Today’s prompt from Long and Short reviews is “favorite websites\podcasts\blogs“. I think I’ll focus on podcasts, since I did a TTT freebie on substacks not long ago. But first, WWW Wednesday!

WHAT have you finished reading recently? Out of Range, CJ Box and In Plain Sight, CJ Box..

WHAT are you reading now? About to start Free Fire, CJ Box.

WHAT are you reading next? Images of America: Fenway Park, presumably followed by Blood Trail, CJ Box.

And now, favorite podcasts! I used to listen to podcasts a lot more than I do now, in part because I had more free time and in part because it was easier. Since Google killed their podcasts service, I haven’t found a service I like more: at the moment I’m trying to use audible for podcasts, since it can stay synced between my phone/car and computer.

(1) The Skeptics Guide to the Universe. This is easily the podcast I’ve listened to consistently for the longest, beginning in about 2006. It’s a panel show about science news and skepticism that’s generally entertaining, especially when they do segments like “Science or Fiction” where, a la Says You!, the panelists have to listen to several different ‘news stories’ and then decide which one is the real one.

(2) EconTalk. In 2011, I decided I wanted to find podcasts by an economist, a doctor, and a lawyer to understand related news through their lens. I was successful in finding EconTalk and Lawyer2Lawyer, though I’ve only continued listening to EconTalk. Over time, EconTalk has shifted much more toward being about human flourishing than discussing the economics of potato chips or a survey of Hayek’s work, and he features a lot of book dicussions. Over the years he’s introduced me to authors like Tyler Cowen, Gary Taubes, and Nassim Taleb. I’ve loved his books, too, especially The Invisible Heart and How Adam Smith Can Change Your Life. Unfortunately, since he moved to Israel his audio quality with guests has diminished, so I don’t listen to him as much as I used to.

(3)The Tom Woods Show. I’m not entirely sure how I found Tom’s podcast: it would have been back in 2013 or so, I think. It’s a 30 minute weekday show that tends to be pretty mixed in its topics: history, economics, and libertarian politics predominate, but Tom has been known to include interviews with authors on science fiction and politics, for instance, or updates on regulations and the auto market. Woods’ show has introduced me to some of my favorite authors and speakers, like Brad Birzer and Scott Horton.

(4) Scott Horton. Speaking of the devil: Scott has been doing foreign policy and world affairs interviews for over two decades, with thousands of interviews. I encountered Scott on the Tom Woods show, of course, then later began listening to his interviews directly. I’ve found him extremely useful for understanding global affairs, and I’m enough of a booster that I contributed to his Enough Already: Time to End the War on Terror kickstarter. His latest book is on the Russo-Ukraine war, a complete history from the fall of the USSR til now.

(5) The Rest is History with Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook. This and Tom Woods are the shows I listen to most consistently: these guys are not only fun every single episode, but they shuffle their content a bit to keep things fresh. They might do two episodes on the French Revolution, then shift to popular culture during WW2, then back to the French.

(6) Ologies, with Ali Ward. Another fun one, this features interviews with scientists about their specialities, which can include everything from porcupines to butts. One of my best friends who is a biologist and a chronic podcast-listener introduced me to this one.

(7) AstronomyCast. Another one I’ve been listening to forever.

(8) Discerning Hearts — various. Discerning Hearts is less a podcast than a portal for a lot of Catholic podcasts; the problem is a lot of them tend to be short-runs. Discerning Hearts is where I found Joseph Pearce, via his Great Works of Modern Western Literature show, and another one I listen to from time to time is Inside the Pages, another literary-discussion based show.

I think that’s about it for podcasts — these days a lot of what I listen to as far as interviews or lectures comes from youtube, since I can search for hosts and guests there still.