Top 5 podcasts that don’t make you feel like you’re wasting time

Top 5 podcasts that don’t make you feel like you’re wasting time

Alex Dinndorf, A&E Editor

If you listen to a thought provoking podcast instead of doing your homework, you’re not procrastinating; you’re just learning other stuff instead. So in homage of that mindset, here are my top 5 podcasts that you can take a few things from:

  1. The New Yorker Out loud:

The New Yorker is a variety magazine and its podcast expands on its more popular articles. You don’t need to read the magazine to enjoy this podcast. It revolves around its magazine’s writers discussing a topic with experts, in this casual audio roundtable. They discuss everything from millennial culture to retrospectives of old artists and writers

  1. 99% Invisible

99PI as it is known by its fans, is a design podcast that tells the stories of the everyday intricacies found in daily life. Every design has a story, whether it’s the story behind modern food preservation or the history of Brutalist architecture, this well edited podcast brings light to the stories behind everything our world makes.

  1. RadioLab

Radiolab presents its listeners with thought provoking stories told in a gripping radio documentary style. NPR Reporters find stories that are unique and impactful, and then share them in a friendly, yet sophisticated manner. This podcast also has a great style of editing that blends sound bites into the podcast effortlessly; making RadioLab more of an informative storytelling experience then anything else. NPR’s RadioLab makes stories that keep its listeners entertained in a way that no other podcast can do.

  1. Here’s the Thing with Alec Baldwin

In this podcast, Alec Baldwin interviews artists, performers, and other creative people who share their stories and passions over the airways. Have you ever wondered what famous playwright John Guare and QB Andrew Luck have in common creatively? Here’s the Thing answers questions like this through professional and free flowing interviews between a well researched Alec Baldwin and an articulate guest.

  1. Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History

Hardcore History had to make it to my number one spot because of how thought provoking its subject matter is. Dan Carlin tells the life changing stories of history and how they relate to modern times, in an epic, story driven fashion. Each episode is highly thematic and made with the intention to be thought provoking. This podcast contains content that spans from the history of Genghis Khan to the social impacts of WWI. It is definitely worth a listen, but you can’t just commit 15 minutes to Hardcore History. Every episode is at least 1.5 hours long, but worth every second of it.