I traveled quite a bit before Covid and have developed a habit of listening to podcasts while on the road. Podcasts also play an important role in me in finding comfort during the pandemic, and even in the post covid era today, I still go on long walks to get away from things and have a chance to listen to these podcast episodes.
I also like to share my favorite podcast with friends and family, and sometimes people will ask which podcast I would recommend and what they are about. I thought I just list some of my favorites and introduce this to whoever is interested.
General / Self-help Podcast
- 99% INVISIBLE – A great podcast produced by Roman Mars. The podcast explores great designs that we can find in our everyday life. Some of my favorite quotes from the podcast are “Great design element should always be invisible”, and “Always read the plaque“. In March 2015, Roman Mars famously recreated his podcast routine in front of hundreds of TED audiences in his talk about flag design. Check it out, and you might like it 🙂
- BAILINGGUO NEWS – A fun podcast produces by a pair of Taiwanese podcasters. They will read world news in both Mandarin and English (hence a play on the word – Bilingo). The show is also very Taiwanese-centric, where you get the point of view of Taiwanese when discussing news around the world. By the way, other than reading the news, the whole show is delivered in mandarin.
- A BIT OF OPTIMISM – Produced by Simon Sinek. Need I say more?
- EVERY LITTLE THING – Produced by Gimlet Media, Flora Lichtman runs an ELT helpline where listener calls in and ask a factual emergency, and Flora will interview several experts in the field to get to the bottom of the questions. Some of the recent episodes include: “Why do we shake hands?” and “How do squirrels track their nuts?”
- AGAINST THE RULES – Produced by the award-winning (and one of my favorite) writers – Michael Lewis. Yes, the very Michael Lewis who wrote “The Big Short” and explained why a housing bubble in the US is crashing the economy everywhere. Each season focus on a specific theme: Season 1 is about fairness and trust, Season 2 looks at the coaches we have in everyday life, and Season 3 now explore how we trust experts and appreciate their expertise.
- CAUTIONARY TALES – Produced by Pushkin Industries and hosted by Tim Harford (BBC, Financial Times), “Cautionary Tales” explore the greatest human error and traffic catastrophes which hopefully will make us wiser after listening to them.
- REMARKABLE PEOPLE – Podcast by Guy Kawasaki, renowned author, angel investor, and more famously worked with Steve Job to market the original Macintosh machine in 1984. In each episode, Guy will speak with someone he thought was remarkable and try and decode what inspired them to achieve their success. From tech moguls, scientists, and philanthropists to thought leaders, this podcast will provide provoking thoughts and insight that will challenge your mind.
- HIDDEN BRAIN – What drives us? This NPR podcast hosted by Shankar Vedantam uses science and storytelling to reveal the unconscious pattern that drives human behavior
- PEOPLE I MOSTLY ADMIRE – Podcast by Freakonomics author Steve Levitt. Steve will invite someone he admires and have a long conversation with the person about their area of expertise and what drives them to do what they like every day.
- NO STUPID QUESTION – Stephen Dubner (Freakonomics author) teams up with Angela Duckworth (Author of the book GRIT) and explores some of the “stupid” questions that most are afraid to ask and tries to get to the bottom of it.
- THE TIM FERRIS SHOW – The human guinea pig, Tim Ferris invites extraordinary guest to the show and try to understand the process, method, beliefs, and motivation behind their rise to success.
Business/Financial Podcast
- BUSINESS WARS – From Wondery. Multiple episodes discuss the battle between 2 great companies in the same space: Amazon vs. Walmart, Boeing vs. Airbus, Ferrari vs. Lamborghini, and Airbnb vs. NYC. The tv drama-like podcast will get you hooked and listen for hours.
- 50 THINGS THAT MADE THE MODERN ECONOMY – Produced by BBC World UK, from Barcode to Sewing Machine, Stock Option to Blockchain. Each episode averages 8-10 minutes and provides information about the invention and how it changed the modern economy.
- GAMECHANGERS – Produced by The Economist, the Gamechangers take an in-depth look into the great idea that impact our lives.
- THINKCAST – Produced by Gartner. Covering some of the hottest discussion topics business leader is currently thinking about.
- GOOAYE – Mandarin podcast by Gooaye. Fun and easy listening podcast from a Taiwanese investor sharing his thoughts on the current financial market. Gooaye – the Chinese characters translate into stock cancer (you know how fun this will be).
- FREAKONOMICS RADIO – With the tagline “Discover the hidden side of everything”, the podcast came after a series of successful books from two award-winning writers – Stephen J. Dubner and Steven Levitt. The podcast starts the episode by asking interesting questions and trying to answer them by speaking with various experts that have something to do with the subject (It’s hard to explain, try listening to one episode – it’s worth your time).
- ACQUIRED – Produced by Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal, “Acquired” explore and helps us learn the playbook used by these great companies and show us how to apply them.
- HOW I BUILT THIS – Wondery and Guy Raz talk to many founders, entrepreneurs, and idealists about their challenges and journeys in building an amazing company.
- PLANET MONEY – One of my favorite NPR podcasts, it tells me what is happening with the global economy and brings some interesting stories to my attention.
- INDICATOR – A spin-off podcast from Planet Money. In each episode, the team selects one interesting economic indicator and explains the impact and what it meant to us. The short daily podcast helps you make sense of the global economy daily.
- MOTLEY FOOL MONEY – Brought to you by the Motley Fool investment analyst team, an in-depth look into various financial news happening worldwide. An Australian version uses the same name but provides more coverage for the area.
- TRIAL BLAZER – Podcast by Dell Technologies. The host – Walter Isaacson, tells the unexpected stories of digital disruption and the daring trailblazer that pushes the digital limit.
Technology Podcast
- GOOGLE CLOUD PLATFORM PODCAST – Weekly podcast produced by GCP. The podcast brings SMEs from the Google Cloud Platform to explain the new development and features of the various GCP product.
- GOOGLE CLOUD READER – This is a very cool one. Every week, Google publishes multiple blog posts on various topics. This podcast, produced by Google, takes some of these blog posts and reads them to you. It’s a simple yet effective way of staying on top of news and development from Google.
- HOW TO SAVE A PLANET – From Gimlet Media (part of Spotify), this climate change podcast feature Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson and Alex Blumberg. In every episode, Dr. Ayana and Alex investigate key concepts that could potentially lead to reducing the impact of global warming.
- VIRTUALLY SPEAKING PODCAST – Best VMware Podcast, period. Produced by Pete Flecha and John Nicholson, explore the latest news in VMware.
- Unexplored Territory — Bi-weekly podcast by the VMware superstar Duncan Epping, Frank Denneman, and Johan van Amersfoort.
- vBROWNBAG – Online webinar series that talks about various data center topics.
- TALKS AT GOOGLE – GOOGLE brings influential thinkers, creators, makers, and doers to share their stories, life work, and what drives them to shape our world.
- TED BUSINESS – TED podcast series that focuses on Business. No further explanation is required.
- REPLY ALL – Produced by Gimlet Media (now part of Spotify) by Alex Goldman and Emmanuel Dzotsi; this is a very fun podcast that is not an ordinary tech podcast. They have a few different styles; one of them is called “Super Tech Support” where listen write in and tell them about some weird technology-related problem, and the team tries to solve them. Another fun format is called “Yes, Yes, No” where they will have their boss Alex Bloomberg reaching out to Alex Goldman and Emmanuel and ask them about some Internet trending Meme, or viral twits an
Security Podcast
- DAVID BOMBAL – A well-known Youtuber who also ventured into the podcast space. The podcast talks about networks, cloud, cybersecurity, and other stuff. But lately, there is more focus on the Cybersecurity space. The youtube channel is also really good if you are more of a visual learner.
- CLOUD SECURITY PODCAST – Produced by Google. Anton Chuvakin brings security experts from the industries and discusses cloud security and how it impacts the IT industries and end customers.
- DEFENSIVE SECURITY PODCAST – Weekly podcast by Jerry Bell and Andrew Kalat. The pair have tonnes of experience and knowledge in cybersecurity, and they run the weekly podcast discussing the biggest security-related news in the industry.
- PRIVACY SECURITY & OSINT – Michael Bazzell, an OSINT (Open Source Intelligent) expert, explains the state of OSINT and how to protect one’s privacy online.
- HACKED – Podcast by NEXUS IT security group. This podcast invites top security leaders from large organizations and discusses what is on the top of mind for the leader based on today’s security landscape.
- NAKED SECURITY – Sophos’s Podcast explores and unpacks the latest security incident. Discuss what happened and how it happened.
- CYBER SECURITY BRIEF – Symantec’s security podcast. Focus on security news and their threat research.
Coffee / Tea recommended while listening to these podcasts.
