Podcast Channels to Listen to as a Couple (Volume 2)

Hosted by Lulu Miller, Hanna Rosin and Alix Spiegel this series covers all of the invisible forces that control human behavior.  It shares fascinating stories that will make you ponderous, and possibly even a bit frightened.  One brief story discusses a woman’s battle in quitting smoking and other impure activities.  Every time she lights a cigarette it’s slapped out of her hand; the catch is that it’s her left hand which keep slapping the cigarette out.  The term is “alien hand syndrome” and suggests that the owner of the arm (in this case, the woman’s relationship to her left arm) has no control over the arm’s actions.  Dig deeper and it’s suggested that a side of her conscience wants her to make wise decisions and though it may be silent in her brain, it’s active in her arm.  Learn more about this phenomenon and many other invisible forces in our lives through the Invisibilia podcast.

Acclaimed author of The Tipping Point, Outliers, and David and Goliath now takes his unique view of reality to a seasonal podcast.  Fans of Freakonomics may be interested in this podcast channel where Gladwell inspects history we take for granted, and teases out the details we never knew were hiding there.  One fantastic episode from the latest season is titled “A Good Walk Spoiled” which examines the financial backing of golf courses (specifically private clubs in the Los Angeles area) and exposes the truth that one private club pays 1% of property taxes it owes due to a legislation loophole created by an elite class many decades ago.  Another recent episode delves into a famous statue in Birmingham depicting a police officer with a thrashing dog attacking a black boy, in memory of the Civil Rights Movement.  The statue is inspired by a photo, but the true story isn’t quite the same that the statue illustrates.  Your eyes will be opened by the content, and your heart will be warmed by Gladwell’s unique and disarming voice with Revisionist History.

This is for those of you about to embark on a trip somewhere.  Search the Amateur Traveler archives of over 400 entries for one or more detailed episodes on your destination.  The host will often interview someone who is well immersed in the culture of said destination with amazing tips on how to experience local customs and tidbits on tricks of the locals such as avoiding tourists.  An extra benefit is that he uses a photo plugin which cycles through photos of locations the interviewee is speaking about while they are speaking about them.  This means that if they’re talking about a beautiful waterfall off the beaten path you can just glance at your phone to see exactly what they’re talking about. Caution: listening to this podcast without having established plans to travel to the destination may result in flight searches within hours.

This is for the short attention spans out there (like Homer).  Brain Stuff is a 4-6 minute podcast that quickly gives detailed answers to curious questions.  Recent questions answered are: “Can Water Go Bad?”; “Why is Blood Red?”; and, “Can Animals Predict Natural Disasters?”.  If you don’t have the patience to sit through long stories or interviews that most podcast stations boast, consider downloading one of these episodes for a punch of knowledge without the time commitment.  Added fun: read the question prior to listening and place bets on what the answer might be, this will get you thinking critically and appreciating the random knowledge you never knew your spouse had.