Top 10 Podcasts of 2017
I have listened to a lot of podcasts this years, over 22 days worth of podcasts. That's about 12 hours per week, basically a part time job. I have these stats from the Podcast Addict app. Here are my top picks of the year in order of number of hours listened.
- The Joe Rogan Experience
- Jocko Podcast
- Myths and Legends
- The SFFaudio Podcast
- The Tim Ferriss Show
- The MartyrMade Podcast
- Dan Carlin's Hardcore History
- Entitled Opinions
- History on Fire
- Duncan Trussell Family Hour
1. The Joe Rogan Experience
Not much needs to be said about the JRE. It has been consistently one of the top rated podcasts for years. Joe always has interesting conversations with a wide variety of people. Some of my favorite guests are Jordan Peterson, Dan Carlin, Gad Saad, Sebastian Junger, Bret Weinstein, Jocko Willink, Graham Hancock, Cameron Hanes, Dennis McKenna, Duncan Trussell, Daniele Bolelli, Dan Peña, Hunter Maats, and Wim Hof.
2. Jocko Podcast
Jocko wakes me up in the morning. Literally. My alarm clock is an excerpt from Jocko. I listen to Jocko on repeat on many mornings. I also listen to Jocko before workouts. No preworkout stimulants are needed if you have Jocko.
The best Jocko excerpts are now organized and collected in his new book Discipline Equals Freedom Field Manual. Reading a few pages of this book and The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday is part of my morning routine.
Jocko Podcast episode #45 is my favorite podcast episode of all time. I relisten to it every few months. It serves as a reminder that great men and great cultures are not defeated in an epic climax. They deteriorate away slowly without even realizing it when they gave into comfort. You have to cherish the struggle, challenge, and risk.
3. Myths and Legends
I haven't missed a single episode of Myths and Legends or its spinoff Fictional for the whole year. Every episode is a pleasure to listen. Jason Weiser is a master storyteller. He has a good sense of humor and the production quality is also very high. He tells the stories of myths and legends from around the world in a concise and entertaining way. This is what I listen to when I cook, take walks outside, or just want to lay down and relax. Some topics covered include Arabian Nights, Grimm fairy tales, Greek mythology, Norse mythology, King Arthur, Japanese folklore, and Russian folklore.
4. The SFFaudio Podcast
This one is a bit more niche. It's more of a collection of science fiction and fantasy audiobooks from authors like HP Lovecraft, Robert E Howard, and Philip K Dick, followed by discussions about the book or the short story that was read. I've been on a binge of Lovecraft stories earlier this year and this podcast is a great introduction to the Cthulhu mythos.
5. The Tim Ferriss Show
The same things said about Joe Rogan can be said about Tim Ferriss. He's a bit more methodical about the questions he ask. Some of my favorite guests are Marc Andreessen, Ray Dalio, Jocko Willink, Wim Hof, Nick Szabo, Naval Ravikant, Adam Robinson, Josh Waitzkin, David Heinemeier Hansson, Tony Robbins, Ryan Holiday, Scott Adams, Eric Weinstein, and Sebastian Junger. Notice that a few names are repeats from JRE.
6. The MartyrMade Podcast
I first heard of MartyrMade on Jocko Podcast last year. Jocko's high praise of MartyrMade convinced me to check it out. His series Fear and Loathing in the New Jerusalem is a Dan Carlin level quality series about the history of Zionism and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. I reached out to Darryl Cooper and since then he has become a close friend.
He also teamed up with Daniele Bolelli, where Daniele did episodes about the history and story of the Aztec and Spanish conflicts while Darryl did episodes exploring the philosophy and psychology of human sacrifice. These episodes are mindblowing. #8 How to Serve Man - Sacrifice & Cannibalism, pt. 1 is one of my favorite podcast episodes ever. He explained the whole picture of how we came to be in this world.
7. Dan Carlin's Hardcore History
Dan Carlin is the godfather of history podcasts. He is the measuring stick for all other history podcasts. Recently I listened to the Kings of Kings series and relistened to the Wrath of the Khans series. His perspective on history is comprehensive and he knows how to keep the stories exciting.
8. Entitled Opinions
Darryl Cooper of MartyrMade recommended me to listen to this episode about Sartre and I had been hooked since then. Entitled Opinions is a Stanford University radio show hosted by Professor Robert Harrison of the French and Italian Literature department. He has some of the most intelligent conversations with world class academics about philosophy and literature. In Harrison's own words, "This show offers the narcotic of intelligent conversation. ... There's plenty of room at the table, and everyone is welcome, but be warned: the bread of angels is not your ordinary snack. It may set your head spinning and give you a high."
9. History on Fire
I first heard of Daniele Bolelli on Joe Rogan's podcast nearly 3 years ago. At that time, he has not started History on Fire yet. Since then, I have listened to nearly every episode of History on Fire as it came out. It is a top quality history podcast about the most epic stories in history. He had a collaboration with Darryl Cooper of MartyrMade and has also interviewed both Darryl and Dan Carlin. Some of my favorite series include The Pirate Queen, The Conquest of Mexico, Ted Roosevelt, Caravaggio, Crazy Horse, The Slave Wars, and The Iceman.
10. Duncan Trussell Family Hour
Duncan is my favorite comedian. He has a very creative and bizarrely psychedelic style of humor. I love it when he rambles on about Ram Dass, the technological singularity, ayahuasca, the Baghavad Gita, aliens, and interdimensional demons at the same time. I recommend his episodes with Shane Mauss, Jordan Peterson, Daniele Bolelli, Aubrey Marcus, Matt Furie (creator of Pepe the Frog), Dennis McKenna, Edmund McMillen, Joe Rogan, Alex and Allyson Grey, and Graham Hancock.
Honorable mentions
罗辑思维
This one should actually be near top of my list, but it's only available in Chinese. Think of Luo Zhenyu as a hybrid of Tim Ferriss, Dan Carlin, and Entitled Opinions. He's a big figure in entrepreneurship in China and also brings in analysis from history and philosophy in a concise and entertaining way.
大话西游 - 你不知道的西游那些事儿
This one is also only available in Chinese. It's about misconceptions about Journey to the West, one of the 4 great classical novels of China. Much of East Asian culture is influenced by it, in fact, Dragon Ball was based on it. It provides a lot of insight into the nature of the hero's journey. As Joseph Campbell and Jordan Peterson frequently points out, the hero is not a goody two shoes. The hero conquers the the darkness within himself. All the protagonists of Journey to the West were chosen to go on their quest by the Buddha only because they were evil. The podcast also discusses the politics of the gods, who are actually advanced transhumanists. This book written in the 1500s has great insights regarding how the future might look like.
罗燕红楼梦随想
This is yet another podcast about one of the 4 great classical novels of China, Dream of the Red Chamber. Luo Yan is full of wisdom. She leads a seminar that casually discusses the book. From her, I learned about history, important Buddhist and Taoist concepts, how society's structure is reflected in book, what the book teaches about good writing, and much more. She is great at connecting everyday life experiences to scenes in the book and distilling timeless wisdom from it.
Romance of the Three Kingdoms Podcast
Finally a podcast about one of the 4 great classical novels of China in English! I am very very impressed by the dedication John Zhu put into this podcast. He makes almost no money from this project, yet the production quality is extremely high and he has been going at it every week for years. When you check out his website, he gives social network diagrams of the relationships among all the characters discussed in the episode. He also keeps it entertaining and is very effective at teaching the history and background knowledge required to understand the complex novel.
Aro Buddhism Podcasts
This is the best podcast on explaining the dharma of Vajrayana Buddhism. It's mindblowing and I had to relisten to quite a few episodes to understand them.
Waking Up with Sam Harris
Similar to Joe Rogan and Tim Ferriss. Lots of very cerebral discussions with knowledgeable people. Very rigorous and methodical when exploring ideas. Interesting guests include Robert Wright, Jocko Willink, Jordan Peterson, Douglas Murray, Robert Sapolsky, Yuval Noah Harari, and Eric Weinstein.
The Jordan B. Peterson Podcast
The Maps of Meaning series and the Biblical series are like fire hydrants of wisdom. I tend to watch short clips of him on Youtube or listen to his interviews with others. Peterson fries my brain and I end up taking too much notes. It might be best to listen to his interviews with Jocko, Joe Rogan, or Duncan Trussell before jumping into the deep end immediately. In fact, it's worth listening to all of them. Jocko and Duncan provide quite sharply contrasting perspectives of his ideas.
Mixed Mental Arts
Mixed Mental Arts is co-hosted by Hunter Maats and Bryan Callen, who are frequent JRE guests. Their podcast is also very similar to JRE in content and style. They are objective and quick thinkers with great senses of humor. Interesting guests include Jonathan Haidt, Daniele Bolelli, Jordan Peterson, Nick Bostrum, Peter Turchin, Tim Ferriss, Ryan Holiday, Robert Greene, and Joe Rogan.
The James Altucher Show
Very similar to Tim Ferriss. My only issue is that the audio quality is bad, especially on the older episodes. Some interesting guests include Naval Ravikant, Ryan Holiday, Tony Robbins, Tim Ferriss, Jocko Willink, Nassim Taleb, Scott Adams, Susan David, and Steven Pressfield.
The Brainfluence Podcast
Listen to all the Robert Cialdini episodes. Tons of great content in a concise format at the intersection of psychology and marketing.
The Knowledge Project: A Podcast by Farnam Street
The Farnam Street Blog is very high quality. Same goes for the podcast. Great interviews with Ray Dalio, Naval Ravikant, Philip Tetlock, and Ryan Holiday.
Chat with Traders
Very good interviews with some big names in finance and a few successful cryptocurrency traders.
Conversations with Tyler
Similar to The Knowledge Project and Sam Harris. Interesting guests include Peter Thiel, Ezra Klein, Malcolm Gladwell, Camille Paglia, and Jonathan Haidt.
The Art of Manliness
I've followed the blog and podcast for years now. I haven't listened to many episodes, but I always feel like I should listen to more. I always get something out of every episode I listened to. I liked the interviews with Jack Donovan and Jordan Peterson. I also liked the episodes about Ernest Hemingway and episode #334: When Violence is the Answer. He also has own list of recommendations, which overlaps mine.
Hope that you've found a few podcasts that you're interested in on this list. That's all for now, back to more listening for me.