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Ask HN: What are your favorite podcasts?

by painted on 7/21/17, 12:23 PM with 62 comments

what are you listening to during work or any other time of the day?

  • by peckrob on 7/21/17, 2:51 PM

    1. Hardcore History [0]. Even if you're not a fan of history, check it out because Dan really grips you with the story. I can't say enough good things about this podcast and look forward to each new episode. The episodes are LONG; they're more like audiobooks in a way. The series on World War I (Blueprint for Armageddon) [1] was six episodes and 24 hours long. Perfect for road trips, but the downside is there's only 2-4 a year.

    2. The British History Podcast [2]. Fills the gaps between Hardcore History releases. Jamie does a weekly, very deep dive into the whole of British history, starting from prehistory up through (currently) Alfred the Great. He's a bit more funny and sarcastic than Dan is, but you still end up learning a great deal.

    3. Escape Pod [3]. Science fiction short stories covering a wide range within the genre.

    [0] http://www.dancarlin.com/hardcore-history-series/

    [1] http://www.dancarlin.com/product/hardcore-history-50-bluepri...

    [2] https://www.thebritishhistorypodcast.com/

    [3] http://escapepod.org/

  • by cjoy on 7/21/17, 1:09 PM

    Omega Tau.

    Science and engineering topics in the form of interviews with domain experts (often on site). Some episodes in German language, many in English. If you want to spend 2h learning about fusion and plasma or how batteries work or how airbus builds planes or what goes into a radar satellite... this is for you.

    ----

    AB Testing.

    Alex and Brent, 2 managers at Microsoft, discuss how not to lead teams and how not to do testing. By discuss, I mean rant along in a productive manner.

    ----

    Javascript Jabber.

    Good podcast, has lost some steam for me lately, but many early episodes are good for people who are new to the show.

    ----

    Software Engineering Radio.

    Has a great backlist of episodes on topics like architecture, type systems, database systems ... definitly one where it makes sense to look through the archive instead of just subscribing.

    ----

    Software Engineering Daily.

    Used to subscribe, but lately the episodes feel more like infomercials where 50% of the time is spent by the guests pitching their product. Did enjoy the earlier episodes though.

  • by j_s on 7/21/17, 2:54 PM

    Maybe this should be a monthly feature like Who is Hiring:

    Podcasts to make you smarter (49 comments 10 days ago) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14737772

    Ask HN: What Podcasts are you listening right now and why? (77 comments 28 days ago) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14616998

    Ask HN: What podcasts are you listening to? (62 comments 40 days ago) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14529759

  • by epmatsw on 7/21/17, 2:51 PM

    Accidental Tech Podcast - Apple and random tech discussion. Super fun listen. One of the hosts is also the author of Overcast, which is my favorite podcast app.

    The Talk Show - Similar to ATP, but slightly more serious and with rotating guests

    Pardon My Take - a humorous sports podcast. It’s kind of juvenile, but it’s growing on me.

    Best of Mike and Mike - a semi-serious sports podcast. This one’s about to end, unfortunately.

    Stuff You Should Know - funny but informative info about random topics you never realized you wanted to know about

    Hardcore History - super long and rarely released episodes, but he gives an amazing in depth look at various historical battles. WWI, the Persian Wars, the Cold War 1945-1965, and the Anabaptist uprising are free now, and are all awesome.

  • by devmpk on 7/21/17, 2:51 PM

    How I Built This by NPR

    They interview founders of successful companies and talk about the very beginnings of their companies and how they started them. You hear about the humble beginnings of AirBnB, Mark Cuban, WeWork, Lyft. All really cool stories of starting businesses.

  • by chadgeidel on 7/21/17, 3:15 PM

    In addition to the ones mentioned here, I like:

    What Trump can teach us about con law (from Roman Mars of 99PI): https://www.radiotopia.fm/podcasts/trump-con-law

    50 Things that made the Modern Economy (Tim Harford): http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p04b1g3c/episodes/downloads

    Internet History Podcast: http://www.internethistorypodcast.com/

    You are not so smart: https://youarenotsosmart.com/podcast/

    Unjustly Maligned: https://www.theincomparable.com/ump/

  • by gigatexal on 7/21/17, 12:29 PM

    Talk python to me - Patrick Kennedy’s highly polished podcast on my favorite language The cppcast Syntax - web front end stuff Software engineering daily Mac OS ken Brent Ozar Office Hours -SQL server q and a Coder radio (and pretty much anything from Jupiter Broadcasting) - Linux and OSS oriented banter regarding development work

  • by jonathansizz on 7/21/17, 5:06 PM

    Council on Foreign Relations: The World Next Week, The President's Inbox

    Financial Times: World Weekly, The Money Show, Alphachat

    BBC: The World This Week, Analysis, In Our Time, Infinite Monkey Cage, The Public Philosopher, A History of Ideas

    Philosophy: The Partially Examined Life, Philosophy Bites, The Philosopher's Zone, The History of Philosophy Without any Gaps

    Others:

    The Carnegie Podcast

    Radio Atlantic

    Guardian Books

    Guardian Science Weekly

  • by nvahalik on 7/21/17, 3:05 PM

  • by tmaly on 7/21/17, 3:57 PM

    Indie Hackers http://indiehackers.com is my current favorite

    The Startup Chat https://thestartupchat.com/ is a close second.

    Startup School by Seth Godin was a limited 15 episode production of a event he did, this is also really good.

  • by phillnom on 7/21/17, 2:46 PM

    Uhh Yeah Dude, Chapo Trap House, Bodega Boys, Comedy Bang Bang, Cum Town, How Did This Get Made?, With Special Guest Lauren Lapkus

  • by ianleeclark on 7/21/17, 2:16 PM

    I have never successfully found a software engineering podcast that I've liked, so this will be a bit different from most here:

    A Cast of Kings -- Game of Thrones episode discussion

    My Favorite Murder -- Semi-descriptive title, but they talk about their favorite murders

    Not Alone Podcast -- Podcast about things going bump in the night

    Startups for the Rest of Us -- A marketing podcast aimed at micropreneurs

    Last Podcast on the Left -- Comedy/oddly well researched show about Aliens, Murder, and anything else macabre or strange

    The Adventure Zone -- A podcast about 3 brothers and their dad playing DnD

    Strange Matters -- Another "things that go bump in the night" sort-of podcast

    I have about 30 podcasts that I follow, but some of them I won't listen to if the subject doesn't interest me. These, however, I will listen to every episode (I'm putting off the final episode of "The Adventure Zone...") as soon as they come out.

  • by drcongo on 7/21/17, 2:45 PM

    Crime stuff: Accused, Someone Knows Something, Up and Vanished, Criminal, Sword and Scale, Convicted, Beyond Reasonable Doubt.

    General: Radiolab, 99% Invisible, Revisionist History, Snap Judgement, This American Life

    Amusing: No Such Thing as a Fish, RHLSTP, Adam Buxton Podcast

    Listening to with my daughter: The Tumble, Brains On!

  • by alanfalcon on 7/21/17, 3:02 PM

    Coffee With Butterscotch - A Game Dev Comedy Podcast. Super entertaining, and also interesting to hear from these brothers (Butterscotch Shenanigans) who managed to build a Game of the Year winner[1] (Awarded by Touch Arcade and others) using Game Maker of all things! Very informative to hear them as they make business mistakes and learn from them, and occasionally make a decision that actually positively affects their bottom line. This is what passion sounds like—the kind of dedicated passion that breeds success against all odds.

    [1] The game? Crashlands - https://www.crashlands.net

  • by Arcsech on 7/21/17, 9:01 PM

    The Magnus Archives is a great horror podcast. It's mostly-independent pieces of short fiction, but start at the beginning because there's definitely a meta-narrative.

    Also good is The Bright Sessions, also fiction, about a psychologist for people with superpowers. Also start at the beginning of this one.

    A new one that's quite interesting is Ear Hustle, produced by and about the inmates of San Quentin prison. It's a fascinating look into the reality of prison life.

    And then I'll second the recommendations for Hardcore History (snag The Prophets of Doom episode while it's still free, it's great) and 99% Invisible.

  • by daveilers on 7/21/17, 2:58 PM

    The Hilarious World Of Depression (THWOD) 99% Invisible Accidental Tech Podcast Reconcilable Differences Do By Friday Cortex Writer's Almanac Radiolab Note To Self MBMBAM The Incomparable (as topics interest me)

  • by chasely on 7/21/17, 3:00 PM

    Interview Format: EconTalk, Conversations with Tyler, The Ezra Klein Show

    News or weekly roundup: Slate's Political Gabfest, Slate Money

    Others: Two Dope Queens (comedy), History of Japan, Dan Carlin

  • by oatsandsugar on 7/21/17, 2:47 PM

    Story Club - brief (often humorous) vignettes of Australian life

    The Adventure Zone - funny people playing DnD

    Song Exploder - bands rip apart their music and explain their process, often channel by channel

    And ... Planet Money, Reply All, This American Life, More Perfect, What Trump Can Teach Us About Con Law, Data Skeptic, Arms Control Wonk, The Mystery Show

  • by _mjk on 7/23/17, 10:13 PM

    "no such thing as a fish", a podcast on four favourite facts of the week. Really fun to listen to :)

  • by fern12 on 7/22/17, 6:00 AM

    NPR's Fresh Air. Terry Gross has a very soothing voice. She covers a wide range of topics, but my favorites are those relating to politics, history and science. She definitely does her research, and knows how to ask thoughtful questions.

  • by jypepin on 7/21/17, 3:25 PM

    For the french speaking, Nouvelle Ecole is a very nice, humble podcast interviewing people with a non-standard path. Very nice and interesting!

    http://nouvelleecole.org/

  • by od0 on 7/21/17, 3:04 PM

    Data Skeptic (love this podcast)

    Data Driven Discussions (new podcast)

    Linear Digressions (good shorter discussions)

    Pod Save America (awesome)

    Coaching for Leaders (great interviews, the best soft skills podcast I've found)

    Software Engineering Daily (a little hard to keep up, mostly listen to specific topics)

    a16z (general trends)

  • by 0xbadf00d on 7/21/17, 2:46 PM

    http://packetpushers.net/ - great podcast for network-related industry news & opinion. Nice mix of useful information and personality bombast.

  • by relics443 on 7/21/17, 2:41 PM

    ADB - Android Developers Backstage (it's actually the only podcast I listen to)

  • by ranic on 7/21/17, 3:40 PM

    Some of my favorites:

    Planet Money - Current events and finance

    Astronomy Cast - Long-running podcast with each episode about a topic in astronomy

    Death Sex & Money - Human interest stories

    On The Media - Current events

    Love and Radio - Human interest stories

    Welcome to Night Vale - Weird scifi-ish stories in a newscast format

  • by ISL on 7/21/17, 2:51 PM

    A niche offering: Slide, the avalanche podcast.

    It may be too technical/specific for the general listener, but there's a lot there regarding risk management and personal awareness, which applies broadly.

    Daily listening: Marketplace, Planet Money.

  • by JRutherford on 7/21/17, 2:36 PM

    Mixergy, How I Built This, Startup, Criminal, Savage Lovecast, Dear Sugars, On Being, James Altucher Show, Planet Money, Fresh Air, Just the Right Book, Masters of Scale, The Distance, Dan Carlin's Hardcore History

  • by theelfismike on 7/21/17, 2:48 PM

    Acquired - history of (mainly) tech mergers/acquisitions/IPOs

  • by peacetreefrog on 7/21/17, 2:44 PM

    econtalk - quite good, been going since 2006. two episodes with paul graham and sam altman from back in the day too

    http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2009/08/graham_on_start.htm...

    http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2014/07/sam_altman_on_s.htm...

  • by Blackstone4 on 7/21/17, 2:50 PM

    The Bottom Line - Excellent business podcast

    Masters of Scale with Reid Hoffman

    How I built this - Interviews with entrepreneurs

    Freakonomics - Very good

    The Tim Ferriss Show - Lots of interesting people come on the show

  • by tyenl on 7/21/17, 2:48 PM

    No Agenda

  • by Max_Mustermann on 7/21/17, 2:26 PM

    * Skeptic's Guide to the Universe: Science and Skeptiscism weekly Podcast

    * Savage Lovecast: Frank Sex and Relationship Advice

    * 99 Percent Invisible: Design

  • by kyle_martin1 on 7/21/17, 2:59 PM

    This Week In Machine Learning - https://twimlai.com

  • by Cerium on 7/21/17, 2:56 PM

    ADV China, a talk show on two wheels. SerpentZA and C-Milk ride motorcycles through rural china while discussing China.

  • by kyle_martin1 on 7/21/17, 2:58 PM

    The Tesla Show - http://theteslashow.com

  • by rsendv on 7/21/17, 2:55 PM

    The DFJ Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders Seminar from Stanford eCorner, This American Life, and Democracy Now!

  • by 3stacks on 7/21/17, 2:48 PM

    Comedy Bang Bang, Monday morning podcast, Chapo Trap House, and Cum Town. I take it as a chance to shut off

  • by sotojuan on 7/21/17, 12:53 PM

    Dark Pixel Gaming podcast (and YT channel) - discussion on gaming news focused on JRPGs.

  • by kaa2102 on 7/21/17, 3:03 PM

    Interview/Comedy: We Got the Jazz gotthejazz.com

    EconTalk econtalk.org

    So Money by FARNOOSH farnoosh.tv

  • by joekunin on 7/21/17, 2:49 PM

    Dan Carlin's "Hardcore History" is perhaps my favorite .

  • by efm on 7/21/17, 2:34 PM

    Greater than Code - software development from a humanist perspective

  • by jandrusk on 7/21/17, 3:01 PM

    - The Changelog Podcast - Talk Python To Me - Podcast.Init

  • by tapestrieshere on 7/21/17, 2:32 PM

    Chapo Trap House

  • by maxxxxx on 7/21/17, 2:33 PM

    Scale your code podcast is quite good.

  • by curiousgal on 7/21/17, 2:34 PM

    Planet Money

  • by david_blitz1 on 7/21/17, 3:14 PM

    Intercepted, Chapo Trap House

  • by thingschanged on 7/21/17, 2:48 PM

    Sam Harris - Waking up Podcast. Dan Carlin - Hard Core History Econtalk

  • by david_blitz1 on 7/21/17, 3:12 PM

    Intercepted

  • by draw_down on 7/21/17, 2:41 PM

    Hollywood Handbook, Chapo Trap House, Your Kickstarter Sucks, No Goals, Cum Town

    Pretty much all are comedy except Chapo, which is a leftist political show.