“Podcasting might be thought of as a form of academic gift.” — Les Back

Podcasts took off in 2004, with the invention of the iPod. Back then they were called "audio blogs".

Interestingly, studies show that when studying; listening and reading are equal when it comes to retaining information. At first I thought this would come back to personal preference. But again, studies have debunked this and when students who had a preference were challenged to try the other format, their test results were the same.

My opinion? It's the stories good podcasts weave into the information, that make learning not just enjoyable but also make it easy to retain the information.

The A+R Team have put together the below podcast categories and selected a top-of-it's-class-must-listen episode for each one.

News

- Any of the weekly updates from the; ALL-IN podcast

Bring a handful of salt to the podcast, as they are blatantly doing it for deal flow and personal political agendas. Extra: The Journal is a great/quick daily news pod.

Finance

- Investing and the stock market - Planet Money

I could not stop thinking about Penelope the cow for weeks after listening to this. The fact the mean is often correct, applies to so many other things.

Politics

- Barack Obama - Masters of Scale

There are some worthwhile political podcasts out there, like Red Box, but frankly most are pretty boring. And there is so much value in listening to someone who speaks as eloquently as Barack; if only to try to emulate it.

Psycological

- Sam Harris on Free Will - The Psycological Podcast

I'd recommend Sam's book to anyone who wants to spend time considering consciousness (probably important). Nb Sam's voice can put you to sleep.

Marketing

- Rory Sutherland on Why Some Ideas Connect - Diary of a CEO

There is not much to say other than this is the best marketing advice you can fit into 1:38mins.

Health

- Controlling Dopamine - Huberman Lab

This was voted the best Huberman episode ever. You will leave with lots of tangible take aways.

Food/Fun

Pick a star you like and have a chuckle - Off Menu Podcast

When speaking to the A+R team, Private Parts and My Dad Wrote a Porno got lots of votes too!

Inspiration

- Mar Hershenson on What Creates Great Founders

This is simply amazing.

Thank you, have a good week, Caspar.

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