Five podcasts that are on my playlist
“For the last week I’ve been following a new morning routine. I wake up, meditate, then light a candle and do some affirmations …”, gushed a friend of mine.
“It’s been a total gamechanger.”
Right.
From the moment the first of our four kids wakes up, it’s on like Donkey Kong.
The amount of noise and tantrums and Vegemite that gets smeared from 6am to 8.20am is an affirmation in itself.
Yet at 9am it’s time for my gamechanger.
I’ll often head out to the farm to do a $20-an-hour job, and listen to a podcast. Spending time listening to intelligent people talk about interesting things leaves me feeling really rich (even as I mindlessly dig a ditch).
And so, as we move into the Easter break, I thought I’d share with you five podcasts that are on my playlist.
Planet Money
Right now we’re living through a giant monetary experiment of historically low rates and money-printing that affects every one of us — whether we understand it or not. Planet Money does an amazing job of explaining it all in simple terms. The show takes complex issues and explains them in a way that anyone can grasp, without dumbing things down and while managing to be entertaining (my wife enjoys the show!). Best of all, despite the fact that economics invariably strays into politics, Planet Money doesn’t have a political agenda.
Best episode: ‘Bond Voyage’.
The Dropout
In 2015 Elizabeth Holmes was the youngest self-made billionaire ever, with a fortune of $4.5 billion. She’d dropped out from Stanford University to develop a blood-testing machine that took a prick of blood from your finger rather than a vial from your arm. She named the contraption Edison (after Thomas) and pranced around in a black turtleneck (after Steve). Two years later her net worth was zero, and now she’s on trial for fraud. This is the story of how a young woman swindled some of the wealthiest, smartest people on earth … and how she got caught.
Best episode: It’s a four-part series, and it’ll hook you in from the moment you start listening.
Cautionary Tales
Tim Harford is a brilliant economist who writes for the Financial Times in the UK. Yet he’s also worked out what most economists haven’t: most people learn best through stories. And Harford’s podcast Cautionary Tales is very good at telling fascinating (and frightening) stories that ultimately help you make better decisions. “We’ve always warned children by telling them unsettling fairy tales. But my Cautionary Tales podcast is for the education of the grown-ups. And my cautionary tales are all true”, says Hartford.
Best episode: ‘Buried by the Wall Street Crash’.
No Feeling Is Final
Trust me, you haven’t heard a podcast like this. Honor Eastly offers up an audio memoir which takes you to the depths of her depression and subsequent psychiatric hospitalisation. It’s raw, heartfelt and addictive. It’s not the easiest thing to listen to, but that’s the point. The six-episode series left me with a better understanding of mental illness and the challenges that many of my clients (and friends) deal with on a daily basis.
Best episode: All of them. There are some rude words, though, so you don’t want to play it in the car with the kids.
Oh, and speaking of which, here’s one that’s on my playlist for the kids:
Wow in the World
I have young boys, and the amount of poo humour per kilometre I’m subjected to on the school run is off the charts. So when I reach my fill I put on Wow in the World. It’s a podcast series aimed at primary-school-aged kids and it explains things about science, tech and the world around them. It’s educational and really funny.
Best episode: ‘Are You Smarter than a Toilet?’
Tread Your Own Path!