One nice thing about podcasts is I can listen to them while I’m driving, if I'm not in the mood for music. The same goes for when I'm walking. And although you can read on a train, I sometimes find I can't if the train is swaying too much. It's nice to have podcasts available at those times. And if the people on the podcast are speaking slowly, you can speed it up.
I usually listen to podcasts for about 6 hours per week while working out. Mostly these podcasts offer a shallow introduction into a topic, often even point towards the literature behind it. Half of the books I read this year were about things for which podcasts have sparked my interest.
Life is filled with hardships and tragedies — a fact that 2020 has made all too clear for people across the globe. For thousands of years, philosophers have come up with strategies to help us cope with such hardship. This week on Hidden Brain, we talk with philosopher William Irvine about ancient ideas — backed by modern psychology — that can help us manage disappointment and misfortune.
If I want to learn something, I'll read it. Which I can do 20x faster than listening to a podcast.
So I don't have a favourite podcast episode. And certainly not for 2021!