10 Podcasts to Make You Smarter and More Productive
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When in doubt, if you’re not studying for the GRE, you should be reading a book (any book, seriously). However, while you’re walking around the city or doing dishes or commuting or shopping, reading isn’t an option if you don’t want to have an embarrassing accident. But you can put on some headphones and learn tons of great things for free.
I started listening to podcasts on New York City subways, and still listen daily as I take my dogs for their lengthy walks. I use ideas I glean from my morning walks in my own life as a writer and educator. Occasionally, one podcast will totally transform the way I approach teaching. For example, an interview with Carol Dweck on “Growth Mindset” has altered everything I do. You can listen to it here.
What can podcasts do for your GRE score? Knowing more things is always good. Since the GRE is based on reading skills and vocabulary, it never hurts to hear smart people use good grammar and sophisticated vocabulary. For Reading Comprehension, podcasts are a great way to catch enthusiasm from people who are excited and obsessed with topics that you might find “boring.” Podcasts such as Hardcore History, StarTalk, and In Our Time make topics that you might have found excruciating in high school absolutely compelling.
Also, many (if not most) podcasts deal directly with productivity and learning. You can find thousands of episodes on habit-building, accelerated learning, brain hacking, motivation, and organization. You never know which small piece of advice from Tim Ferris or Gretchen Ruben will inspire you to get to work.
And you may even find great podcasts that deal directly with GRE-specific topics. You Are Not So Smart’s recent series on local fallacies is directly relevant to logic-based reading comprehension, and there are dozens of podcasts (of varying quality) that will help you build your vocabulary.
So download Stitcher or dig into your phone’s Podcasts app and start learning while you do other things! Here are a few of my favorites in no particular order (I provided links, but it’ll be better if you search directly through your phone’s Podcasts app):
If you have to start somewhere, start here. Stephen Dubner (who co-authored the book Freakonomics with Steve Levitt) digs deep into human behavior and science, focusing largely on behavioral economics and psychology to explain why we act and think the way we do.
Where to start: The episode called “How to Become Great at Just About Anything,” about deliberate practice, is essential listening. It’s part of a recent series called “Self-Improvement Month,” which will help you structure your GRE study in all sorts of cool ways.
This one is my new favorite. Host David McRaney discusses with experts all the ways we think incorrectly, from cognitive biases to logical fallacies. Some of the logical fallacies he discusses I’ve actually seen on the GRE, and the cognitive biases explain why you might be missing GRE questions. The podcast is funny and smart and there are cookies at the end, literally (and yes, I’m using literally correctly).
Where to start: My favorite episode is “Bullshit” (it’s funny and it hints at why we fall for trap answers on the GRE) Also, to make you a calmer test-taker, try the episode called “Reframing.”
I love Neil deGrasse Tyson. He’s the charming and funny host of Cosmos, and you’ve seen him everywhere. Co-hosted with comedian Eugene Mirman, this astronomy and science podcast will inspire you to be far more engaged with GRE passages about astronomy. I wish the format weren’t so chopped up, but hey. It’s fun.
Where to start: Anywhere. Pick one. Have fun.
I hated history classes in high school and I love this series. Dan “I’m not a historian” Carlin walks you through the intricacies and twists of historical events using contemporary analogies and fantastic storytelling. Each piece is extremely well-researched and surprisingly compelling, especially considering the extreme length of each episode (often over 3 hours each, but WOW they’re good).
Where to start: Do you have a long car ride coming up? Start with “Blueprint for Armageddon I,” the first of Carlin’s magnum opus on WWI, and get hooked for the next 20-plus hours.
Erudite and charming, BBC radio host Melvyn Bragg invites a panel of British academics to discuss (and occasionally bicker amusingly about) a host of esoteric topics from science and the humanities. Just to give you a picture of the breadth of topics, three recent consecutive episodes were: “The Muses,” “Titus Oats and his ‘Popish Plot,’” and “Tess of the d’Ubervilles.” I don’t always know what they’re talking about, but I enjoy every impeccably-pronounced word.
Where to start: The episode on “Euclid’s Elements” will give you a primer on the ancient history of GRE geometry. Try picking one that sounds terrible and you’ll be surprised at how interesting a topic can become.
Journalists Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich not only make science and other subjects compelling and understandable, but they also do so with elaborate and gorgeous soundscapes. Worth a listen, especially with good headphones.
Where to start: Try “Cellmates,” about the mystery of Mitochondria. For something beautiful and heartbreaking, listen to “Remembering Oliver Sacks.”
You like Ted Talks. These are Ted Talks curated into a themed radio show by NPR host Guy Raz, with additional interviews and deeper exploration with the speakers themselves.
Where to start: Any one that looks interesting to you. They’re all of similar quality. Maybe “The Unknown Brain” or “Solve for X.”
Speaking of the unknown brain and human behavior, try this one for more insight into what’s happening in your own head.
Where to start: For GRE folks and anyone with high hopes, “WOOP, There It Is” and “Grit” will help you turn your hopes into reality
You probably already have strong opinions about Tim Ferris, the author of the 4-Hour Workweek and the 4-Hour Chef. Love him or hate him, he’s become the go-to expert on modern productivity and—most interesting for us—“accelerated learning,” which is the art of becoming great at skills in a short period of time. In this show, Tim interviews experts and world-class performers of all kinds, trying to glean what makes them so great.
Where to start: Dig back into the archives for the two interviews with Josh Waitzkin, chess-prodigy and martial artist, for the best advice on how to learn. I also like the recent episode with Chase Jarvis called “How to Optimize Creative Output.” Oh, and the ones with Derek Sivers are fun.
This podcast is my secret guilty pleasure. If you’ve been to an airport in the last few years, you’ve passed a copy of Gretchen Ruben’s Happiness Project. Yeah, I read it. Say what you will, but Ruben has done her homework and has some awesome advice. More recently, Ruben has collected a great deal of wisdom about how to acquire and keep good habits for her book called Better Than Before. In this podcast, Ruben and her (charmingly grumpier) sister banter about “happiness and good habits.” In the midst of all the good-natured positivity, there’s a lot of wonderful tidbits you can use.
Where to start: Podcast 56, about “loopholes,” might help you stop making excuses for not doing the GRE homework you know you should be doing.
Happy listening! If you have any recommendation or if you find good GRE-specific podcasts, let me know in the comments. ?
Find Neil’s musings helpful? Most do. Don’t forget that you can join him twice monthly for a free hour and a half study session in Mondays with Neil.
When not onstage telling jokes, Neil Thornton loves teaching you to beat the GRE and GMAT. Since 1991, he’s coached thousands of students through the GRE, GMAT, LSAT, MCAT, and SAT, and trained instructors all over the United States. He scored 780 on the GMAT, a perfect 170Q/170V score on the GRE, and a 99th percentile score on the LSAT. Check out Neil’s upcoming GRE course offerings here or join him for a free online study session twice monthly inMondays with Neil.