Podcasts? Any recommendations?

[RosieTR]

Thanks for all the suggestions! Even though I'm not the OP, I have a long commute and music sometimes gets pretty boring so podcasts are great! My fave is Marketplace Money though Radiolab is a close second. I'll be interested to check out some of the other suggestions I wasn't aware of, esp the Moth, which someone at work also suggested. I did think it was funny, Fidgiegirl, that you hate the Splendid Table. I actually like that one, but have met others who hate it. I personally cannot stand Diane Rehms Show because I can't get past her voice. I know she had surgery, etc but geez it's painful to listen to.

[AmeliaJane]

I really love the Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast from NPR. It's not just an "Entertainment Weekly" type of review of new stuff--they talk about pop culture more generally and often bring up older books/movies etc. For instance, recent topics have included "how long is too long" when it comes to different forms of pop culture; another was "dogs in popular culture." The hosts have an infectious manner and enthusiasm--I would love to have them over for dinner. I get a lot of ideas of things I would like to read/watch/listen to from the podcast.

My brother likes the America's Test Kitchen podcast.

[iris lily]

My first thought was This American Life, but RadioLab is a close second. I think that will be soon replacine This American Life as my favorite NPR show. BUt I do like Tom Ashbrook's interviews (he is on my local NPR station around 8 pm) but I don't know if his show is availabel as a podcast.

I will look for Pop Culture Happy hour, sounds interesting.

[fidgiegirl]

After trying this out for a few weeks, months, my current go-to is The Story. Love it.

[San Onofre Guy]

I forgot to add TED Talks

[Stacy]

It might not be quite what you have in mind, but The Survival Podcast actually has a big focus on killing debt and making life both more simple and more secure at the same time. The host is a pretty outspoken guy who may not appeal to everyone (he does most economic shows from a libertarian point-of-view) but if you like to garden and have any interest at all in self-sufficiency it might be more up your alley than you might originally think. The podcast's tagline is "Making your life better if things get tough or even if they don't" and I'm often surprised that a show on emergency preparedness can be as positive as it is.

I checked out this podcast today, and I was pleasantly surprised. I listened to one in which he was talking about the Edo period in Japan, how they lived, and what we can learn from it. It was fascinating. I did get rubbed the wrong way by some of the remarks he made, but I figure that you don't learn much if you're only willing to listen to people you agree with about everything. He reminds me of someone else whose podcasts I listen to on occasion: Paul Wheaton, who talks about permaculture on www.richsoil.com. He's also an outspoken guy with a strong personality, and he seems to know what he's talking about.

[Stacy]

So many suggestions. It will take months to check them all out. That's a very good problem to have. Thanks, everybody!

[smellincoffee]

Recently I found a podcast which is about living simply. It's relatively new, only a few months old, and hosted out of Portland. It's called "The Sprocket", because the hosts are wild for bicycles but their motto is "simplifying the good life" They turned me on to this fantastic book, The Plain Reader. They'll be especially interesting to those who are into mass transit. Oh, and their opening music is RIDICULOUSLY happy.

http://www.thepodcasthost.com/thesprocketpodcast/
They've quickly become my favorite hour of listening.

[rose]

This American Life
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/

Second this one. Almost always good stuff.

[pcooley]

I'd put Radiolab ahead of This American Life.