I've had Pocket Casts on my phone for a while, but it wasn't until this year that I finally made more of a habit of listening while doing yardwork. I tend to listen at 1.4-1.5x speed, and liberally skip episodes (or parts of episodes) that don't interest me. So what's currently in my podcasts list?
The casts I look forward to most include:
- Our Opinions are Correct is a fortnightly conversation between Annalee Newitz and Charlie Jane Anders, veteran award-winning SFF authors. They talk about subjects I like, their conversations hit the right balanced between structured and impromptu, their experience and friendship and personalities shine through the medium, and their runtime hits a sweet spot of about an hour.
- Brave Little State is a VPR program that has run for 9 years, researching and answering selected questions from listeners about Vermont, tending towards the uncommon and odd. It airs fortnightly and typically runs under half an hour, which is perfect because I probably don't need to hear more than 22 minutes about the Tinmouth apple.
- The Important Thing is sporadically published conversation between two friends about a topic of recent interest/concern to Michael and Lyle. It's pretty low structure, but it's kept short (typically under 20min with a few running to 30).
- Served with Andy Roddick, but just the interviews. I don't really want to read or hear about tournaments and matches, I want to watch them.
- Choiceology with Katy Milkman typically starts with a motivating story to illustrate the topic, and then moves into discussion with experts. Several times I've found myself skipping to the discussion with experts because I've understood the topic and don't need/want 20 minutes of motivating story.
Casts that I'm still getting used to include:
- Worldbuilding for Masochists was a Hugo finalist for best podcast this year, and I listened to the finalists in order to make an informed vote, and I am generally enjoying the discussions among the hosts and with guests about how they approach elements of worldbuilding in their work.
- Hugo, Girl! was another Hugo finalist; this is largely a recorded book discussion group. I like the hosts; I'm not convinced I want to listen to other people discuss a book rather than have a discussion with my friends.
- Coode Street Podcast was *another* Hugo finalist. So far there's a been a bit of a mix of book discussion and other topics; my favorite episode so far was an excellent discussion with China Mieville.
- The Great & Secret Knowledge I added when they interviewed Lois McMaster Bujold and she mentioned it on her blog. Episodes run 2-3 hours.
- Happy Vermont is a "travel" podcast, but it tends to focus on the unusual. So far it's paired well with Brave Little State.
There is also Vermont Edition, which runs 4 times a week for 50 minutes; it's simply the in-depth daily story from VPR repackaged as a podcast.
