Listening Chronicles #5
Listening Chronicles is a series where I'm documenting the podcasts I listen to and those I would recommend.
Welcome to another edition of the listening chronicles! I am trying to document all of my thoughts about podcasts and the recommendations I make on a weekly basis. This is the 5th edition!
Let's get down to it !
Podcasts This Week
Plant Money | Summer School
Just as a recap, I wrote about this in the first edition but after that, I wasn't able to listen to all of the remaining episodes. There are 8 episodes in this NPR series. Each episode is essentially an economic crash course in your ears - but a lot more interesting.
I binged episodes 2 through 7 (will be done with 8 as well). They cover the economics of drugs, what Santa can teach us about tariffs, what can Donald Duck teach us about income tax and how can we think about the surge pricing by Uber.
Listening to these episodes has only made me realize that the best way to teach a technical course like economics (or any subject) is through stories. This is a great refresher for some economic concepts, and will definitely make you interested in learning more!
https://www.npr.org/2020/07/15/884827691/planet-money-summer-school
Old Man and The Three | Mark Cuban and Chris Bosh
The NBA Playoffs are underway. The season began in a bubble and the organisation has tried to make it the safest place in the USA. As a fan, I couldn't be happier since we're witnessing some of the best basketball being played at the moment.
This podcast is by JJ Redick and Tomy Atler.
They essentially get players, coaches, owners on the show and have great conversations with them (honestly, they are really fun to listen to). JJ Redick, while being a great shooter has been doing this podcasting thing for quite some time, earlier he used to do it with The Ringer.
I heard a couple of episodes this week - one with Mark Cuban and another with Chris Bosh. Both are great, and if you're a basketball fan you should listen to them.
Mark Cuban talks about (among other things) his entry into NBA as a new owner, how he changed the culture of the relationship between players and owners, and his hopes after the player strike that took place.
In this episode, Chris Bosh talks about the Heat era, why he retired early and what he has been upto these days.
Khooni: The Crimes of India | Tandoor Murder and Cyanide Mallika
A few weeks back, I heard from someone that alumni from my college have started a podcast. I was, and still am amazed by this simple fact that there were people who had started and built an amazing podcast, years after graduating. (Gives me hope)
It's only this week that I finally decided to check it out. This is a true-crime podcast. Initially, when I started listening to the short episode (a mini-episode about India's youngest serial killer), I wasn't sure what to expect. I was used to listening to True Crime in this narrative, investigation heavy format (they follow along, conduct interviews etc.), but the format by the hosts is simple, yet draws the listener into the stories. I have heard 3 episodes till now, around 25 have been released.
Aditi and Sneha delve deep into each crime story. They describe the events, the circumstances of the people involved and what makes each of these stories so interesting and important. The first episode is about a crime involving burning the victim in a tandoor (apparently, this was a popular story back in the day). The 2nd episode I heard this week featured India's first woman serial killer. If you want to know how to kill someone with Mysore Pak, this is the episode for you.
Even though they are conversing about some of the grimmest crimes in Indian history, the two of them are able to find humour in these stories. They list out all of their research (in case you're interested in learning more) and have calming voices, all of which adds to making this a really nice true-crime podcast. I wouldn't suggest listening to this podcast before going to sleep though.
If you're interested in crime thrillers, or just want to check out a different genre, you should check it out.
Cast from the Past
The Catch and Kill Podcast with Ronan Farrow
Speaking of True Crime, here's a podcast that I really enjoyed listening to (and learnt quite a bit from). Ronan Farrow, if you will remember was the lead reporter who broke the story in New Yorker about all of the Harvey Weinstein sexual harassment allegations.
The podcast is essentially what it took Ronan Farrow to actually report this story. It's a fascinating podcast and you learn so much about how the systems are stacked against women from coming forward. The podcast goes deep into how the broadcast media wasn't willing to support Ronan, the kind of accuracy you require when you are reporting this type of a story, the multiple times people who tried reporting allegations against Harvey Weinstein were stopped from doing so and many other small details about this entire situation.
It's 8-9 episodes and I think you should give it a listen! All of them are well-produced and narrated. You want to know more by the end of each episode and wait till you reach the kind of connections Ronan makes at the end.
That's it for this week's edition !
Don't forget to share this, and let me know what podcasts you were listening to in the last week! What do you want me to check out?
Happy Listening !