What to Listen to on Your Way to Work: Top Podcasts Reviewed

• August 18, 2016
• Emilie
• 1 comment

I have to admit that I’ve never been interested in the idea of podcasts. It always seemed like an odd form of entertainment to me. If I was home, I would watch TV. If I was on a run, I would listen to music. And if I was driving, I would turn on the radio. But recently I had been struggling to motivate myself to go for my regular runs, so my one friend convinced me to try podcasts.

Shockingly enough, I fell in love with them. I now listen to podcasts every time I run: most likely looking like a lunatic to onlookers as I laugh along to each episode. I have learned to love podcasts because they provide a great and fun way to learn something new. Why not learn a little something extra as you go for a run or a ride in the car? Here are some top podcasts that you may want to listen along to during your next drive to work.

Limetown. Limetown is a fictional sci-fi series about the sudden disappearance of 300 people in Limetown, Tennessee, 10 years ago. The series bears resemblance to War of the Worlds, in that the show appears as a radio broadcast, produced by an American Public Radio (APR) reporter named Lia Haddock. The broadcast aims to sound as real as possible, and includes supposed tape recorded interviews, leaked 911 calls, and donation requests from the radio station. The show has great attention to detail in this regard, with lots of background sound effects and recording techniques, causing the listener to become very engaged in the story. The best part about Limetown is that it’s far more addicting than many other podcasts, and the fast paced nature of the story keeps you looking towards the next episode. Early in the series you learn that Limetown was built for vague and suspicious business purposes. Under threats on her life, Haddock seeks to learn more and more about Limetown to uncover survivors and the truth about the disappearance of an entire town. The downside of Limetown is it becomes less intriguing as the series progresses, losing some of the momentum of earlier episodes. However it is definitely a highlight of the various fictional podcasts. Check out the Limetown podcast here.

The Nerdist. The Nerdist is a podcast hosted by Chris Hardwick who has a blog by the same name. Soon after the podcast aired, The Nerdist TV show was also started, which was hosted by Hardwick and his two other frequent podcast co-hosts, Matt Mira and Jonah Ray. The show airs each week, and interviews incredibly interesting people like Tatiana Maslany of BBC’s Orphan Black, Mayim Bialik of The Big Bang Theory, Sir Patrick Stewart and Gary Oldman. Take a look at The Nerdist’s recent podcasts and interviews here. The show talks about essentially everything nerdy: from the most recent superhero movies (like Suicide Squad), to Pokemon Go, to fantasy TV shows like Game of Thrones. Hardwick, Mira, and Ray are all exceptionally funny, and can talk forever about pretty much nothing. The show is great whether you’re looking for your nerdist news, interviews of your famous comedians and actors, or simply some funny back and forth between these amazing hosts. Definitely the funniest podcast on this list, The Nerdist is also great for long car trips with its many lengthy episodes.

Stuff You Should Know. Stuff You Should Know is a podcast that was created by HowStuffWorks.com, that talks about every random piece of information that you may want to learn more about. Podcasts include explanations of Chaos Theory, Underground Mining, Gene Editing, and more. The podcast takes these complicated ideas and simplifies them to make them easily understood for all listeners. However, the podcast deals with less scientific ideas as well: such as mermaid lore and even unsolved murders. The best part about this podcast is it provides information about so many things: so that you truly feel like you’re gaining more information about the world around you. Additionally, you do not need to watch episodes in order for them to make sense, so you can pick and choose which topics appear more interesting to you. The podcasts’ hosts- Josh Clark and Charles Bryant- are actually learning about each of these topics before episodes (they are not bringing in experts) which means that they are forced to learn and reteach the information in a way that even non-experts can understand. The only downside is that the episodes can become a little long and rambling, and Clark and Bryant tend to get off topic. However, the podcast is  amusing, and the hosts do their best to understand the various topics. If you are naturally curious and love to learn random and interesting facts and theories, this is definitely the podcast for you. Learn more about Stuff You Should Know here.

Myths and Legends. The title of this podcast summarizes exactly what the show is about. Myths and Legends is a weekly podcast which teaches you the truth behind common myths and legends that you thought you knew. Episodes include information about the Knights of the Round Table, Aladdin, Thor, Hercules, Greek mythology, West African folklore, and much more. Episodes tend to be around 20-40 minutes long, although many of the stories are split between multiple podcasts. This makes it easy to listen to episodes when you have the time, without trying to listen to an hour long podcast in each sitting. The host, Jason Weiser, is clearly genuinely interested in these stories, which makes the listening experience far more rewarding. It also means that he provides small pieces of information about each myth that you wouldn’t have thought about otherwise. Weiser reports each episode in a very laidback, narrative tone, making it all the more entertaining when he makes small jokes throughout the episodes. Myths and Legends is perfect for those looking to learn a little more about the common stories that are still prevalent in the world today. Check out more information about Myths and Legends here.