Listening
Over the last several years, my consumption of Podcasts has grown exponentially, and this category now has #1 mindshare for me across all forms of media. Training myself to listen at 2x speed has been one of my most effective learning hacks; as a result, I go through about 1500 podcasts a year.
Here is my list of favorite Podcasts. I include only a few “current events” / “market roundup” podcasts as they have limited shelf-life and focus instead on sources of deep learning.
History
History of Egypt (Dominic Perry)
Fittingly, this was the granddaddy of historical podcasts for me, and in early 2023 I listened to the first 150 episodes or so, which covered the Old Kingdom through part of the New Kingdom. I did this in preparation for my first trip to Egypt and plan to finish the series one day when I plan my return to Egypt.
This podcast is now 427 episodes and counting, so it is very granular — perhaps a bit too granular.
https://www.egyptianhistorypodcast.com/
Rating: 3/5
History of Rome (Mike Duncan)
This is one of my favorite podcasts of all time, and it spans the mythical creation story of Rome in the 8th century BCE to its widely cited end date in 476 CE.
I’ve always been a fan of Greco-Roman history, but I never did a deep dive on Rome until after my Egypt trip. My son turned me onto this podcast, having listened to it twice. I listened to all 193 episodes in 2023 in preparation for my 4th return to Rome in early 2024.
This podcast strikes the perfect balance between granularity and respect for the casual listener who is not pursuing a doctorate in Ancient Rome! I plan on re-listening to this entire series.
Rating: 5/5
History of Byzantium (Robin Pierson)
This podcast picks up the story where the History of Rome podcast leaves us in 476 CE and follows the continuation of the Eastern Roman Empire, aka the Byzantine Empire, through its eventual fall in 1453 CE to the Ottomans.
This podcast is ongoing, and if I’m being honest, way too granular for the layman. I found it to be a bit of a slog at times, but I listened to all 400+ episodes for completeness. Although I’ve been to Turkey several times, listening to this podcast did inspire me to plan a return to Istanbul one day to do a deep Roman/Byzantine historically focused trip.
https://thehistoryofbyzantium.com/
Rating: 3/5
12 Byzantine Rulers, Lars Brownworth
This was a very helpful top-level summary of the key Byzantine emperors after going through the minutia covered in the History of Byzantium podcast. If anything, this one is too short at only 19 episodes, and I wish it had been fleshed out to around 100-200 episodes a la the History of Rome podcast.
https://12byzantinerulers.com/
Rating: 4/5
The British History Podcast, Jamie Jeffers
After finishing the History of Byzantium, I wanted to pull on another deep historical thread. One choice was to continue with the Ottomans as the inheritors of the Eastern Roman/Byzantine Empire, and another choice was to back up chronologically and follow one of the historical threads in the West following the Fall of Rome in 476 CE.
Again, my choice of trip dictated my priorities, and before and after my recent trip to Hadrian's Wall & Roman Britannia, I decided to do a deep dive on the post-Roman history of England.
This podcast is up to 523 episodes and still running. It is WAY too granular for my tastes, and after 158 episodes, the year being covered was only 792 CE (having started around Rome’s abandonment in 410 CE). Episode 523 is only up to 1100 CE, so I quit this one since I’m not getting a PhD in English history.
I came away with a whole new appreciation for the Anglo-Saxon period following Roman Britannia, however.
https://www.thebritishhistorypodcast.com/
Rating: 3/5
History of England, David Crowther
I replaced the British History Podcast with this one, and even though this one is still very granular at 496 episodes and running, at least it gets us up to the late 17th century by then.
The final jury is still out on whether I will stay with this one through the end, but so far I am enjoying the pace, since by episode 29, we have already passed the Norman conquest and are covering the rise of the Plantagenets in the early 12th century CE.
Plus, having a proper British narrator with the right accent is a plus!
https://thehistoryofengland.co.uk/
Rating: 3/5
Antiquitas, Barry Strauss
I am a big fan of Barry’s books and have interviewed him twice on my own podcast project with Grant Williams, KAOS THEORY.
This short podcast series covers both mythical heroes and famous historical figures and battles from Greco-Roman antiquity and finishes off with some modern lessons to be drawn from these times.
I’ve listened to this series twice (only about 30 episodes), and I hope Barry resumes it one day.
https://barrystrauss.com/podcast/
Rating: 5/5
Fall of Civilizations, Paul Cooper
The production quality on this one is very high, replete with dramatic music and voice acting. This series is ongoing and only has 20 episodes so far and covers a wide gamut of civilizations around the world. Paul has also written a book that parallels this podcast.
I listened to Episode 1 (Roman Britain) and Episode 17 (Carthage) multiple times in preparation for my trips to Hadrian’s Wall and Tunisia in 2025.
https://fallofcivilizationspodcast.com/
https://www.youtube.com/c/FallofCivilizationsPodcast
Rating: 5/5
Business / Markets
Acquired, Ben Gilbert & David Rosenthal
I love these multi-hour deep dives on the stories of how iconic businesses were founded and run. I have listened to every single episode from the beginning and have listened to some episodes multiple times, as I believe many of the lessons learned are evergreen.
Rating: 5/5
Eye On The Market, Michael Cembalest (JP Morgan)
This is a “Current Events / Market Roundup” podcast, but they are always brief on duration and dense on insight. Michael Cembalest is a deep thinker, and I have derived many investment ideas from listening to these podcasts and then following up on his associated written pieces.
Rating: 5/5
The All-In Podcast, Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
This is a “Current Events / Market Roundup” podcast, but it has become a once-a-week staple of mine to stay current on markets, tech trends, politics, geopolitics, just current events in general. There is a bit too much colloquial banter for my taste, which hurts the insight density of this offering, in my opinion.
Rating: 4/5
Odd Lots, Bloomberg
This is a “Current Events / Market Roundup” podcast that I tune into selectively, depending on the topic. The hosts do a good job of choosing interesting and sometimes esoteric topics, and this is another one that I poll on a weekly basis to see what catches my ear.
Rating: 4/5
Geopolitics
Talking Geopolitics, George Friedman
This has a “Current Events” bent, but I poll this one weekly to get Friedman’s take on the key geopolitical topics of the day. I have read several of Friedman’s books and value his perspectives on realpolitik.
Rating: 4/5
GoodFellows: Conversations from the Hoover Institution
This has a “Current Events” bent, and the regular hosts (John Cochrane, Niall Ferguson, and H.R. McMaster) do a good job of tackling key geopolitical topics of the day. It is one that I poll frequently as well.
Rating: 4/5
Random
Lex Fridman Podcast, Lex Fridman
For a while during COVID, I listened to every single one of these multi-hour deep dive interviews with diverse people ranging from physicists, CEOs, game designers, futurists, politicians, etc. I have learned a lot about a bunch of random topics and have gone down deep rabbit holes of reading as a result of this podcast.
While Lex is a great interviewer, after a while, I began to notice a similar pattern of questions, which began to bore me a bit. I now poll this podcast every so often if the guest sounds interesting.
Rating: 3/5
If you enjoyed this list, be sure to check out my Reading list as well!