsomniac 9mo ago
My gotos for listening while I do chores or drive this year have been: - Stuff You Should Know https://stuffyoushouldknow.com/ - How to do Everything https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510384/how-to-do-everything
dauertewigkeit 9mo ago
The Rest is History is good, depending on the topic. Both guests have a bit of bias which you have to sort of take into account, not that different from The Rest is Politics. Mishal Husain has a new podcast on Bloomberg TV which so far was excellent. Also from Bloomberg TV, Big Take is often interesting. I still enjoy Lex Fridman, again depending on the guest. Dwarkesh Patel same shit as Lex, but he pretends he knows something about AI.
hnu0847 9mo ago
Hardcore History 73 - Mania for Subjugation III [1] Fall of Civilizations 20 - Persia - An Empire in Ashes [2] [1] https://www.dancarlin.com/product/hardcore-history-73-mania-for-subjugation-iii/ https://www.dancarlin.com/product/hardcore-history-73-mania-... [2] https://fallofcivilizationspodcast.com/ https://fallofcivilizationspodcast.com/
- aorth 9mo ago
  Thanks. I didn't realize Dan Carlin was still producing new episodes. Ten years ago I was enthralled by his series on the Persian Empire and then I forgot about him. Fall of Civilizations is excellent too.
  - jeanlucas 9mo ago
    10 years? Then you need to check Supernova in the East. He did a deep dive on why and how Japan got and went through WW2.
    - mFixman 9mo ago
      I was very disappointed with Supernova in the East. What started as a telling of the Pacific War from the point of view of the Japanese empire morphed into the usual "war is bad but American soldiers are heroes" that's very common for this period. I tuned out when he spent 30 minutes describing a famous photo-op of General MacArthur going ashore to the Philippines. That is the complete opposite of the original promise of the podcast.
LeonardoTolstoy 9mo ago
Most of my podcasts are movie related. If I had to purge them all and start with just 5 though I would go with. Blank Check The Flophouse 99% Invisible Cautionary Tales The Rewatchables I maintain The Flophouse is the funniest podcast around.
- telesilla 9mo ago
  Have you tried How Did This Get Made? I've enjoyed these shows, sometimes live, immensely. They celebrate the worst movies ever made, hilariously.
realityfactchex 9mo ago
Advent of Computing: https://adventofcomputing.com/ https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/advent-of-computing/id1459202600 https://adventofcomputing.libsyn.com/rss https://www.youtube.com/@adventofcomputing4504/videos
deanebarker 9mo ago
Call me simple or provincial, but I really enjoyed "Good Hang" from Amy Poehler. It's a breezy interview with interesting people (doesn't hurt that I'm a long-time SNL fan).
- biophysboy 9mo ago
  In this vein, conan's podcast is also surprisingly good. It doesn't feel like a phoned-in retirement gig.
roumenguha 9mo ago
Citations Needed: https://citationsneeded.libsyn.com/ https://citationsneeded.libsyn.com/
FergusArgyll 9mo ago
Acquired (Long episodes about companies, recents include: coca-cola, trader joe's & alphabet) Dwarkesh Podcast (Inquisitive curious host, mostly "AGI" related) Conversations with Tyler (Wide ranging, polymath host, distinctive, hard to describe style) The Marginal Revolution Podcast (Tyler cowen & Alex Tabbarok discussing economics) Sharp Tech with Ben Thompson (you sort of mentioned) The Morning Meeting (US Politics mostly. Neutral tone, informative, forward looking i.e. what will happen next not who is bad etc)
roughly 9mo ago
I’ve been a fan of The Ezra Klein Show for years - whatever your thoughts of his personal politics, he’s a fantastic interviewer, and I think he does a great job at both helping define and then interrogating the strongest construction of his guest’s beliefs. He’s not a soft interviewer, but he’s genuinely trying to understand his guest, and I’ve learned a ton about how people who I disagree with view the world.
- misiti3780 9mo ago
  His podcast has gotten a lot worse over the years. It feels over-produced now and he doesnt have a lot of interesting guests on anymore. 90% of it is useless policy wonks no one has heard of pumping their latest shitty book no one will read. Andrew Sullivan (Dish Cast) is doing a much better job and isnt associated with a main stream media org.
  - roughly 9mo ago
    I actually enjoy some of the wonkishness. Hearing a good interview with people who are experts in a particular field is a great way to learn.
  - biophysboy 9mo ago
    Klein is a smart liberal journalist and Sullivan is a smart conservative journalist. They both get guests from think tanks/mainstream media/academia. They both book guests that are on book tours. The distinction you're making is not really true.
    - misiti3780 9mo ago
      Andrew Sullivan isnt conservative in 2025
- m-hodges 9mo ago
  I miss the Ezra Klein that did a weekly policy whitepaper deep dive on The Weeds.
rahimnathwani 9mo ago
Dwarkesh, Lenny, Latent Space, A16Z, BG2Pod and 'Founders in Arms' have all had some good episodes this year. Some other episodes I've bookmarked are in this feed: https://feeds.listennotes.com/listen/rahim-nathwanis-listen-later-LTyY0R98mqF/rss/ https://feeds.listennotes.com/listen/rahim-nathwanis-listen-... Felipe, the founder of Quest Learning (joinquest.com) started a podcast series about the future of learning. I was his first guest: https://youtu.be/t_Y6wtdcnpc https://youtu.be/t_Y6wtdcnpc https://open.spotify.com/episode/2CjsPEKYwx8eirYlBYjxwp https://open.spotify.com/episode/2CjsPEKYwx8eirYlBYjxwp https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-future-of-learning/id1855685288 https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-future-of-learning...
misiti3780 9mo ago
Dwarkesh - AI + some history Lex = AI + some history Dishcast - politics + books Sam Harris - everything All In - tech news Tyler Cowen - random good shows Pirate Wires - news (coming back I heard) Joe Rogan - famous interesting guests at least once a month Ben Shapiro - if you want to hear the opposite of what you're reading in the NYT (Surgey Brin approved)
- misiti3780 9mo ago
  why am i being downvoted lol ?
  - hagbard_c 9mo ago
    Because you mentioned Rogan and especially Shapiro without distancing yourself from them. Good for you and let the knee-jerk downvoters knee-jerk themselves to oblivion.
    - misiti3780 9mo ago
      Just because you listen to them doesn't mean you agree with everything they say -- I listen to Ezra Klein too and read Slow Boring, even though I disagree with almost everything they publish.
      - hagbard_c 9mo ago
        Of course not, it would be strange to agree with everything anyone says. I listen to Shapiro and his Daily Wire brethern even though I hardly agree with everything they say and consider most of them to be far too eager with the God hammer - Shapiro is one of the better ones in that respect, probably because Judaism doesn't proselytise - mostly because I want to get their perspective as a counterweight to the mostly 'progressive' news media. If I agreed with everything they or the 'progressive' media said I would not need to listen to or read what they produce because I already agree. As to the downvoted list I agree with some - Friedman, Rogan, Shapiro - but I just can't listen to Sam Harris any more due to his extreme TDS and his inability to recognise when he has been wrong on something - the SARS2 unpleasantness being an example of such. He was an interesting part of the 'intellectual dark web' which was a much-needed counter to the mentioned 'progressive' narrative pushed by the media but he went off the rails first when Trump became president for the first time and later when SARS2 hit. For news I'd add the Spiked podcast and the Brendan O'Neill show for some UK perspective, Aron Flam's 'Dekonstruktiv Kritik' (in Swedish) as a counter to the 'progressive' Swedish state broadcasters Sveriges TV and Sveriges Radio (they call themselves 'independent' but that is a flagrant lie) and the 'progressive' print/web media. Listen to and read both those 'progressive' outlets as well as some of the mentioned counterparts to gain a wider perspective on what actually happens in the world.
healsdata 9mo ago
I really enjoyed the "Michael Hobbes Podcast Universe" this year. He's a reporter who is now making entertaining podcasts debunking claims in the media/zeitgeist. I appreciate that he takes a pragmatic approach -- to paraphrase something he said: "There's probably an impact on kids having so much screen time, but this data you're citing doesn't show what you're claiming." If Books Could Kill: https://www.ifbookspod.com https://www.ifbookspod.com Maintenance Phase: https://www.maintenancephase.com https://www.maintenancephase.com You're Wrong About: https://yourewrongabout.com https://yourewrongabout.com (Hobbes retired from this one around Oct 2021) There's a similar podcast where he's also made an appearance: In Bed With The Right: https://open.spotify.com/show/7JirL3UVKjyy5MTy8PouHh https://open.spotify.com/show/7JirL3UVKjyy5MTy8PouHh
- biophysboy 9mo ago
  In this network, Know Your Enemy and 5-4 are also solid. The latter is on the snarkier side, which puts some people off.
BiraIgnacio 9mo ago
The best ones I've discovered in 2025 - not necessarily the best ever The David Frum Show - https://www.theatlantic.com/podcasts/the-david-frum-show/ https://www.theatlantic.com/podcasts/the-david-frum-show/ Overthink - https://overthinkpodcast.com/ https://overthinkpodcast.com/ Singletrack - https://www.youtube.com/c/SingletrackPodcast https://www.youtube.com/c/SingletrackPodcast The Glenn Show - https://glennloury.substack.com/podcast https://glennloury.substack.com/podcast
- adwi 9mo ago
  What are your best-evers?
m-hodges 9mo ago
I learn a lot listening to the Money Stuff podcast.¹ The newsletter² is also great but I don’t always have time to read every one. I also really enjoy Why Is This Happening.³ Chris Hayes really shines as an interviewer and policy wonk when he’s not in the cable news format. While Ezra Klein seems to be leaning into Democratic Party whisperer, Hayes is leaning into policy nerdity that I miss from Vox-era Klein. ¹ https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1308-money-stuff-the-podcast-164725399/ https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1308-money-stuff-the-podcast-... ² https://www.bloomberg.com/account/newsletters/money-stuff https://www.bloomberg.com/account/newsletters/money-stuff ³ https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/why-is-this-happening-the-chris-hayes-podcast/id1382983397 https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/why-is-this-happening-...
benmanns 9mo ago
I've really been enjoying Complex Systems with Patrick McKenzie (patio11) of HN fame. Additionally: Odd Lots, Money Stuff, Chat with Traders (hit or miss, some guests are not great).
- OfflineSergio 9mo ago
  Came here to say this! Complex Systems is not the best for me but it's for sure the new content I found this year. I find myself listening and sometimes pausing to search to learn more about what he is talking about.
ahyattdev 9mo ago
Fall of Civilizations: https://fallofcivilizationspodcast.com/ https://fallofcivilizationspodcast.com/ Each episode is of exceptional quality and retells history in an engaging manor. Since it's history, the entire backlog is still relevant.
jandeboevrie 9mo ago
I would have put Coder Radio on this list but ever since Mike took over without Chris the show has lost its appeal for me. And sadly, there are no more Jupiter Broadcasting shows left without crypto or mostly inside baseball. Anyone know of shows in the category of two or three lads discussing computing, coding, devops, but in the style of two older guys crumudging that everything used to be better in the old days?
- Hule 9mo ago
  I love 2.5 Admins. The rest of Late Night Linux is okay too.
robdefeo 9mo ago
I enjoyed Shell Game, which explores using voice agents in ever more personal situations. The specifics of the journey are going to date quickly given the speed of AI development. But the shape of the journey and the dilemmas posed are going to be relevant for a lot longer. https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/shell-game/id1753117762 https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/shell-game/id175311776...
TRiG_Ireland 9mo ago
My favourite podcast right now is Let's Learn Everything, three science geeks taking turns to explain things to each other. In a standard episode, there's a deep dive into a science topic, followed by a lighter miscellaneous segment. Special episodes, such as the yearly HaLearnDays or the occasional guest episode, take a different format. The three all have science degrees, and do proper research for their deep dives. This is a podcast which comes with supporting citations. https://letslearneverything.com https://letslearneverything.com
- biophysboy 9mo ago
  I'll have to give this a shot. I am a scientist and have never found a good science podcast ever. I think its because the topic doesn't lend itself as well to the format; papers are hard to digest and communicate in an entertaining way.
  - bzb 9mo ago
    A micro recommendation for This Week in Virology (TWiV). Essentially a journal club for virology papers, I think they nail the conversational/technical balance that’s so hard to get right. Incidentally, TWiV changed my life. I was working as a cabinet maker with no college degree when I gave it a shot, on a whim. The host’s refusal to shy away from technical depth convinced me that I could learn hard things. 10 years I have a biochemistry degree and work as a machine learning engineer.
    - biophysboy 9mo ago
      That's great! I'll have to give them a shot again - for some reason, I bounced off this show
ks2048 9mo ago
Currently loving Revolutions Podcast by Mike Duncan. Highlight seasons so far: [3] French Revolution [4] Haitian Revolution.
apparent 9mo ago
Startups For The Rest Of Us is a great for bootstrappers or other non-VC-backed founders. I find that even episodes that are not specifically relevant to the work I'm doing are good to listen to because they may bring ideas to the surface in helpful ways.
OfflineSergio 9mo ago
- "Complex Systems with Patrick McKenzie (patio11)" - My First Million (www.mfmpod.com). I just don't know why, but for some reason I stopped listening to them in the past 2 months, but rest of the year I was really enjoying their content. Even older ones. - Pivot and Prof G, mostly because of Scott Galloway. I really like him. - Under The Influence with Terry O'Reilly. Amazingly good. Very fun to listen to and almost always brings joy and help me learn something new. - All In, can't say I'm still enjoying this. It's way too political these days. But it's still something I listen to occasionally. When I listen I usually end up skipping half of the content to find something I like.
thomassmith65 9mo ago
• If You're Listening (well produced Australian news items) • The Rest is History • Pivot (Kara Swisher, techlash) • Marketplace (stock market, with surprising bumper music) • Inside Europe (Deutsche Welle English-language news) A new one I started listening to is fun so far... • Business History (more lighthearted than it sounds)
- jeanlucas 9mo ago
  +1 to The Rest is History, they had a great year. Absolutely loved the series on Elizabeth I.
sounds231 9mo ago
Diabolical Lies
iammjm 9mo ago
Sean Carroll’s Mindscape for physics, philosophy and science
mFixman 9mo ago
Robin Pearson ended the 1000-year long epic of The History of Byzantium earlier this year: https://thehistoryofbyzantium.com/ https://thehistoryofbyzantium.com/ The podcast started as a sequel to Mike Duncan's classic The History of Rome, and in my opinion surpassed it. Where THoR eventually falls into the narrative trap of turning into "The Lives of Roman Emperors", THoB spends a lot of time talking about economic, demographic, societal, and technological changes within the Empire and the world. Extremely recommended if you want a proper history podcast.
surfsvammel 9mo ago
The SGU. There is only one podcast that I always come back to! https://www.theskepticsguide.org/podcasts https://www.theskepticsguide.org/podcasts
- davesmylie 9mo ago
  Certainly one of the few podcasts that I've stuck with. I think I started about 15+ years ago, and I know it was running for a while before that. Can't say every episode is great (not a fan of the live shows) or every segment is great (what's that noisy), but you can't beat it for it's consistency and general interest.
deleted 9mo ago
[deleted]
lentil_soup 9mo ago
Wookash (https://wooka.sh/ https://wooka.sh/) for low level programming and game development with a surprising cast of guests
mindcrash 9mo ago
From a intrigue POV: After Skool: https://www.youtube.com/afterskool https://www.youtube.com/afterskool | https://open.spotify.com/show/36mIOrFwTKIDER8KF0aGrx https://open.spotify.com/show/36mIOrFwTKIDER8KF0aGrx | https://www.afterskool.net/ https://www.afterskool.net/ Academy of Ideas: https://www.youtube.com/academyofideas https://www.youtube.com/academyofideas | https://open.spotify.com/show/2dio7KUNuDHErlMumZtNt6 https://open.spotify.com/show/2dio7KUNuDHErlMumZtNt6 | https://academyofideas.com/ https://academyofideas.com/
lylejantzi3rd 9mo ago
The Koerner Office[0]. I have a lot to learn about all facets of business and Chris does a good job of keeping things practical and simple. The episode about hummingbird food[1] in particular blew my mind. The Wookash Podcast[2]. Some of the best technical programming conversations I've heard in recent years. [0]: https://www.youtube.com/@thekoerneroffice https://www.youtube.com/@thekoerneroffice [1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcFBcfrmC2k https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcFBcfrmC2k [2]: https://www.youtube.com/@WookashPodcast https://www.youtube.com/@WookashPodcast
aero88883 9mo ago
The Economics of Everyday Things Podcast. These are ~20 mins podcast and talk about the products we use daily.
- kyriakos 9mo ago
  Too bad it's over. Great show.
arkaic 9mo ago
Redbar is the only thing I listen to but unfortunately this has been a bad year for shows.
eudamoniac 9mo ago
I have really been enjoying the early Jordan Peterson Podcast episodes. They are good for the soul. Unfortunately, I listened to a couple of the latest ones and they seem much more angry and less nourishing; this may have been a fluke though. Starting Strength Radio, though no longer produced, is usually a good listen as well for humor and gym-related topics.
benrapscallion 9mo ago
Acquired Scamfluencers Business Wars The Social Radars Big Technology Podcast
dmschulman 9mo ago
HN would probably hate it but I've been digging Panic World. They investigate mostly modern media or internet-driven moral panics and discuss how they've led us to our current moment. Lots of 90s/2000s internet deep dives, but I mostly appreciate how well the host connects the dots between cultural/political zeitgeist (of any recent era) with some seemingly minor niche movement or idea seeded years prior. https://www.garbageday.email/panic-world https://www.garbageday.email/panic-world
- jjj123 9mo ago
  Ah I just read your comment after posting the same rec! I went into panic world with low expectations and they’ve blown me away. It’s really, really good if you’re interested in internet cultures.
glebd 9mo ago
Lions led by Donkeys https://www.llbdpodcast.com/ https://www.llbdpodcast.com/
jjj123 9mo ago
I’ve been really impressed by how much I’ve learned listening to Panic World. At first I thought it was a humor show but it’s basically internet anthropology detailing all the ways the internet makes us insane. This episode about eating disorders was harrowing and sad but really informative to how toxic communities form https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/why-eating-disorder-content-is-all-over-the-internet/id1740187810?i=1000720859295 https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/why-eating-disorder-co...
unsungNovelty 9mo ago
Ladybug podcast is back! Looove that it is back. They grew up with their content. Beginner friendly content was their thing. And I enjoyed them as a beginner. Looks like they all have become managerial level now. And the seniority shows. I found they all dive deep into things I already know and bring this gem of tips and thoughts on their topics. I am catching up on their show now. Corecursive is an amazing podcast as well. Interesting coding stories. It's catching up up on my majority of podcast hours. Then "How I write" by David Perell. I love his old show and this. As a blogger who don't use LLM for articles, I love listening to it. David Perell's contents are of unbelievable quality and is the only podcast that I never ever miss.
tmaly 9mo ago
Victor David Hanson, but only his Saturday episodes as he dives deep into history. He covered different fighter plane engines of WW2 on one episode. Diary of a CEO has some really interesting business guests. The Koe Cast has some deep insights into doing your own thing. The AI Daily Brief is great if you want a quick update on the latest AI news. The Knowledge Project is just a great overall discussion on decision making. Latent Space for deep dives with different AI industry guests.

49 points by adriancooney 9mo ago

The Rest is Politics, Leading, Philosophize This and Stratechery (paid) are the podcasts that stood out the most in 2025. Curious what other HNers listen to.

thenaturalist 9mo ago

BetterOffline [0] by Ed Zitron [1] dissecting AI hype and boosters. By a long shot. The information density and clarity are outstanding. 0: https://www.betteroffline.com/ https://www.betteroffline.com/ 1: https://www.wheresyoured.at/ https://www.wheresyoured.at/

shimman 9mo ago
Zitron is good, if you like him check out "This Machine Kills" and "Tech Won't Save Us."

linsomniac 9mo ago

My gotos for listening while I do chores or drive this year have been: - Stuff You Should Know https://stuffyoushouldknow.com/ - How to do Everything https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510384/how-to-do-everything

dauertewigkeit 9mo ago

The Rest is History is good, depending on the topic. Both guests have a bit of bias which you have to sort of take into account, not that different from The Rest is Politics. Mishal Husain has a new podcast on Bloomberg TV which so far was excellent. Also from Bloomberg TV, Big Take is often interesting. I still enjoy Lex Fridman, again depending on the guest. Dwarkesh Patel same shit as Lex, but he pretends he knows something about AI.

hnu0847 9mo ago

Hardcore History 73 - Mania for Subjugation III [1] Fall of Civilizations 20 - Persia - An Empire in Ashes [2] [1] https://www.dancarlin.com/product/hardcore-history-73-mania-for-subjugation-iii/ https://www.dancarlin.com/product/hardcore-history-73-mania-... [2] https://fallofcivilizationspodcast.com/ https://fallofcivilizationspodcast.com/

aorth 9mo ago
Thanks. I didn't realize Dan Carlin was still producing new episodes. Ten years ago I was enthralled by his series on the Persian Empire and then I forgot about him. Fall of Civilizations is excellent too.
- jeanlucas 9mo ago
  10 years? Then you need to check Supernova in the East. He did a deep dive on why and how Japan got and went through WW2.
  - mFixman 9mo ago
    I was very disappointed with Supernova in the East. What started as a telling of the Pacific War from the point of view of the Japanese empire morphed into the usual "war is bad but American soldiers are heroes" that's very common for this period. I tuned out when he spent 30 minutes describing a famous photo-op of General MacArthur going ashore to the Philippines. That is the complete opposite of the original promise of the podcast.

LeonardoTolstoy 9mo ago

Most of my podcasts are movie related. If I had to purge them all and start with just 5 though I would go with. Blank Check The Flophouse 99% Invisible Cautionary Tales The Rewatchables I maintain The Flophouse is the funniest podcast around.

telesilla 9mo ago
Have you tried How Did This Get Made? I've enjoyed these shows, sometimes live, immensely. They celebrate the worst movies ever made, hilariously.

realityfactchex 9mo ago

Advent of Computing: https://adventofcomputing.com/ https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/advent-of-computing/id1459202600 https://adventofcomputing.libsyn.com/rss https://www.youtube.com/@adventofcomputing4504/videos

deanebarker 9mo ago

Call me simple or provincial, but I really enjoyed "Good Hang" from Amy Poehler. It's a breezy interview with interesting people (doesn't hurt that I'm a long-time SNL fan).

biophysboy 9mo ago
In this vein, conan's podcast is also surprisingly good. It doesn't feel like a phoned-in retirement gig.

roumenguha 9mo ago

Citations Needed: https://citationsneeded.libsyn.com/ https://citationsneeded.libsyn.com/

FergusArgyll 9mo ago

Acquired (Long episodes about companies, recents include: coca-cola, trader joe's & alphabet) Dwarkesh Podcast (Inquisitive curious host, mostly "AGI" related) Conversations with Tyler (Wide ranging, polymath host, distinctive, hard to describe style) The Marginal Revolution Podcast (Tyler cowen & Alex Tabbarok discussing economics) Sharp Tech with Ben Thompson (you sort of mentioned) The Morning Meeting (US Politics mostly. Neutral tone, informative, forward looking i.e. what will happen next not who is bad etc)

roughly 9mo ago

I’ve been a fan of The Ezra Klein Show for years - whatever your thoughts of his personal politics, he’s a fantastic interviewer, and I think he does a great job at both helping define and then interrogating the strongest construction of his guest’s beliefs. He’s not a soft interviewer, but he’s genuinely trying to understand his guest, and I’ve learned a ton about how people who I disagree with view the world.

misiti3780 9mo ago
His podcast has gotten a lot worse over the years. It feels over-produced now and he doesnt have a lot of interesting guests on anymore. 90% of it is useless policy wonks no one has heard of pumping their latest shitty book no one will read. Andrew Sullivan (Dish Cast) is doing a much better job and isnt associated with a main stream media org.
- roughly 9mo ago
  I actually enjoy some of the wonkishness. Hearing a good interview with people who are experts in a particular field is a great way to learn.
- biophysboy 9mo ago
  Klein is a smart liberal journalist and Sullivan is a smart conservative journalist. They both get guests from think tanks/mainstream media/academia. They both book guests that are on book tours. The distinction you're making is not really true.
  - misiti3780 9mo ago
    Andrew Sullivan isnt conservative in 2025
m-hodges 9mo ago
I miss the Ezra Klein that did a weekly policy whitepaper deep dive on The Weeds.

rahimnathwani 9mo ago

Dwarkesh, Lenny, Latent Space, A16Z, BG2Pod and 'Founders in Arms' have all had some good episodes this year. Some other episodes I've bookmarked are in this feed: https://feeds.listennotes.com/listen/rahim-nathwanis-listen-later-LTyY0R98mqF/rss/ https://feeds.listennotes.com/listen/rahim-nathwanis-listen-... Felipe, the founder of Quest Learning (joinquest.com) started a podcast series about the future of learning. I was his first guest: https://youtu.be/t_Y6wtdcnpc https://youtu.be/t_Y6wtdcnpc https://open.spotify.com/episode/2CjsPEKYwx8eirYlBYjxwp https://open.spotify.com/episode/2CjsPEKYwx8eirYlBYjxwp https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-future-of-learning/id1855685288 https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-future-of-learning...

misiti3780 9mo ago

Dwarkesh - AI + some history Lex = AI + some history Dishcast - politics + books Sam Harris - everything All In - tech news Tyler Cowen - random good shows Pirate Wires - news (coming back I heard) Joe Rogan - famous interesting guests at least once a month Ben Shapiro - if you want to hear the opposite of what you're reading in the NYT (Surgey Brin approved)

misiti3780 9mo ago
why am i being downvoted lol ?
- hagbard_c 9mo ago
  Because you mentioned Rogan and especially Shapiro without distancing yourself from them. Good for you and let the knee-jerk downvoters knee-jerk themselves to oblivion.
  - misiti3780 9mo ago
    Just because you listen to them doesn't mean you agree with everything they say -- I listen to Ezra Klein too and read Slow Boring, even though I disagree with almost everything they publish.
    - hagbard_c 9mo ago
      Of course not, it would be strange to agree with everything anyone says. I listen to Shapiro and his Daily Wire brethern even though I hardly agree with everything they say and consider most of them to be far too eager with the God hammer - Shapiro is one of the better ones in that respect, probably because Judaism doesn't proselytise - mostly because I want to get their perspective as a counterweight to the mostly 'progressive' news media. If I agreed with everything they or the 'progressive' media said I would not need to listen to or read what they produce because I already agree. As to the downvoted list I agree with some - Friedman, Rogan, Shapiro - but I just can't listen to Sam Harris any more due to his extreme TDS and his inability to recognise when he has been wrong on something - the SARS2 unpleasantness being an example of such. He was an interesting part of the 'intellectual dark web' which was a much-needed counter to the mentioned 'progressive' narrative pushed by the media but he went off the rails first when Trump became president for the first time and later when SARS2 hit. For news I'd add the Spiked podcast and the Brendan O'Neill show for some UK perspective, Aron Flam's 'Dekonstruktiv Kritik' (in Swedish) as a counter to the 'progressive' Swedish state broadcasters Sveriges TV and Sveriges Radio (they call themselves 'independent' but that is a flagrant lie) and the 'progressive' print/web media. Listen to and read both those 'progressive' outlets as well as some of the mentioned counterparts to gain a wider perspective on what actually happens in the world.

healsdata 9mo ago

I really enjoyed the "Michael Hobbes Podcast Universe" this year. He's a reporter who is now making entertaining podcasts debunking claims in the media/zeitgeist. I appreciate that he takes a pragmatic approach -- to paraphrase something he said: "There's probably an impact on kids having so much screen time, but this data you're citing doesn't show what you're claiming." If Books Could Kill: https://www.ifbookspod.com https://www.ifbookspod.com Maintenance Phase: https://www.maintenancephase.com https://www.maintenancephase.com You're Wrong About: https://yourewrongabout.com https://yourewrongabout.com (Hobbes retired from this one around Oct 2021) There's a similar podcast where he's also made an appearance: In Bed With The Right: https://open.spotify.com/show/7JirL3UVKjyy5MTy8PouHh https://open.spotify.com/show/7JirL3UVKjyy5MTy8PouHh

biophysboy 9mo ago
In this network, Know Your Enemy and 5-4 are also solid. The latter is on the snarkier side, which puts some people off.

BiraIgnacio 9mo ago

The best ones I've discovered in 2025 - not necessarily the best ever The David Frum Show - https://www.theatlantic.com/podcasts/the-david-frum-show/ https://www.theatlantic.com/podcasts/the-david-frum-show/ Overthink - https://overthinkpodcast.com/ https://overthinkpodcast.com/ Singletrack - https://www.youtube.com/c/SingletrackPodcast https://www.youtube.com/c/SingletrackPodcast The Glenn Show - https://glennloury.substack.com/podcast https://glennloury.substack.com/podcast

adwi 9mo ago
What are your best-evers?

m-hodges 9mo ago

I learn a lot listening to the Money Stuff podcast.¹ The newsletter² is also great but I don’t always have time to read every one. I also really enjoy Why Is This Happening.³ Chris Hayes really shines as an interviewer and policy wonk when he’s not in the cable news format. While Ezra Klein seems to be leaning into Democratic Party whisperer, Hayes is leaning into policy nerdity that I miss from Vox-era Klein. ¹ https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1308-money-stuff-the-podcast-164725399/ https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1308-money-stuff-the-podcast-... ² https://www.bloomberg.com/account/newsletters/money-stuff https://www.bloomberg.com/account/newsletters/money-stuff ³ https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/why-is-this-happening-the-chris-hayes-podcast/id1382983397 https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/why-is-this-happening-...

benmanns 9mo ago

I've really been enjoying Complex Systems with Patrick McKenzie (patio11) of HN fame. Additionally: Odd Lots, Money Stuff, Chat with Traders (hit or miss, some guests are not great).

OfflineSergio 9mo ago
Came here to say this! Complex Systems is not the best for me but it's for sure the new content I found this year. I find myself listening and sometimes pausing to search to learn more about what he is talking about.

ahyattdev 9mo ago

Fall of Civilizations: https://fallofcivilizationspodcast.com/ https://fallofcivilizationspodcast.com/ Each episode is of exceptional quality and retells history in an engaging manor. Since it's history, the entire backlog is still relevant.

jandeboevrie 9mo ago

I would have put Coder Radio on this list but ever since Mike took over without Chris the show has lost its appeal for me. And sadly, there are no more Jupiter Broadcasting shows left without crypto or mostly inside baseball. Anyone know of shows in the category of two or three lads discussing computing, coding, devops, but in the style of two older guys crumudging that everything used to be better in the old days?

Hule 9mo ago
I love 2.5 Admins. The rest of Late Night Linux is okay too.

robdefeo 9mo ago

I enjoyed Shell Game, which explores using voice agents in ever more personal situations. The specifics of the journey are going to date quickly given the speed of AI development. But the shape of the journey and the dilemmas posed are going to be relevant for a lot longer. https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/shell-game/id1753117762 https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/shell-game/id175311776...

TRiG_Ireland 9mo ago

My favourite podcast right now is Let's Learn Everything, three science geeks taking turns to explain things to each other. In a standard episode, there's a deep dive into a science topic, followed by a lighter miscellaneous segment. Special episodes, such as the yearly HaLearnDays or the occasional guest episode, take a different format. The three all have science degrees, and do proper research for their deep dives. This is a podcast which comes with supporting citations. https://letslearneverything.com https://letslearneverything.com

biophysboy 9mo ago
I'll have to give this a shot. I am a scientist and have never found a good science podcast ever. I think its because the topic doesn't lend itself as well to the format; papers are hard to digest and communicate in an entertaining way.
- bzb 9mo ago
  A micro recommendation for This Week in Virology (TWiV). Essentially a journal club for virology papers, I think they nail the conversational/technical balance that’s so hard to get right. Incidentally, TWiV changed my life. I was working as a cabinet maker with no college degree when I gave it a shot, on a whim. The host’s refusal to shy away from technical depth convinced me that I could learn hard things. 10 years I have a biochemistry degree and work as a machine learning engineer.
  - biophysboy 9mo ago
    That's great! I'll have to give them a shot again - for some reason, I bounced off this show

ks2048 9mo ago

Currently loving Revolutions Podcast by Mike Duncan. Highlight seasons so far: [3] French Revolution [4] Haitian Revolution.

apparent 9mo ago

Startups For The Rest Of Us is a great for bootstrappers or other non-VC-backed founders. I find that even episodes that are not specifically relevant to the work I'm doing are good to listen to because they may bring ideas to the surface in helpful ways.

OfflineSergio 9mo ago

- "Complex Systems with Patrick McKenzie (patio11)" - My First Million (www.mfmpod.com). I just don't know why, but for some reason I stopped listening to them in the past 2 months, but rest of the year I was really enjoying their content. Even older ones. - Pivot and Prof G, mostly because of Scott Galloway. I really like him. - Under The Influence with Terry O'Reilly. Amazingly good. Very fun to listen to and almost always brings joy and help me learn something new. - All In, can't say I'm still enjoying this. It's way too political these days. But it's still something I listen to occasionally. When I listen I usually end up skipping half of the content to find something I like.

thomassmith65 9mo ago

• If You're Listening (well produced Australian news items) • The Rest is History • Pivot (Kara Swisher, techlash) • Marketplace (stock market, with surprising bumper music) • Inside Europe (Deutsche Welle English-language news) A new one I started listening to is fun so far... • Business History (more lighthearted than it sounds)

jeanlucas 9mo ago
+1 to The Rest is History, they had a great year. Absolutely loved the series on Elizabeth I.

sounds231 9mo ago

Diabolical Lies

iammjm 9mo ago

Sean Carroll’s Mindscape for physics, philosophy and science

mFixman 9mo ago

Robin Pearson ended the 1000-year long epic of The History of Byzantium earlier this year: https://thehistoryofbyzantium.com/ https://thehistoryofbyzantium.com/ The podcast started as a sequel to Mike Duncan's classic The History of Rome, and in my opinion surpassed it. Where THoR eventually falls into the narrative trap of turning into "The Lives of Roman Emperors", THoB spends a lot of time talking about economic, demographic, societal, and technological changes within the Empire and the world. Extremely recommended if you want a proper history podcast.

surfsvammel 9mo ago

The SGU. There is only one podcast that I always come back to! https://www.theskepticsguide.org/podcasts https://www.theskepticsguide.org/podcasts

davesmylie 9mo ago
Certainly one of the few podcasts that I've stuck with. I think I started about 15+ years ago, and I know it was running for a while before that. Can't say every episode is great (not a fan of the live shows) or every segment is great (what's that noisy), but you can't beat it for it's consistency and general interest.

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lentil_soup 9mo ago

Wookash (https://wooka.sh/ https://wooka.sh/) for low level programming and game development with a surprising cast of guests

mindcrash 9mo ago

From a intrigue POV: After Skool: https://www.youtube.com/afterskool https://www.youtube.com/afterskool | https://open.spotify.com/show/36mIOrFwTKIDER8KF0aGrx https://open.spotify.com/show/36mIOrFwTKIDER8KF0aGrx | https://www.afterskool.net/ https://www.afterskool.net/ Academy of Ideas: https://www.youtube.com/academyofideas https://www.youtube.com/academyofideas | https://open.spotify.com/show/2dio7KUNuDHErlMumZtNt6 https://open.spotify.com/show/2dio7KUNuDHErlMumZtNt6 | https://academyofideas.com/ https://academyofideas.com/

lylejantzi3rd 9mo ago

The Koerner Office[0]. I have a lot to learn about all facets of business and Chris does a good job of keeping things practical and simple. The episode about hummingbird food[1] in particular blew my mind. The Wookash Podcast[2]. Some of the best technical programming conversations I've heard in recent years. [0]: https://www.youtube.com/@thekoerneroffice https://www.youtube.com/@thekoerneroffice [1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcFBcfrmC2k https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcFBcfrmC2k [2]: https://www.youtube.com/@WookashPodcast https://www.youtube.com/@WookashPodcast

aero88883 9mo ago

The Economics of Everyday Things Podcast. These are ~20 mins podcast and talk about the products we use daily.

kyriakos 9mo ago
Too bad it's over. Great show.

arkaic 9mo ago

Redbar is the only thing I listen to but unfortunately this has been a bad year for shows.

eudamoniac 9mo ago

I have really been enjoying the early Jordan Peterson Podcast episodes. They are good for the soul. Unfortunately, I listened to a couple of the latest ones and they seem much more angry and less nourishing; this may have been a fluke though. Starting Strength Radio, though no longer produced, is usually a good listen as well for humor and gym-related topics.

benrapscallion 9mo ago

Acquired Scamfluencers Business Wars The Social Radars Big Technology Podcast

dmschulman 9mo ago

HN would probably hate it but I've been digging Panic World. They investigate mostly modern media or internet-driven moral panics and discuss how they've led us to our current moment. Lots of 90s/2000s internet deep dives, but I mostly appreciate how well the host connects the dots between cultural/political zeitgeist (of any recent era) with some seemingly minor niche movement or idea seeded years prior. https://www.garbageday.email/panic-world https://www.garbageday.email/panic-world

jjj123 9mo ago
Ah I just read your comment after posting the same rec! I went into panic world with low expectations and they’ve blown me away. It’s really, really good if you’re interested in internet cultures.

glebd 9mo ago

Lions led by Donkeys https://www.llbdpodcast.com/ https://www.llbdpodcast.com/

jjj123 9mo ago

I’ve been really impressed by how much I’ve learned listening to Panic World. At first I thought it was a humor show but it’s basically internet anthropology detailing all the ways the internet makes us insane. This episode about eating disorders was harrowing and sad but really informative to how toxic communities form https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/why-eating-disorder-content-is-all-over-the-internet/id1740187810?i=1000720859295 https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/why-eating-disorder-co...

unsungNovelty 9mo ago

Ladybug podcast is back! Looove that it is back. They grew up with their content. Beginner friendly content was their thing. And I enjoyed them as a beginner. Looks like they all have become managerial level now. And the seniority shows. I found they all dive deep into things I already know and bring this gem of tips and thoughts on their topics. I am catching up on their show now. Corecursive is an amazing podcast as well. Interesting coding stories. It's catching up up on my majority of podcast hours. Then "How I write" by David Perell. I love his old show and this. As a blogger who don't use LLM for articles, I love listening to it. David Perell's contents are of unbelievable quality and is the only podcast that I never ever miss.

tmaly 9mo ago

Victor David Hanson, but only his Saturday episodes as he dives deep into history. He covered different fighter plane engines of WW2 on one episode. Diary of a CEO has some really interesting business guests. The Koe Cast has some deep insights into doing your own thing. The AI Daily Brief is great if you want a quick update on the latest AI news. The Knowledge Project is just a great overall discussion on decision making. Latent Space for deep dives with different AI industry guests.