February 12, 2010

100s of Leading Thinkers on 10 Great Podcasts

Check out over a 1000 interviews and talks with 100s of leading thinkers on these 10 great podcasts featuring thought leaders from across the spectrum of ideas. For the past five years we’ve featured hundreds of podcasts as part of our Free Resource of the Day Emails. From these resources we’ve selected the top 10 best podcasts that feature an abundant amount of interviews and talks with today’s leading thinkers. Here are podcasts we’ve selected, along with some suggested audio books that we offer on download from authors featured in each podcast:

1. Commonwealth Club Radio Program Podcast

The Commonwealth Club of California has been bringing fascinating speakers to their forum since 1903. Their podcast feed currently features four years of speaking events! Recent speakers include Timothy Ferriss, Simon Winchester, Arianna Huffington, Robert Reich, Andre Agassi, Deepak Chopra, Taylor Branch, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Noam Chomsky, Chris Anderson, Michael Moore, Christopher Hitchens, Madeleine K. Albright, and literally hundreds of other speakers with podcasts going back to 2006!

This forum also features panel discussions on a variety of topics such as the Summer of Love, America’s Budget Crisis, Religion in U.S. Culture and Society, Moving Forward in Iraq, Capitalism 3.0, The Politics Of Food, Health of Africa, and Digital Health. Scroll down the list of their podcasts and you’re sure to find something that interests you.

Audio books by leading thinkers on this podcast:
Supercapitalism by Robert Reich

The 4-Hour Body by Tim Ferriss

The Portable Atheist: Essential Readings for the Nonbeliever Edited by & with Commentary by Christopher Hitchens

2. NPR Series: Books That Changed the World Podcast

This podcast is certain to get you interested in some of the books that have had the most impact in global history. Grove/Atlantic published a series of books by prominent writers focusing on the most significant works of literature that introduced groundbreaking ideas and altered the course of human history. This NPR series features 30-minute interviews that were conducted over time with the authors of all these books on NPR’s Talk of the Nation program hosted by Neal Conan and featuring live callers from across the United States. In this series you’ll hear:

• Francis Wheen talks about Das Kapital and separates the ideas of Marx from the many applications of Marxism throughout history.
• Karen Armstrong discusses how The Bible has been used historically in the traditions of Judaism and Christianity.
• Christopher Hitchens speaks about Thomas Paine’s views on the rights of man, religion, and the revolutions of his time.
• Military historian Hew Strachan discusses Napoleonic military theorist Carl von Clausewitz’s On War and how it influenced much of military strategy going into World War I & II.
• Philosopher Simon Blackburn talks about Plato’s The Republic including Plato’s controversial arguments against art and democracy.
• Darwin scholar Janet Browne talks about Darwin’s theory of evolution and the significance of his book Origin of Species in science history.
• Islamic studies professor Bruce Lawrence talks about The Koran and tries to explain its many interpretations throughout history.
• Conservative author and satirist P.J. O’Rourke talks about Adam Smith’s 900-page tome The Wealth of Nations and some of the brilliant ideas that Smith came up with about free markets while living in a largely agrarian society.

Listen to these podcasts on Books That Changed the World!

Audio books by leading thinkers on this podcast:
On the Wealth of Nations by P.J. O’Rourke

The Qur’an: A Biography by Bruce Lawrence

Darwin’s Origin of Species: A Biography by Janet Browne

Plato’s Republic by Simon Blackburn

Clausewitz’s on War by Hew Strachan

Thomas Paine’s Rights of Man by Christopher Hitchens

The Bible: A Biography by Karen Armstrong

Marx’s Das Kapital by Francis Wheen

Homer’s the Iliad and the Odyssey: A Biography by Alberto Manguel

3. We The People Stories Podcast

From the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania comes this podcast featuring politicians, historians, journalists, authors, and other notable figures discussing issues related to the U.S. Constitution and other contemporary issues facing America. Each podcast is typically an hour long and features an interview or a panel discussion on a specific topic. Their podcast feed goes all the way back to 2004 with over 150 podcasts available!

Political figures featured on the podcast include Tom DeLay, Newt Gingrich, Bill Bradley, Justice Stephen Breyer, John McCain, Pat Buchanan, George McGovern, Justice Antonin Scalia, and more. Authors, historians, & journalists featured include Cornel West, Doris Kearns Goodwin, David Brooks, Dinesh D’Souza, Tavis Smiley, Walter Isaacson, Dave Isay, Tom Brokaw, Ken Burns, Naomi Wolf, Jon Meacham, John C. Bogle, and others. There’s also a number of panels discussing various constitutional issues throughout U.S. history. Enjoy this podcast, loaded with capitivating talks from the National Constitution Center.

Audio books by leading thinkers on this podcast:
The Battle for the Soul of Capitalism by John C. Bogle

No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, The Home Front in World War II by Doris Kearns Goodwin

The New American Story by Bill Bradley

4. Seminars About Long Term Thinking Podcast

From The Long Now Foundation comes this fascinating series of Seminars About Long Term Thinking. These dozens of podcasts with leading thinkers go back all the way to 2003! Podcasts on the feed include CEO Philip Rosedale talking about the game Second Life, Chris Anderson talking about The Long Tail, founder and president of Wikipedia Jimmy Wales speaking on vision, author Jared Diamond discussing his book Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed, writer Bruce Sterling speaking about The Singularity, musician Brian Eno chatting with Will Wright (creator of the video game “The Sims” and forthcoming “Spore”), and dozens of other interesting podcasts on topics like climate change, human life extension, etc. Have a listen. Recent podcasts feature anthropologist Wade Davis, San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom, Michael Pollan, Niall Ferguson, Francis Fukuyama, Sam Harris, and Chris Anderson.

Audio books by leading thinkers on this podcast:
The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan

Letter to a Christian Nation by Sam Harris

Free: The Future of a Radical Price by Chris Anderson (FOR FREE OF COURSE!)

5. TEDTalks Podcast

The TEDTalks Podcast features key talks from the TED Conference covering the latest ideas in Technology, Entertainment, Design, Business, Science, and other areas. Now on their podcast feed they feature podcasts going back six months and some of the leading thinkers they currently feature include William Ury, Jason Fried, Barry Schwartz, Bruce Feiler, David Brooks, and many more. They’re featuring new talks every week so you may want to subscribe to this one.

Audio books by leading thinkers on this podcast:
Rework by Jason Fried

Getting to Yes by William Ury

The Social Animal by David Brooks

6. After Words – C-SPAN Podcast

Each week C-SPAN airs and podcasts their After Words program which features the authors of the latest nonfiction books being interviewed by journalists, public policy makers, and legislators. It’s a podcast worth subscribing to as they almost always have an interesting guest who’s recently finished their book pitted against an interviewer who often has opposing view points and isn’t afraid to ask the tough questions.

In past podcasts they’ve featured Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz on his book Freefall, Jane Goodall on her book Hope for Animals and Their World, Greg Mortenson on his book Stones into Schools, Steven Levitt & Stephen Dubner on their book SuperFreakonomics, Peter Schweizer on his book Architects of Ruin, Chris Hedges on his book Empire of Illusion, and a number of authors talking about their latest works. After Words proves to be another brain-stimulating podcast from C-SPAN.

Audio books by leading thinkers on this podcast:
Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Fight Terrorism and Build Nations One School at a Time by Greg Mortenson

Hope for Animals and Their World by Jane Goodall

War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning by Chris Hedges

7. HumanMedia.org Podcasts

HumanMedia.org produces Public Radio Programs featuring voices of vision, conscience and compassion. Most of the programs are written and produced by David Freudberg and they feature hundreds of programs for sale on download and CD on their website at HumanMedia.org. Their podcast series provides captivating excerpts from their programs. Currently on the feed they feature shows with Archbishop Desmond Tutu, comedian Sid Caesar, mind-body researcher Herbert Benson, and many other interested guests. Enjoy these free podcasts from HumanMedia.org.

Audio books by leading thinkers on this podcast:
The Breakout Principle: Maximize Creativity, Athletic Performance, Productivity and Personal Well-Being by Herbert Benson & William Proctor

When God Smiles by Archbishop Desmond Tutu

And we also feature over a dozen titles from the Human Media archive available on audio download:

Human Media Audio Downloads

8. Barnes & Noble.com’s Meet the Writers Podcast

Listen to this series of 15-minute interviews offered by Barnes & Noble. Host Steve Bertrand talks with authors of many of the most popular books available asking questions about their writing career and their latest books. Their list of podcasts extends back to 2006 with over 200 interviews! Some of the authors interviewed include James Bradley, John Hodgman, Sarah Vowell, Naomi Wolf, Arthur Agatston, M.D., Simon Winchester, Cokie Roberts, Arianna Huffington, Jimmy Carter, Martha Beck, Marilu Henner, Samantha Power, Dean Ornish, John Gray, Ph.D., Newt Gingrich, Tommy Lasorda, Madeleine Albright, David Sedaris, Anne Geddes, Yann Martel, Paula Deen, Anthony Bourdain, Judy Blume, Dave Barry, Garrison Keillor, Joyce Carol Oates, Tony Dungy, Michael Beschloss, Michael Ondaatje, Khaled Hosseini, Robert Kurson, Michael Chabon, Chuck Palahniuk, Elaine Pagels, Anne Lamott, Thomas Ricks, Tavis Smiley, Mireille Guiliano, Eric Schlosser, Chuck Klosterman, Joan Didion, Augusten Burroughs, Frank McCourt, Tim Russert, and David Maraniss. Plenty of podcasts to choose from!

Audio books by leading thinkers on this podcast:
The South Beach Diet Supercharged by Dr. Arthur Agatston & Dr. Joseph Signorile

Word by Word by Anne Lamott

The Gospel of Thomas by Elaine Pagels

9. BMA: Black Media Archive Podcast

Listen to hundreds of podcasts from notable African and African-American speakers. The Black Media Archive Podcast has collected a wide range of multi-media including speeches, archival video, movies, music, and more. They feature speeches from Malcolm X, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Fannie Lou Hamer, James Baldwin, Barbara Jordan, Ossie Davis, Langston Hughes, and dozens of other influential black leaders over the course of the past 100 years. (Note: They have quite a large podcast feed so it may take a moment for it to load on our site, but it’s worth the wait.)

Audio books by leading thinkers on this podcast:
The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin

A Call to Conscience: The Landmark Speeches of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Voices of Black America: Historical Recordings of Speeches, Poetry, Humor & Drama 1908-1947

10. NPR: Fresh Air Podcast

NPR has been podcasting their popular radio show Fresh Air for free as a podcast for a number of years now and it continues to be one of the top podcasts in iTunes. Host Terry Gross has been interviewing persons in arts & entertainment and other fields for over 30 years now. Currently on the feed the podcasts go back two weeks and they generally feature 2-3 stories per episode with great interviews in each segment.

Enjoy this massive collection of audio downloads from leading thinkers!

We’ve been sending out our Free Resource of the Day Emails for many years now. If you’ve not subscribed yet, we highly encourage you to do so. Who knows what magnificent free audio & video learning resources we’ll dig up in the future.

March 25, 2009

600 New Podcasts in Our Directory

We have just added 600 new podcasts to the LearnOutLoud.com Podcast Directory! We searched all over the Web to find the best podcasts you can learn from in every category. Our LearnOutLoud.com Podcast Directory now features over 2000 podcasts. Since we started our handpicked podcast directory back in 2005, it has now grown into one of the top podcast directories on the Web. Browse all of the podcast in our directory today, including 600 new podcasts:

www.learnoutloud.com/Podcast-Directory

Here are the number of podcasts that we’ve added by category. Please note that the podcasts are sorted by default according to popularity so you’ll have to dig deep in order to get the new podcasts which haven’t yet risen in popularity.

65 New Arts & Entertainment Podcasts

25 New Travel Podcasts

We have also cleared out all the dead podcasts in our directory and updated all the feeds of existing ones, so they should all work. Please let us know if you have any issues you have with a podcast or if there are any podcasts you’d like to see added to the directory by emailing us at: podcast@learnoutloud.com. You can also add your own podcasts to our site through our TeachOutLoud service.

Load up your iPod or portable audio player with downloads from over 600 new podcasts on LearnOutLoud.com.

www.learnoutloud.com/Podcast-Directory

Since we just added 600 podcasts to our LearnOutLoud.com Podcast Directory, we wanted to showcase some of the Podcast Providers which we feature and have added podcasts for. Click the links below to check out all the podcasts from these podcast providers:

National Public Radio

KCRW (Public Radio Station in LearnOutLoud’s hometown of Santa Monica, CA)

Personal Life Media (Podcasts with expert advice on personal growth, anti-aging, intimacy and relationships)

NASA Podcasts

Oprah Winfrey’s Podcasts

Enjoy free new podcasts from these generous Podcast Providers.

And finally we’d like to highlight a few of the great new podcasts we’ve added to our site. Here are some of the podcasts from the 600 we’ve added that you might be interested in:

Anton Chekhov Select Stories Podcast

Love Language Minute with Dr. Gary Chapman Podcast

And 600 others! Check them all out here:

www.learnoutloud.com/Podcast-Directory

April 11, 2008

Top 12 Free University Podcasts

You can take your education anywhere you go when you tune into a free educational podcast. These podcasts should appeal to traditional students, distance learners, and anyone else who wants to study on the go. From pop culture to advanced physics, your options are vast. The following free university podcasts should be very enlightening:

Stanford

1. Quantum Mechanics – Discusses the theory of relativity and other physics-related topics.
2. Geography of World Cultures – This should help anyone who is taking a class in world cultures and anyone who travels regularly.
3. Ben Franklin and the World of Enlightenment – Learn about Ben Franklin’s life and achievements.
4. The Literature of Crisis – From Socrates to Shakespeare, this podcast discusses existential literature.

UC Berkeley

5. General Biology – Those learning the fundamentals of biology will benefit from this podcast.
6. Issues in Foreign Policy After 9/11 – A heated discussion from the politically charged campus of Berkeley.
7. Human Emotion – The science and psychology of human emotion.
8. Introduction to Human Nutrition – This is a helpful podcast for anyone, not just students.

Duke

9. Nintendo: A History of Innovation – Discusses the history of the company and its many innovations.
10. Italiano 2.02 – Learn all about the Italian culture, from language to cuisine.
11. Game2Know Focus IDC – Topics related to online gaming and more.
12. Business Ethics – General discussions on business ethics.

As you can see, there is a wide variety of topics being covered by some of the most famous universities in the country. One can almost receive a completely free college education just by tuning into podcasts like the ones above.

By-line:

Heather Johnson is a freelance writer, as well as a regular contributor for OEDB, a site for learning about online education. Heather invites your questions, comments and freelancing job inquiries at her email address: heatherjohnson2323@gmail.com.

April 17, 2007

We’ve never seen the iTunes homepage look prettier!

🙂

iTunes has just added the LearnOutLoud podcast “room” where you can check out all of our podcasts.

Click here to check out our podcast room on iTunes

January 24, 2007

LearnOutLoud featured on iTunes

Popped over to iTunes today and was pleasantly surprised to see LearnOutLoud featured on the homepage of the iTunes Podcast Directory. People are really digging The Philosophy Podcast and the Great Speeches in History Podcast (among others). We’re well over 30,000 subscribers so thanks to all of you and kudos to David and Seth here for the incredibly hard work they are putting in to make these great content available.

In the words of that great philosopher Borat “I likes!”

December 13, 2006

LearnOutLoud Podcasts Garner Best of 2006 Awards on iTunes

Two of LearnOutLoud’s Podcasts received mention in iTunes Best of 2006 Awards. The Philosophy Podcast was awarded both a Best of 2006 People’s Choice Award and a Best of 2006 Staff Favorites Award. The Essays of Ralph Waldo Emerson Podcast generated some of the most subscriptions in the past year of any podcast and was also given a 2006 People’s Choice Award. To check out the best of this year’s podcasts in iTunes click the links below:

iTunes Best of 2006 People’s Choice Awards

iTunes Best of 2006 Staff Favorites Awards

Thanks for all who subscribed! We pledge to release many new podcasts in 2007, so stay tuned!

November 10, 2006

The Philosophy Podcast…More Popular than the Man Show?

I’m in awe at how popular our Philsophy Podcast has become. We just recently launched it and yet it has become one of the most popular podcasts on iTunes (currently sitting at #24). My brother has always said that he would be incredibly stoked when one of our podcasts surpassed the Man Show (Jimmy Kimmel and Adam Corolla’s podcast) in popularity. Well, that has finally happened!!! (Man Show is currently #29 on iTunes)

Let’s compare recent episodes of The Philsophy Podcast vs. The Man Show…

Philosophy Podcast = What is Enlightenment – Now we take a closer look at the world of Immanuel Kant and his essay What is Enlightenment.

vs.

The Man Show = Great Moments In Stupidity – Watch a dumbass bash his own head in with a bottle!

*or*

Philosophy Podcast = Discourse on Method – This week we showcase a selection from Discourse on Method by Rene Descarte.

vs.

The Man Show = Camcorders For Lesbians – CCFL is here to provide young, hot lesbians with camera to film their love. Please, donate now.

Could it be that thoughtful, intelligent content is actually starting to win out over all the mindless drivel that’s out there? Well, let’s not get carried away…after all, we’re not #1 yet but it is encouraging that in the world of podcasting consisting of a lot of stupid and inane stuff, high-quality podcasts from people like NPR, National Geographic and of course LearnOutLoud are starting to shine through.

🙂

October 20, 2006

LearnOutLoud at the Portable Media Expo

Last month at the Portable Media Expo, David and I had the pleasure of sitting down with Jeff McQuillan from the ESL Podcast and Douglas Welch from over at Career Opportunities to talk about podcasting and education. The portable media expo is getting bigger and better every year and more people from the academic community are catching on to the potential posed with the advent of the ipod. For a half hour we discussed how mainstream education has tested the waters recently with podcasts in the classroom, the pros and cons of making a show for free, and what the future may hold for ongoing education as technology becomes more and more advanced.

We’ve made this recording available to you in two ways; first you can go to this page and download it for free, or you can retrieve via the Audio Learning Revolution Podcast here. I have to give a special thanks to Lance Anderson and everyone involved with the LA Podcasters for providing the booth space and timeslot for this illuminating panel. Feel free to drop us a line and offer your impressions of what we talked about here. Everything we touch on is a definite work in progress!

September 14, 2006

#30 and Climbing – The Emerson Podcast

So our Essays of Ralph Waldo Emerson Podcast is getting a lot of buzz this week. It was featured again in the iTunes Podcast Directory, has quickly picked up over two thousand subscribers, and is now the #30 most popular podcast in all of iTunes land (at least as of 9/15/06 6:46 PM PST). This is really sweet. We’d like Ralph Waldo Emerson to top “The Man Show Video Podcast” and we’re not that far away, so if you haven’t subscribed yet please do!

If you haven’t subscribed yet, click here to do so. Then just click on the button to subscribe in iTunes and you’re all set.

September 1, 2006

#85 and Climbing – The Emerson Podcast

So our Essays of Ralph Waldo Emerson Podcast is getting a lot of buzz this week. It was featured in the iTunes Podcast Directory in the Literature category, quickly picked up several hundred new subscribers and is now the #85 most popular podcast in all of iTunes land (at least as of 12:22 AM PST). This is really sweet. In fact, I’ll go out on a limb and say that it’s probably one of the most intellectual podcasts that’s ever been in the Top 100. Of course that’s not saying all that much considering that we’re currently sharing Top 100 time with the MuggleCast (Harry Potter), The Hills Video Podcast (my gosh I do love that show though…) and my personal favorite Ask a Ninja (love that one too!!!).

If you haven’t subscribed yet, just click here to do so. Then just click on the button to subscribe in iTunes and you’re all set.

Long live Emerson.