As much as this website encourages people to disconnect, podcasts are one of those things that are an exception to that rule. They’re incredible. And they can make the mundane (doing laundry, riding the bus, ironing or shining shoes) nothing short of extraordinary. Each month our resident podcast connoisseur, Dave I., finds three podcasts worth your time and ears.
Don’t have time to watch or listen to the news but want to stay informed? Then The Daily is for you. Hosted by New York Times journalist Michael Barbaro, The Daily’s episodes last anywhere from 20 – 30 minutes focusing on interviews with a Times journalist who summarizes the main points of their lead story. The story is often accompanied by original interviews and other recordings related to the topic. The podcast then finishes off with a summary of the days headlines.
What makes The Daily such a great listen is the conversational tone host Michael Barbaro takes with his guests. At no point does the podcast sound like a dull question and answer period, but instead informs the listener without hitting them over the head with information. While topics are varied, episodes “The Origins of Boeing’s 737 Max Crisis” (July 30, 2019) and “A New Way to Solve a Murder Part 1 & 2” (June 5 & 6, 2019) are a good place to start.
The Drive podcast is the health and wellness podcast for those individuals interested in maximizing their health and well-being. Hosted by Dr. Peter Attia, a Stanford/Johns Hopkins/NIH trained physician, each weekly episode explores a different topic focusing on some aspect of personal growth. The nice part about the podcast is each episode is – for the most part – self-contained. This allows the listener to chose topics that are of interest to them. I was skeptical of the podcast at first, however after listening to a couple of different episodes I found that Dr. Attia presented the listener with easy to practice and implement health techniques. Of course like most things in life, you get what you put in to it.
Start with episode #39 “Ted Schaeffer, M.D., Ph.D.: How to catch, treat, and survive prostate cancer” (February 4, 2019), then give episode #27 “David Sinclair, Ph.D.: Slowing aging – sirtuins, NAD, and the epigenetics of aging”. If you’re only going to give one episode a listen, check out the three part series on sleep (see what I did there?) starting with episode #47 “Matthew Walker, Ph.D., on sleep – Part I of III: Dangers of poor sleep, Alzheimer’s risk, mental health, memory consolidation, and more” (April 1, 2019).
Remember The X-Files, a TV show where two FBI agents traverse the USA investigating paranormal activity? If so, are you longing for a podcast to fill in the void left by the X-Files when the show went off the air? A Scottish Podcast is a podcast in a similar vein with a couple of distinct changes: The paranormal activity is taking place in Scotland with Scottish accents that are thick and heavy. Plus there is a good course of humor running through the show, not to mention a series of in-jokes that anyone who listens to podcasts is likely to understand.
A Scottish Podcast follows protagonists Lee, a former radio DJ and his musician buddy Dougie, as they travel around Scotland investigating paranormal activity. The podcast is serialized, meaning listeners have to start with episode 1 “Hard Lines” (July 11, 2016) and work their up to the most recent episode. That said, episodes are rarely longer than 10 minutes each and listeners could probably binge listen to get caught up to the current season in one or two long commutes. If anything, you might actually look forward to being stuck in traffic. Who would have guessed?
About the author: Dave I. has been a Dappered reader for several years. His interest in fashion started with shoes and expanded to encompass watches, suits, and general men’s style. When not thinking about his next purchase he can be found enjoying a pint of locally brewed craft beer.
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