When I feel like learning something new, I listen to a good podcast. I find a lot of motivation in learning, so podcasts have been great for that. I have also discovered that I personally learn and listen better when I am running.

I put together a list of podcasts, which I broke into three categories–Educational, Running, and Ones to Try Soon.

 

Educational:

 

This American Life This is probably the most popular podcast of all time. You probably already know about it. If you don’t, you should. It is so, so good.

Invisibilia Invisiblia is about the things we cannot see, but shape us–science and medicine told in interesting, attainable clips that come in under an hour.

Hidden Brain Like the title suggests, it talks about how our unconscious dictates human behavior, without us even realizing it. Most are about half an hour long.

Radiolab One of my favorites, Radiolab connects science and storytelling. You will learn something new and be captivated the entire episode, no matter which episode you choose.

 

Malcolm Gladwell’s Revisionist History I absolutely love Malcolm Gladwell, so I am excited to dig into Season 3. The first two were great. He takes a closer look at some event in the past and analyzes it to see if we really understood it the first time. He makes the listener want to be better at thinking about what we have always been told.

Stuff You Should Know This is another one that you can’t really go wrong with. From Genghis Khan to anarchy to bullfighting, you find out how pretty much anything you are interested in works. They do go on slight side tangents, which end up being rather funny to listen to.

 

Criminal This one is great. My only beef is that they aren’t long enough at about 20 minutes an episode. They go back and look at crime that has happened in the past, some recent past some going back centuries, and discuss what happened, who was involved, and why it happened. They do a great job keeping it human, as opposed to sterile. I cannot recommend this one enough.

Freakonomics Radio If you liked the books, you will like the podcast. It talks about current topics that you most likely don’t know enough about, like the Trump tax cut and smart cities. They also discuss age-old debates, like does doing good give us license to do bad or the hot gluten conversation that just won’t die.

 

Serial (season 1 only) I seriously locked myself in my room and said don’t talk to me, the new Serial episode just came out. You will now have the luxury of binge listening to this because season 1 has been out a while. It follows a murder and the man accused of her murder.

99% Invisible This one is about how various things were actually created, like the fortune cookie or churches. You will learn something new with this one.

Love + Radio This one is winning awards for unique audio. It talks about the arts and sciences. It covers people and ideas. It is good, but a bit difficult to define because of its broad range of topics.

 

Running:

Another Mother Runner  This running podcast is geared toward women, as you could probably glean from the title. They cover all kinds of interesting running topics and seem like genuine people.

The Runner’s World Show This one doesn’t run anymore (see what I did there), but it is still good to go back and listen. They feature a lot of great runners on their show to hear their perspectives, but they also cover various running topics.

MoJo for Running Mojo for Running covers practical running tips and advice for all running abilities. It seems to have motivation at its core.

 

Run to the Top They are also for varying abilities. They interview experts in psychology, running, nutrition, science, and everyday runners to get advice and knowledge.

Ones to Try Soon:

RFK Tapes This one reexamines the assassination of Robert Kennedy.

Ear Hustle Stories from inside prison–sounds fascinating.

 

The Joe Rogan Experience I have been promised this is funny.

Trail Talk Examines ideas around running for both regular runners and ultra runners, with a focus on ultras, I think. Lots of training advice that appears to be for people who already know about running. I am putting it in my queue!

 

What is your favorite podcast?