My Favorite Podcasts Part I: Brain stretchers

I love listening to podcasts when I'm walking or driving or working on the computer. These are the lecture or documentary podcasts I enjoy listening to that stretch my brain.

In Our Time - probably my favorite podcast in this or any category. In Our Time is a weekly BBC Radio 4 documentary where host Melvin Bragg talks with scholars about a wide variety of subjects - from altruism to the history of vaccination to Chaucer, the speakers are always engaging and I have learned something listening to every episode.

Lingua Franca - a weekly podcast on language produced by the Australian Broadcasting Company Radio National. Topics have included why grammar is still important and how to interpret museum texts.

Ockham's Razor - another ABC Radio National podcast; this one is a weekly documentary where scientists and others (writers, scholars, researchers) can talk about various topics. I'm a little behind on this one - I just listened to the November 19th podcast on this history of hypochondria and the benefits of chocolate.

A Way with Words - this PBS podcast has been on hiatus since cohost Richard Lederer retired in October. They are currently rebroadcasting old episodes, but new episodes should be starting up again in 2007 with the other cohost, Martha Barnette. This is a call-in show about words and language.