My Favorite Podcasts of 2022… And Possibly For a Long Time
My choice of podcasts over the past 6 years was largely centred around podcasts addressing political issues. I am going to avoid naming any of those podcasts here for the simple reason of avoiding any form of label. I am sure the reader will understand my position in this fast growing polarize world. However, I have recently had the opportunity to come across lots of intellectually stimulating and educationally driven podcasts over the past 12 months, podcasts that will challenge your existing thought processes and highly useful recommendations on how to upgrade those thought processes. There are particularly four (4) podcasts that have managed to massively reshape my thinking and furnish me with information just over the past twelve (12) months than I have gathered from any other source over my lifetime. Some of these podcasts have also aided me in my reading habits especially with some of the discussions centering around books that I have read and making even more interesting recommendations. It with the interest of the reader in mind that I make these suggestions. They are not to be considered as authoritative on subject of podcasts. Therefore, my top 4 podcasts of 2022 are as follows:
- The Knowledge Project (Shane Parrish / Farnam Street)
I came across The Knowledge Project Podcast in May of this year right after my graduate studies. It is still quite unbelievable to me that I only discovered this life altering podcast less than 6 months ago. If you want to know anything, I mean absolutely anything from the best minds on the planet, then the Knowledge Project Podcast should be your goto podcast. It covers topics ranging from wines, history, investing, business, philosophy, technology, self-improvement, and other thoughts enhancing topics. It is curated to filter out the best from the guests. You literally get to know how these thought leaders go about approaching and solving problems, their typical day, the basic ideas behind their grand theories (if they have some), books that have influenced their thinking, and most importantly, their reading list. If you are a voracious reader like me, then you’ll be more interested in the books that are mentioned, which have gone a long way in shaping my own reading list. It might sound more of a nerdy podcast, but the gains I have made in just under six (6) months are worth mentioning. The multidisciplinary nature of the podcast enables the listener to weave together a tapestry of ideas emanating from diverse professions and backgrounds and enhances your decision making ability simply by relying on the underlying basic principles from every field, also known as mental modelling. By the introduction of the concept of mental modelling, you can deduce that Charlie Munger is one of the major influencers of the creators of the podcast, which makes it even more fascinating. There are currently over 150 episodes available and you can start listening to any of the episodes.
2. Naval Podcast (Naval Ravikant & Babak Nivi)
The way I see it, the Naval Podcast is an audio version of the book The Almanack of Naval Ravikant by Eric Jorgensen cut down into 3 to 5 minutes clips save the episodes on ethereum, the discussion with Matt Ridley, the evergreen episode on How to Get Rich, and any other episodes not mentioned here. Overall, the podcast is a guide on wealth, happiness, sound judgement, and philosophy. As a background, Naval is one of the world’s foremost angel investors and is recognized as such by his peers. He says a lot in 3 to 5 minutes of each episode that has the ability to keep you pondering for a week. His words are the much needed wisdom of this contemporary age in which people have become impulsive in their behaviours. He also has a twitter account where most of his thoughts are documented. It is a podcast I would recommend to anyone who is interested in learning the ropes on wealth and happiness creation, angel investing, and good judgements. One of the most attractive attributes of this podcast is the duration of each episode as mentioned earlier. It enables you to listen to one episode as many times as possible to assimilate every piece of wisdom being spilled by Naval and his co host.
3. Bookworm (Joe Buhlig & Mike Schmitz)
As an avid reader, I came across this podcast just three (3) months ago during one of my many visits on the social media platform, Twitter. It is curated for readers and aspiring readers. As the title depicts, Joe and Mike pick a book in every episode and comprehensively review and rate it. This podcast is your ideal tool for assessing your impressions of any book you have read and a means of gauging the opinions of other readers. On the other hand, you might become interested in reading a book just from the reviews done on the podcast. The podcast has over 150 episodes, meaning you have the ability to learn the underlying theme of over 150 books through the eloquent reviews conducted by Joe and Mike without even picking up any of those books. The podcast is, however, not an audiobook. It is therefore advisable to get a copy of any of the books sparking your interest through the reviews and read them for yourself. By doing that, you are able to form opinions of your own and question those of others based on your own exposure to the content of the book and not relying on the review of Joe and Mike. I have found it quite useful in updating my ‘antilibrary’ and questioning opinions formed from reading some of the books covered on the show.
4. The Tim Ferriss Show (Tim Ferriss)
We are no stranger to the name Tim Ferriss in the podcast business. With over 630 episodes, The Tim Ferriss Show is one of the most successful and well known podcasts out there. Relatively, it is quite comparable to The Knowledge Project because of its multidisciplinary nature. Tim covers everything there is to cover in our contemporary world and he does it with the very best of minds in those respective fields. From business, sports, media, philosophy, psychology, military science, technology, and everything in between, your horizon is widened by the diverse knowledge and basic principles obtained in these disciplines which further enhances our decision making abilities based on mental modelling. It is filled with top tier wisdom from world renowned leaders in various disciplines. The setup of the podcast makes listening to it quite seamless and unburdensome. As with the other podcasts covered in this article, you can start from any episode from the show.
The four (4) podcasts mentioned in this blog are my getaway whenever I feel the need to get out of my head and hear other people’s opinions on particular topics besides my scheduled listening. I usually listen to them during morning hours and randomly throughout the day as needed. You can also join me in listening to some episodes from these shows and share with me your opinions of them. You do not have to integrate every idea you hear on these shows with your system of thinking . What is required, however, is to learn to question the thoughts and opinions being expressed and hold them to the light of reason before assimilating them in your mental models.
