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Recently, the podcast sphere has exploded in popularity. Suddenly, every company and their competitor are pushing out weekly podcasts all about their business or topics they find interesting. The only problem with all these podcasts is now fans of podcasts have to slog through hundreds of options to find the diamonds in the rough. So for today’s post, here are a few podcasts that I’ve been listening to and that you should be too.

 

Serial

The last few years have seen a renaissance for the podcast medium and Serial can be seen as the catalyst for this renaissance. This intriguing podcast is hosted by This American Life’s Sarah Koenig and is focused on telling one story over the course of one of their “seasons.” The first season has twelve episodes that follows the mystery of a 1999 murder in Baltimore and the circumstances that surround it. The host delves in to leads, finds clues, and follows each to see where they go. It’s an incredible real life thriller that will keep you hooked from the first episode. The second season is set to start in the fall of 2015 and the third season in spring 2016.

 

No Such Thing As A Fish

If you’re looking for an interesting and hilarious podcast that covers interesting trivia facts, No Such Thing as a Fish is for you. It is hosted by the “QI elves” (the people who research and write for the British trivia show Quite Interesting) and is a fantastic the place to learn and laugh. You can find fun facts like Lady Florence Dixie once had to apologize to Queen Victoria after her pet jaguar killed three of Victoria’s pet deer, that in 2010 the US Military built a supercomputer using 1,760 PlayStation 3’s, and more fun facts while listening to this podcast.

 

NPR’s Planet Money

If you’ve ever had questions about what is actually happening in the economy like “what actually caused the financial crisis in 2008?” and “how did the European Union get started?” and want to have fun while learning about it, Planet Money is the podcast for you. With short twice-a-week installments, the Planet Money team looks at the economy in new and interesting ways. They don’t just focus on macroeconomic questions, though. They jump into topics like how solar has gotten cheap, whether we should get rid of the $100 dollar bill, and why the process of buying a car is so awful.

Bonus: If you’re interested in the strange side of economics, the Freakonomics podcast is a great listen too.

 

99% Invisible

Good design is hard. And when something is fantastically designed, chances are you’ll never notice it. Good design is invisible and this podcast jumps in to that invisible world and focuses your attention to all these things that silently shape our world. Episodes dive in to topics like the design of the modern calendar, the coloring of the new U.S. twenty dollar bills, and the secret world of flag design.

 

StartUp

StartUp is a relatively new player on the podcast field and the first season follows the story of Alex Bloomberg (from Planet Money) and his journey to start his new podcast company, Gimlet Media. StartUp follows all the pitfalls and challenges of starting a business and shows a refreshingly realistic view of the process before the birth of a business gets buried under the myth of starting fully formed in someone’s garage. 

 

Reply All

Another show from Gimlet Media, Reply All, is a show all about the internet. And like the internet, Reply All spans several new and strange topics like the most famous dog on the internet, finding love with an app, and asking who sent the first email. If you’re looking for interesting stories about how the internet has shaped our world and impacted our society, Reply All is a great podcast to jump into.