From Our Home To Yours | Podcasts

Brains : Love

06 April 2020

With the radio airwaves overwhelmed with news of the coronavirus crisis, here at Because we have been looking for respite in other forms of aural stimulation. Podcasts have the appeal of documentaries with their little nuggety snippets of I-should-actually-know-that knowledge, but the hands-free easiness of music so you can still stir a risotto. From the informative, to the funny and the bizarre, here is what the Because team are currently listening to.

Caroline Issa, Editor-In-Chief
I love any of the Pushkin Industries podcasts (Against the Rules by Michael Lewis being a notable one) but I'm currently listening to t he Happiness Lab with Dr. Laurie Santos. She's a Professor at Yale who has studied the science of happiness, and she shares through her podcasts inspiring stories and surprising research results all with an eye to helping us better understand what makes us happy. Important for these days of uncertainty and high levels of anxiety with the unknown!

Another podcast I listen to is How I Built This with Guy Raz - every entrepreneur's story tends to be such a rollercoaster as I know it to be myself, but I especially love hearing how they ride the waves of their big ideas to either great success or learned failure. And actually, it's never failure as entrepreneurs are inspiring in the way they deal with adversity and challenge, getting back up again after a tough round. Raz's sensitive but no-holds-barred questions are a great way to peek inside the inner workings of creative brains.

Pushkin Industries

Carmen Bellot, Junior Fashion Editor
For me, the hardest part of being in isolation is not being able to see my friends. Despite putting my efforts into organising FaceTimes and Zoom calls – to the point where it feels like I actually have a social life again – technical failures and bad wifi means that the experience just isn't the same. The Receipts Podcast has acted as a substitute friend during these abnormal times. The three hosts, Audrey, Tolly T and Milena Sanchez, as women of colour, have created a space where they can talk about race, feminism and class in the conversational manner that many women do within their own friendship groups. From tear jerkers to outright hilarious, listening to each episode feels like you're conversing in a room with your friends.

Many life coaches are pushing techniques on how to succeed, Elizabeth Day is doing the opposite. In her podcast, How To Fail, she notices that sometimes, the things that don't go as planned are the best things that can happen, and broaches the question to numerous guests who society classes as successful. This is the pick-me up podcast you need when things aren't going to plan. Day's self-deprecating tone with her guest gives a lighthearted air to the interviews, and each episode acts as a joyful relief from the difficulties of daily life.

The Receipts Podcast

Delia Wagner, Publishing Assistant
Making Sense with Sam Harris is one of the first podcasts I actually listened to- after refusing to follow the trend for a good couple of years. In 'Making Sense', Sam Harris the neuroscientist, philosopher and best-selling author dives deep into some of the most important questions about the human mind, society and current affairs. I have always been a naturally curious person and Making Sense is a one-click-stop to getting the answers to the questions I often haven't even thought of asking.

The Reggie Yates Podcast is a bit of a guilty pleasure of mine. There is seemingly no real rhyme or reason behind the topics and discussions of the podcast, but that's part of the charme. The British actor turned producer and all-round audience favourite Reggie Yates sits down with some of his closest friends and chats about life. There is something unexpectedly heartwarming about listening to a group of successful grown men talk about their feelings in the rawest form. In its chaotic build it delivers exactly what many overly produced talk shows fail to: the feeling of sitting on a couch with your friends and pouring your heart out in between laughing until you cry and chatting about the latest movie release.

Making Sense with Sam Harris

Nasreen Osman, Project Co-Ordinator
I've always found it hard not to drift off during a podcast and hit the pause button. But Modern Love never fights to keep my attention. Hosted by Meghan Chakrabarti and editor Daniel Jones, Modern Love gives us the kinds of stories that are refreshingly human. The stories can vary from a date going disastrously wrong to a couple pretending they don't know each other for a day. In these times, it's a welcomed distraction and you'll find yourself comforted and amazed at some of the daringly honest stories.

For me, podcasts have always been synonymous with "tell me something I don't know" and I mean that literally, not sarcastically. Without fail, every time I listen to an episode of Stuff You Should Know, I'm equipped with knowledge and history I hadn't known just 30 minutes before. Josh Clark and Chuck Bryant, writers at HowStuffWorks, investigate oddly interesting questions like how does dog training work? But also tackle relevant topics like climate change. I love that no matter the topic, I'm always guaranteed a laugh as you feel the camaraderie and banter between the hosts.

Modern Love Podcast