🧠 Good Things with Sam Tackeff

🧠 Good Things with Sam Tackeff

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What I’ve been listening to / What’s inspiring me / What I’m looking forward to exploring. [WORK IN PROGRESS]

Every so often I go through a listening lull, realizing that I haven’t been actively feeding myself with new things. This is my current effort to top off my podcast list (I love lists!), loosely organized by the subjects that I’m most interested in. I’ve also added a list of specific episode recommendations from friends.

*PS: I interchange between linking to podcast websites, wikipedia, Apple Podcasts, Spotify.. Sorry if this drives you insane! At some point, I’ll clean it all up!

How I listen to podcasts:

  • Pre-choosing: I find if I have podcasts queued up, I’m more likely to listen to them. Like my weekly meal planning, if I plan out my options in advance, I always have something vetted to try depending on mood and time.

  • Timing: when I listen: I listen to podcasts primarily on my walks. I tend to walk a few hours a day outside, and this ramps up in the summer time.

  • Integrating podcast listening into my lifestyle: I haven’t quite figured out how to integrate podcast listening into my day to day at home. I know folks listen while doing work (I can’t multi-task that way), or while doing chores (I’m usually doing thinking time during that).

  • Walking and listening seems to be ideal: I also prefer listening to things while I’m moving outside to better integrate what I’m hearing: when I listen to a podcast (or non-fiction audio book), I’m able to map what I’m listening to my surroundings, and it helps with recall.

How I choose things what I listen to:

I generally like:

  • A combination of popular podcasts (of the cultural moment), and finding hidden gems.

  • Podcasts that are a deep dive primer on a topic in 1-8 episodes (similar to a lecture based course.)

  • Whenever possible, I prioritize startlingly good interviewers and interviewees over the topic at hand. I’ll listen to anything that is down someone’s deep rabbit hole of curiosity.

  • Solo podcasts: someone who can capture my attention for a full hour or more, crafting a great narrative.

  • I’m equally interested in someone who can take me along in their learning journey vs. an expert.

  • I prefer limited series and specials to ongoing podcasts (or at least seasons) so I can take a natural break

Where to Start:

Podcast discovery is hard enough, but when you do find a podcast you think you’d like, then you have to figure out where to start.

I’m thankful for the podcasts that put a “where to start” section on their websites. (If you have a podcast and don’t do this, please consider adding one! It will help people get started!)

Starting at the beginning of a podcast series is often NOT the right choice. And I think most podcasters would agree with this. Ideally I’d like to see a list of both listener favorites, and podcaster favorites.

Reddit is usually a good place to see what episodes fans recommend.

New vs. Old Favorites: Why I love being a “Regular”

“The Regulars”: I like listening to a handful of my favorite podcasters, where I can jump in at any point, and I’ve already gotten to know their quirks and styles.

This is the same reason I like watching 20 season shows and reading sweeping book series:

I’ve developed a relationship with the world already, so I already have a frame of reference while diving in and it’s easier for me to get started.

Unsurprisingly why I enjoy Brandon Sanderson’s Cosmere, and Terry Pratchett’s Discworld – after listening to more than a dozen years of Tim Ferriss, RadioLab, and the Splendid Table I always find it comforting to hop back in wherever they are.

Watching vs. Listening:

It’s arguable that Youtube is actually the best podcast aggregator out there. I tend to bucket radio shows, audio podcasts, and video “podcasting” into one bucket. (I’m rethinking paying for Youtube premium again so I can do more listening on the the go.)

Youtube is also great at finding the top episodes of shows.

I know a lot of folks think that video podcasts are weird (I’ve heard people say verbatim in disgust “who wants to watch a podcast?” but as someone who subscribes to Youtube premium, I actually enjoy getting to watch the faces behind the screen at least every so often.

Open question: what makes something a video podcast vs. a vlog?

Who is putting out great content?

Trying not to invent the wheel, these are some of the organizations and podcast networks putting out great podcast content.

People Who Think About This Stuff

I also try to keep track of awards as a source of vetted good stuff: Pulitzer Audio awards, Peabody Awards, The Ambies (great for discovery), British Podcast Awards, iHeart Media podcast awards, Shorty Awards, The Webby Awards (great for discovery), Dupont, IRE, Murrow awards. James Beard Awards.

Of course YMMV, and awards of any kinds tend to have significant bias.

Who is writing about Podcasts?

I like getting inspiration from critics, bloggers, writers, and yes, even Tiktok. Special shoutout to

Erik Jones
from
Hurt Your Brain
for giving great inspiration of what to listen to.

My Current Podcast Short List

Wikipedia is a great source of podcasts by topic. Here’s a current short list (ok, long list) of things I’m listening to, and things I’d like to listen to right now:

Daily News and Current Events

  • NPR Up First – which I listen to on my daily mile. Perhaps ironically when the day is over. I’m also a fan of The Daily, Planet Money, Freakonomics Radio, and Marketplace.

  • BBC World Service

  • I didn’t know that 60 minutes has a podcast version of the episodes (and it’s less than 60 minutes!)

  • Science Friday isn’t all news, but it does cover more recent science information

  • New York Times now has audio stories in app which is useful

  • The Economist Podcasts – I love reading the Economist’s short recap sections as my weekly “slow news”.

Captivating Series – Storytelling & Investigative Journalism and (Radio Shows)

I like listening to complete seasons of gripping shows in quick succession. The Lazarus Heist, Dolly Parton’s America, Radiolab, Bone Valley, and Serial are all favorites.

Some caveats re: true crime – while I love true crime, I try to prioritize well researched and fact-checked journalistic true crime, rather than sensationalized weekly pulp true crime even though the latter can be fun. I’ve read too many articles about people whose lives have been impacted by shoddy hearsay true crime podcasting.

  • The Missing Cryptoqueen – listened to the first season (but have to listen to the 2024 update episode 33 minutes)

  • The Missing Madonna – about an Art Heist (also from the BBC). 9 episodes, 30 minutes or so each.

  • White Lies – “decades-long story about immigration, indefinite detention, and a secret list” (start with episode one, 50 minute or so episodes)

  • Season two of Stolen with Connie Walker (surviving St. Michaels), 8 episodes, 35-45 minutes each

  • The Big Dig Podcast (local interest! 9 part series from GBH), 60 or so minutes each

  • The Retrievals: (a Serial podcast) about the Yale Fertility Center, inequity in healthcare, 50 min

  • Murder in Boston (the Boston Globe) limited series, 10 episodes, 45ish minutes

  • Scamanda (limited series, 8 episodes + bonus, 40-90 min each; they’ve now turned into a tv series)

  • The Telepathy Tapes

Arts:

Comedy:

Education:

History:

Science:

Psychology, Emotions, Feelings, and Culture

Food, Cooking and Culture:

Travel:

Gardening:

General Learning:

Tim Ferriss Episodes to listen to:

Health, Fitness, Wellness

Sports

Business and Entrepreneurship

Books and Reading:

Music:

TV and Film:

Random:

Podcasts from People I Know:

Specific Episodes Recommended to Me:

© 2025 Sam Tackeff
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