Mr. Waffle is dipping a cautious toe into the world of the podcast. He is, frankly, dubious but he has downloaded an app on to his phone and is now mentally prepared to move slightly beyond that initial step. His tastes and mine don’t really chime so although I listen to a lot of podcasts, I am not quite sure what to recommend for him. We’ve spent the last half hour looking at options.
I thought “In Our Time” would be suitably worthy; sometimes I listen to it, if I’m feeling strong. “Would I like ‘Desert Island Discs’?” he asked me. I doubt it. I tried to sell him on some of the Slate podcasts but he was not keen. I recommended my hot favourite, ‘This American Life’ but I made him listen to it once before and he did not love it. “Try it all the same,” I urged but to no avail.
Any suggestions for what Mr. Waffle might try, internet denizens?
Well, this suggestion may get no more than a hearty laugh, but I’ll take a stab at it anyway. After all, I think I may have been the person who suggested This American Life to you? And that was a success! So here’s one for Mr Waffle. Keeping in mind that I don’t have any idea what kinds of things he’s interested in. But my favorite podcast lately (between episodes of This American Life) is the History of English podcast. If he’s interested in linguistics and the origins of all Indo-European languages, it’s really fascinating. The hearty laugh may come in here: the podcaster (therefore the historian) is American. If Mr Waffle leans toward the opinion that Americans don’t actually speak English, he may not be able to trust the man’s expertise. Haha. But if that’s not too much of a hurdle, and he’s interested in languages, he should give it a try. I’ve been completely fascinated!
Gardener’s Corner?
I love discovering new podcasts. My recommendation is Malcolm Gladwell’s Revisionist History. I have enjoyed his writing and find these podcasts thoroughly engrossing.
I love podcasts! I listen to so many, I can’t possibly list them all… here some suggestions:
Thinking allowed – BBC4
Freakonomics – NPR
Mindscape – Sean Carroll
Talk Nerdy – Cara Santa Maria
Life Scientific – BBC4
Woman’s Hour – BBC4 (plenty of interesting stuff for blokes also)
This week in parasitism – just what it says on the tin 🙂
The Inquiry – BBC world service
Dr. Death! Bingeable and horrifying.
Fresh Air with Terry Gross (on NPR in the US) – shes the best interviewer ever, and he’ll be able to find someone hes interested in.
I really loved This is Love (Radiotopia) – it’s by the same people who do the Criminal podcast. They have short seasons (6 episodes), but they just released Season 2. I also like 99% Invisible (Roman Mars, from Radiotopia). These are fascinating.
One that I love is the West Wing Weekly podcast, but it is really dependent on being a fan of the (American) (political) TV show. Everything else I listen to is really focused on American politics or culture.
Try ‘In Our Time’ with Melvyn Bragg and ‘A History of the World in 100 Objects’ with Neil McGregor (Director of the British Museum).
Some of the Kirsty Young Desert Island Disks have actually been brilliant – if he picks people he’s interested in, the music is largely incidental and she’s a brilliant interviewer. I would second the Life Scientific podcasts as well.
Well, when I read the first line I thought you meant Mr W was starting to record podcasts. I could scarcely believe that in this d and a there was a sentient being who actually didn’t listen to them. My recommendations include Re:Joyce by the late Frank Delaney and Neil McGregor’s Germany: Memories of a Nation. There exists another one called Stare Decisis Radio, which is a more minority taste, but might interest him.
Thank you all very much. I have passed on your suggestions with limited take up to date, I’m afraid. He’s listened to some “Desert Island Discs” and “In Our Time”.
I, on the other hand, am delighted by the range of new suggestions.