---
# System prepended metadata

title: Podcasts

---


# Podcasts

I'd like to know your favourite podcasts (leave some comments). I am mainly interested in history, philosophy, politics, economics, arts, literature, music and science. I'd like to listen to more podcasts in French and Spanish. 

I sort the list below so that, roughly, recent listening tends to appear near the top. 

- MartyrMade [The Underground Spirit](https://martyrmade.com/20-the-underground-spirit/). I always was a bit a fan of Dostoyevsky and Nietzsche ... this long podcast is full of stuff I didn't know. By the way, I found this via [an article](https://outsidevoices.substack.com/p/author-of-the-mega-viral-thread-on)  Glenn Greenwald's blog.

- [The Road to 9/11](https://www.npr.org/podcasts/908344999/blindspot-the-road-to-9-11).

- Robin Pierson: [The History of Byzantium](https://thehistoryofbyzantium.com/). I still used to think in terms of Antiquity-Middle Ages-Modern Times. This podcast opened my eyes to the continued influence of (East) Rome on Western European history right through to the Renaissance. My favourite episodes are the end-of-century overviews.  

- Mike Duncan. [French Revolution](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/484J9T0QdvFdlaq5M5tUcs) by Mike Duncan. The 55 episodes detail the many turning points in which history could have taken a different course. Fun fact: Jean-Paul Marat spend a good time of his life trying to disprove Newton's mechanics. The [Haitian revolution](https://thehistoryofrome.typepad.com/revolutions_podcast/2015/12/402-the-web-of-tension.html) is interesting wrt the history of racism (the French government actively promoting racism to prevent poor white workers making a common cause with black slaves which in turn led to black slave owners turning against the French government). The [History of Rome](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-history-of-rome/id261654474) is rightly famous. I hope to find time to listen to all the others as well ...

- Dan Carlin. [Kings of Kings](https://www.dancarlin.com/hardcore-history-56-kings-of-kings/) is a great introduction to the empires of Assyria, Babylon and Persia.

- [Philosophize This!](http://philosophizethis.org/category/episode/). I particularly like the episodes on the 20th century philosophers.

- The BBC podcast *Intrigue* with three gripping stories from [China](https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08hlw0t), [Nazi Germany](https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000cn22), and [East Germany](https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0009kyn) was excellent entertainment plus a good dose of history.

- [In Our Time](https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qykl/episodes/player) (I may add a selection of favourite episodes). 45 minutes with three UK academics on a topic from history or philosophy. Ideal for sleepless nights.

- [99% Invisible](https://99percentinvisible.org/episodes/). In terms of story telling and variety one of the best podcast I know. The general topic is design, but the stories can be from all walks of life. I also love to listen to the voice of Roman Mars. 

- [Serial](https://serialpodcast.org/). Three independent seasons, each of them great examples of masterful story telling. Season one could be studied in English classes as an example of how podcasting is creating a new genre of literature. Season three takes you in a typical American courthouse and shows how the US justice system works (or doesn't) in practice.

I also listen sometimes to This American Life, The Argument, Deconstructed, Lawfare, the Cyberlaw Podcast and to NPR. The only French podcast that keeps me going back to at is [Passion medievistes](https://soundcloud.com/fannycomo) (I'd love to know some more French podcasts).


## Audiobooks

Durant, The Story of Civilization.

Solzhenizyn, Gulag Archipelago.

