On Jan 1, 2021, I decided to jot down a few notes for every educational podcast episode I listened to. As of today (5/5/203), I’m up to about 550 episodes from 180 podcasts. And I’m still going.
Why do I do it (besides just being geeky like that)? The simple answer is that podcasts contain amazing content.
A good one-hour (or longer) interview gets you 50% to 80 % of the value of a non-fiction book or extended essay on the topic.
An interview with a business leader, scientist, or big thinker will give you access to great ideas you won’t get anywhere else— these people don’t often write down their best thoughts and ideas.
Finally, taking notes forces me to pay attention and remember.
What topics do I follow? Everyone will have different tastes here. For my purposes, I wanted episodes about business, leadership, start-ups, biographies, science, economics, and the humanities. I’m trying to find ideas that will hold up over time (like living a better life), that will help in my career, or that I can use in my classes. The list evolves and changes over time.
What do I mostly avoid? I think it is also helpful to list what I avoided. So far, I mostly avoid news, current events, politics, politicians, pop culture, sports, celebrities, stories, or true crime. There is great content in these areas. I dip into these topics with my family on car trips. They hate my list!
What format do I like? I mostly like the long (one hour or more) interview. Long interviews get you deep into the topic, convey many ideas, and tease out more honest answers.
When do I listen? I didn’t replace reading. Instead, I listened to all these episodes on dog walks, on the elliptical machine at the gym, or on car rides by myself (running errands and long drives).
How do I find episodes? If I find good interviewers or podcasters, I stick with them and go deep into the archive. I take suggestions from friends or people I respect on social media. If I know someone being interviewed, I listen. If someone is a good guest and shares interesting ideas, I’ll listen to them on other podcasts. If I read about someone interesting, I search for interviews they have done.
Later, I’ll do other blog posts on specific episodes, like this one on AI. But for now, of the 550 episodes, here are the top podcasts they came from.
The numbers show how many episodes I listened to.
My Top Eight Business / Start-up / Leadership / Biography Podcasts
My First Million (90). Cringy name. Interesting hosts. They analyze businesses I’ve never thought of, are well-connected to consumer tech and hustle cultures, and have interesting guests I would never have found.
Art of Manliness (25). Great interviewer. Most guests have written a book I would like to know more about.
a16z (16). Great for enterprise start-ups. Marc Andreessen is always interesting, and I listen to him on other podcasts.
How to Take Over the World (13). Mostly historical biographies, told with an eye towards leadership.
The Knowledge Project (12). These are leadership discussions. I find this one to have a lot of variability— the great ones are great, and I can’t finish others.
Founders** (9). This podcast covers biographies of famous entrepreneurs (Ford, Jobs, Wright Brothers). He goes through the books and pulls out quotes. It is like he is interviewing the book. I just discovered this one. It might be #1 next year.
How I Built This (7). Good interviews with founders of everyday companies.
Business Breakdowns (4)* I just found this one, too, and it is rising in the rankings. It is a detailed breakdown of how a business works and makes money.
My Top Eight Science-Math / Economics / Books / Humanities
EconTalk (35). He is a great interviewer willing to explore the world's complexity and admit that he doesn’t know. He has great guests. It used to be mostly about economics; now, the ideas are much broader.
People I (mostly) Admire (31). This is Steven Levitt, the economist from Freakonomics (not to be confused with Stephen Dubner, the co-author, and host of Freakonomics Podcast). His guests are economists, scientists, and interesting people. His interview style goes deep into a topic.
Conversations with Tyler (23). The interview style is not for everyone. However, the episodes go deep and ask questions the guests have never answered.
Lex Fridman Show (16). These three-hour interviews can teach you a new topic. Unfortunately, they are long, and I’ve had to give up on some. On the good ones, I usually want more.
s.t. (subject to) (16). These are interviews of professors of Operations Research (OR). If you are in OR or like it, you might enjoy these.
Cautionary Tales (12). These are good stories with exciting lessons.
70 over 70 (7). This is firmly in the realm of the humanities. These are interviews with people over 70 years old about death and “making the most of the time we have left.”
Resoundingly Human (6). These are Operations Research stories from INFORMS.
Here is a graph of the 180 podcasts with the number of listens. It is close to the 80-20 rule.
I was surprised that many good podcasts didn’t make the list. I bet the list will be different next year. (As a bonus, here are some that I recommend that are more family-friendly: Cautionary Tales (on the list above), Freakonomics, 99% Invisible, and Moth Storytelling Podcast.
Hopefully, some of this has piqued your interest. Feel free to suggest your favorites.
Great list. You introduced me to Convo's W Tyler back in 2017 (I vividly recall first listening to him interview Gary Kasparov as I drove to central WA to share the results of a facility location study...). It's still my fave! I'll dip into some of your other reco's here.