Podcasts of the (Two) Weeks Ending May 29

I think I need to pare down the podcasts I subscribe to, because I don’t have a time to listen to all of them much less write about them.  If you’re a podcast creator and churning out multiple episodes per week and making them longer than ever, do me a favor and ease up!

Lost Massachusetts – The Long Ditch and Mother Brook: Secrets of Dedham

On this podcast we go on a paddling journey along some of the Commonwealth’s hidden and historical waterways. As an added bonus, the host calls out Panorama of the Mountains and the fact that I listen to way too many podcasts.

Radiolab – The Rhino Hunter

Despite being a vegetarian much of my life, I’ve long had respect for hunters.  People who hunt tend to be conservationists and have reverence for animals that people who just buy their meat packaged at the store don’t have.  This podcast deals with the complicated intersection of hunters and conservation of some of the earth’s most endangered species.

Slow Burn – Four Dicks (and Vice President Cheney)

This season of Slow Burn deals with the decisions made leading to the U.S.-lead invasion of Iraq.  This episode  is informative and infuriating as it deals with the elected members of each party who put politics ahead of intelligence in justifying the call for war.

The Tomorrow Society – Author Bill Cotter on the 1964-1965 New York World’s Fair

I’ve long be fascinated with the World’s Fairs in New York so I enjoyed this interview with Bill Cotter, an author who specializes in histories of World’s Fairs.

Twenty Thousand Hertz – Progression Obsession

An examination of chord progressions that make up many of the most famous songs in popular music.  Also, did you know that the ubiquitous Pachelbel’s Canon was virtually unknown until just over 50 years ago?

Running Tally of Podcast of the Week Awards for 2021

• Afropop Worldwide – 2
• AirSpace – 1
• Best of the Left – 2
• The Brattle Film Podcast – 1
• Code Switch – 2
• Consider This – 2
• Fresh Air – 2
• Futility Closet – 1
• Have You Heard? – 2
• Hub History – 2
• Judas and the Black Messiah – Entire series
• The Last Archive – 1
• LeVar Burton Reads – 1
• Lost Massachusetts – 2
• The Moth – 1
• The Memory Palace – 1
• 99% Invisible – 3
• Politically Re-Active – 2
• Planet Money – 2
• Radio Boston – 4
• Radiolab – 3
• Reparations: The Big Payback – 1
• Scientific American – 1
• Seizing Freedom – 2
• Sidedoor – 1
• Slow Burn – 1
• The Story Collider – 1
• Strong Songs – 1
• This American Life  – 2
• This Day in Esoteric Political History – 2
• Throughline – 6
• The Tomorrow Society – 1
• Twenty Thousand Hertz – 3
• Unf*cking the Republic – 2
• Unspooled – 1
• Up First – 1
• The War on Cars – 1
• What Next – 3

Book Review: The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan

Author: Rick Riordan
Title:The Sea of Monsters: Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 2
Narrator: Jesse Bernstein
Publication Info: [New York, N.Y.] : Listening Library, 2006.
Previously Read by the Same Author: The Lightning Thief
Summary/Review:

The second book of ancient Greek mythology adapted as American teenager adventure and drama is just as it’s fun as its predecessor.  In this book, Percy and his friends have to travel to the Sea of Monsters (now in the Bermuda Triangle) to rescue Grover and find the Golden Fleece.  Adventures include dodgeball with cannibal giants, a ship full of dead Confederates, escaping Circe with the help of Blackbeard’s pirates, and Grover trying to escape marrying the cyclops Polyphemus.  This book also introduces the dim but brave and kind Tyson, one of my favorite characters in the series.

Recommended books:

• Artemis Fowl and the Arctic Incident by Eoin Colfer
• Gregor and the Prophecy of Bane by Suzanne Collins
• Alcatraz Versus the Scrivener’s Bones by Brandon Sanderson

Rating: ***1/2