So I was listening to a podcast the other day…

This is something I say all the time. My friends are probably sick of hearing it. I love podcasts and I rave about them to everyone, all the time. Partly because I have about two hours of commuting each day, but also because I’m a nerd.

Why do I love podcasts so much? Because they provide perspective. Because they bring me knowledge. Because they’re inspiration.

I’ve haphazardly collected a list of 12 podcasts I listen to regularly that seem to provide those three things. Not all of them are for everyone, but maybe you’ll find something you like.

The list

1. 99% Invisible: A tiny radio show about design with Roman Mars. There’s an episode about flag design. There’s an episode about stairs that go nowhere. There’s an episode about the real story of the LA Red Car Conspiracy.

2. Theory of Everything: personally connecting the dots. All of them. Radiotopian — from how RENT and Airbnb have forever changed NYC to asking Mathematicians and Maria Popovia where ideas come from.

3. Fugitive Waves: Lost recordings and shards of sound, along with new tales from remarkable people around the world.

4. Song Exploder: Deconstructing songs, piece by piece, with the audio engineers and musicians who put them together.

5. Design Matters: Interviews with designers, artists and cultural leaders.

6. On the Media: examining the lens through which we see the world and the world sees us.

7. Welcome to Night Vale: A local community radio program for a small desert town. Local weather, news, announcements from the Sheriff’s Secret Police, dark hooded figures with unknowable powers, cultural events.

8. The Week: Fun facts, audio essays, streaming movie recommendations.

9. The New Yorker Out Loud: discussions around current pieces in the current New Yorker issue.

10. Revolutions: Covering the important revolutions, thirty minutes at a time, once a week. Currently on the tail end of the french revolution and the rise of Napoleon.

11. Philosophize This!: a summary of the history and overarching concepts of philosophy.

12. You Are Not So Smart: we have so many biases, this podcast talks about them.

Try them out, let me know what you think, and please send a few suggestions my way. I’m always looking for new stuff.

nb: This is mainly a list of podcasts that made of the bulk of a passion share I gave at redpepper, a fun and informative redpepper tradition. It's also published on Medium.