My big list of podcasts
I listen to lots of podcasts, so I thought it would be useful to gather all my recommendations in one place. Before I get started, I need to acknowledge this insanity. I hope it is as useful for you as it was for me. I shall follow their system of rating them. The fiction reviews will be spoiler-free.
Queer fiction
I have to split this into primarily queer, marked with (Q), and featuring queer themes.
Excellent
Ars Paradoxica
A “found footage cold war conspiracy time travel drama podcast” (iirc).
Most complicated plot on this list, got something out of listening three times. Great soundscaping and voice acting. Funny at times, serious at others; never bleak without purpose.
Kaleidotrope (Q)
Two guys hosting a college radio show, bantering, giving out advice, and flirting. Very wholesome.
The Strange Case of Starship Iris (Q)
Starts out fun and cute, and then turns into pure awesome. The plot is very, very cool, too.
Good
The Two Princes (Q)
A classic fairy tale, but gay. Main character is just adoooorable, and very camp. Suitable for kids, but fun for adults1 as well. Not excellent because it’s a bit too well-produced commercialized podcast. The RSS feed has been disappeared, so you can only watch it on spotify. I think it exists somewhere on youtube still.
Caravan (Q)
Definitely not suitable for children. Possibly the only podcast that has managed to make multiple kisses sound good. It’s fun western vibes in a magical canion full of demons. If it wouldn’t be rude to call it well produced smut, I’d do so.
Welcome to Night Vale
A classic. A bit too experimental to my liking, but still good.
The Penumbra – Juno Steel
There are multiple stories on this feed, including many one-offs. I only listened to the Juno Steel ones. They get very good, but it takes a while. Makes a slow transition from bleak to wholesome.
Brimestone Valley Mall
Fun mayhem. I don’t remember more.
Meh
The Magnus Archives
Cool universe, but does the typical podcast thing of being way too grim to my liking. If you’re into creepy pastas, you should check it out.
The Bright Sessions (Q)
Again, cool world, but is a bit too on-the-nose about it’s mission to therapize the world. Still, has its moments.
The Far Meridian
It was okay, but I didn’t really feel like coming back to it, even though I gave it multiple attempts.
Bad
Kalila Stormfire’s Economical Magick Services
Hmmm no.
Other fiction
Excellent
The Program
I already reviewed this here.
Wolf 359
Slapstick comedy slowly turning into actually terrifying mayhem. If you ever want to make Funzo a reality, hmu.
Of all the dangers you will face in the void of space, nothing compares to the existential terror that is Funzo.
Good
Escape Pod
Science-fiction stories read by different voice actors. Varying quality, some are excellent.
Meh
Orphan Black
Interesting plot, very professional production. I’d put it into a higher category, but it’s almost too professional? It runs against what I think makes podcasts great, but that’s just personal preference2.
Non-fiction
Excellent
Darknet Diaries
These are true stories from the dark side of the internet.
This podcast helped me understand what specific attacks our security infractructure and conventional wisdom (you shall use strong passwords) are supposed to protect against, and how cybercriminals actually operate.
Also I just really like how ideollogically at home the pro-privacy, slightly paranoid, defense over offence host makes me feel. This is where I grew up. He still pulled off a respectful interview with an ex-NSA employee.
And also you get to witness Jack Rhysider gaining more confidence in his abilities over time, taking on more ambitious projects, and going from “amateur asking random cool people for interviews” to “actual investigative journalist”.
The Europeans
A weekly podcast with news from all around Europe. Even though the news is rarely fun, the hosts always make me smile. They’ve got a clear ideological position, but they are chill about it.
Econ Talk
Russ Roberts is one of those conservatives who have deeply reflected on their views and yet kept an open mind. I’m confident that if I presented him with a true conclusive argument for communism (if one existed) he would (very begrudgingly) accept it. This podcast is more about life and wisdom than it is about economics.
Good
The History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps
Exactly what it sounds like, although the podcasts about African philosohpy and Asian philosophy are on different feeds. Don’t know enough to judge the accuracy. It takes focus to listen to, but it’s well told. Sure loves his puns.
80,000 hours
If you listen to like 10 of these, you’ll understand the intellectual bubble that is Effective Altruism. The bubble is intersting, so I can recommend that.
It’s actually a podcast with career advice for people looking to do good with their careers, but you learn a lot about EA, and it’s not sales-pitchy. Obligatory reminder that Rob Wiblin doesn’t speak for EA (nobody really does) and while he’s certainly one of the EA archetypes, there are other, very different ones out there as well.
Conversations with Tyler
A very smart polymath having very chaotic conversations with interesting people. Will point out interesting people to you, if nothing else.
War on the rocks
An American perspective on international relations. Intro is the Ride of the Valkyries, and I’m still not sure if that’s completely self-aware. Features good interviews with a wide range of people. This is where I learned that the three drives of foreign policy are fear, pride, and interest.
Meh
The Jordan Harbinger Show
The host seems a bit entitled until you get to know him and discover that he’s a) self-aware and b) smarter than he’s letting on. He’s intentionally playing naive sometimes so that the guests get to describe their ideas well, although he isn’t pushing them as hard as he should sometimes, in my opinion. Many of the guests present self-help psychology things that clearly won’t replicate. Still, he’s good enough of an interview that the shows are entertaining to listen to, despite the varying quality of the guests.
20k Hertz
Cute stories about where the sounds we encounter all around us come from. The reason it’s not ranked higher is that it takes a sort of uncritical pro-business corporate perspective which I find a bit jaring. But still, lots of awesome trivia. Just check out these two3 old windows sounds.
Clearer Thinking with Spencer Greenberg
Uhm the guy is very smart, but I find the topics of discussion kind of boring? I guess rat content isn’t giving me the most marginal benefit atm.
Rationally Speaking
Pretty much same as with Clearer Thinking.
BBC The World This Week
I don’t listen to the news anymore, but this (and BBC daily news, which I don’t think runs anymore?) was how I learned English, back in the day. They try to put people with different accents on, which is great for listening comprehension (not good enough for real life though, as it turned out).
People I mostly admire
Fun pro-businessy SV bubble podcast about interesting people, with a host that makes entertaining conversations but doesn’t push back against his guests (even when he claims to do so).
Bad
The Tim Ferris Show
Ugh.
French
This was hard, because finding good podcasts is hard, and because my French isn’t good enough yet to reach out to look for them effectively. I picked these mostly to improve my language and at some point had a revelation: I could just slow down playback on podcasts that were too hard for me.
Good
Transfert
Weird stories from normal peoples’ lives, read by actors. Gives me TMA vibes.
Keskili
Interviews with authors about what and how they read. Good for the vocab, and for learning how posh French sounds like.
Le cœur sur la table
Very uhm woke podcast about rethinking what “relationship” can mean and I’d class it as sort of a guilty pleasure of mine.
7e science
Interviews with “scientists” about the “science” in popular movies. Cute.
German
Exzellent
Sicherheitshalber
Tune in for at least an hour, probably more, of nerding out about foreign policy, punctuated with Thomas Wiegold berating all sorts of people for no real reason.
Elementarfragen
Honest conversations with unusual people, facilitated by a smart and respectful interviewer.
Mäh
Alles Gesagt
Very long conversations with German famous people. Most of those people are boring, and the hosts are scycophantical. Well-researched though, and the interviews with interesting people are worth a listen.