Thread by @erikthejones

For #InternationalPodcastDay I wanted to shout out all my favorite podcasts that would live on my podcast shelf if they were books. All of these shows regularly teach me new things and challenge my thinking. 1/

Middle shelf: @20korg for always teaching me something about awesome sounds I didn’t know I needed to know. 2/

@99piorg and @romanmars for just straight up having one of the best educational/interesting ratio of any podcast. 3/

@HiddenBrain for always surpassing expectations based on my judgement of the episode title and being super thoughtful about our humanity 4/

#distillations from @SciHistoryOrg and their long running podcast has some of the best science reporting. Their current series on opioids is 💯 5/

Like many people, @Radiolab was one of my first podcasts and can instill wonder about the world like nobody else can. Their excitement about figuring out the world can be contagious. 6/

@davidmcraney and his @notsmartblog podcast is an independent powerhouse for teaching psychology and our overall overconfidence in our mental abilities. This show could literally replace any psych 101 class (and higher). 7/

@sciencevs does the research for me on all the topics in interested in and I love it. Most recently, @wendyzuk confirmed what I always suspected about essential oils, that it’s all placebo (mostly). 8/

@ScienceSolvedIt telling the stories of mysteries that baffled people until good ol science solved it. Proves that when done well, science is an endless trove of great stories. 9/

@undiscoveredpod is another truly excellent science journalism show. I much prefer this type of show to the science headline shows. They make science interesting and relatable, not newsy. Plus they have the best episode art on their website wnycstudios.org/shows/undiscov… 10/

@SYSKPodcast the all star of educational podcasts. I can’t believe that after this many years Chuck and Josh still have the best chemistry. Recently loved the episode on think tanks. 11/

@ThisAmerLife the ultimate teacher about humanity. Empathy is something that podcasts excel in and Ira Glass has lead the way for over ten years in showing that some things you can only learn via stories. 12/

Top shelf: #akimbo from @ThisIsSethsBlog is an excellent example of modern self help, in the best way. Just Seth talking right to his audience. I imagine him writing out his thoughts completely and reading them, but it wouldn’t surprise me if just has loose outline 13/

@HelloInternetFM from @cgpgrey and @BradyHaran is always a long, interesting conversation. Their first episodes that touch on the education system is something I still think about 14/

#sumofallparts from @joelwerner proves that math deserves to be a topic fully explored in story form, just like @20korg does for sound and @99piorg does for design. Uniformly interesting. 15/

@storycollider is the science and scientist version of @TheMoth. Humanizes science and those who work hard to advance it. 16/

@SkepticsGuide from @stevennovella @CaraSantaMaria and the rest is easily my most long running, can’t miss podcast. The amount I have learned about how science works and how to approach science news is incalculable. It’s a never ending class in critical thinking. 17/

@lonelypalette makes learning about art and how to even approach art super interesting. This is coming from me, someone who hated art history in school. 18/

@ImaginWorldsPod from @emolinsky is an exploration of our favorite fictional worlds. It’s so thoughtful and informative that I recommend it all the time. Check out shows past to find a few on topics that are near and dear to you, or that you’ve always wanted to explore. 19/

@HiPhiNation from @ProfBarryLam is what everyone needs to hear who thinks philosophy is boring and all about old dead white men. Really well done and fascinating stories through the lens of philosophy. 20/

Bottom shelf: @HardcoreHistory from Dan Carlin is the much deserved super star of and entry into history podcasts. The Wrath of the Khans was the most riveting 12+ hours I’ve ever spent listening about a historical figure. A sentence my younger self would never have uttered. 21/

@PessimistsArc is a look at all the previous times we have been skeptical and downright rebellious towards new technologies. Which is pretty much every major new world changing invention. This even includes chess! 22/

Revisionist History from @Gladwell is an exercise in great arguments. The episode about runaway cars and how they were user errors was just fantastic. 23/

@ministryofideas has fascinating arguments about how the world works, from the lens of religion being a massive influence on our everyday lives whether or not we explicitly feel it. The argument that YA fiction like HP has more realistic psychology than most literature is 👍 24/

@constantpodcast looks at a whole bunch of interesting stories from history that I had somehow never heard before on how we’ve been dead wrong in the past. That’s the constant we can always count on. 25/

And to finish up the bottom shelf in honor of #InternationalPodcastDay : @itsthewolverine showing how great audio dramas can be for an aging mellienial who grew up on @Marvel like me. 26/

@brightpodcast as another stellar example of the creativity of the what modern audio dramas can make us feel and learn about ourselves. 27/

@replyall from @PJVogt and @AGoldmund on probably the most consistently interesting show in podcast land. I totally blow off the rest of my feed as soon as a new episode comes out. 28/

@planetmoney somehow makes the economy interesting in every case. When is inevitably say, “I heard about this in a podcast...”, it’s usually from these guys. 29/

@EconTalker has some of the most informative and fearless long form interviews, and they are far from boring economics topics. Some of the smartest and most thoughtful thinkers come on here and Russ pulls out great stuff from them. 30/

#thedaily from @mikiebarb is much more than news. I’ve come to rely on the deep dives as a necessary way to understand the world. Particularly when it isn’t politics focused, which unfortunately is impossible to do. 31/

@civics101pod is another show that could easily replace a high school class. If I just had this rather than a government class in high school, I would have been all set! Short and sweet and packed with tons of interesting info. 32/

#cosmicvertigo from @astroduff and @astropixie is exactly my kind of podcast. The big questions about the amazing stuff out there in the universe, all presented by two experts with great mic chemistry. Your mind will regularly be blown. Just remember, black holes don’t suck.