After four or more years of late-night studying, tests, rushing to get assignments finished on time and hours upon hours of time spent in the library, learning seems to be the exact antithesis of relaxing.
But when done in one’s own free time, about interesting topics that are nowhere near one’s own field of study, taking 30 minutes to an hour out of your day to learn becomes a great way to detox from the daily grind. One of the best ways to get this short punch of information is through the many varied podcasts produced by “How Stuff Works,” a website dedicated to making complex ideas and events easy to comprehend.
The 16 podcasts cover nearly every topic imagineable. Into conspiracy theories? “Stuff They Don’t Want You To Know” has got you covered. Do you like your listening to be more based in actual, verified facts and research? The in-depth and fun explorations of little known or glossed over events and people in history in “Stuff You Missed in History Class,” which recently recorded two live shows at Salt Lake City’s FanXperience, is what you want. Or does your preference turn more to discussions on feminism? Because if so, “Stuff Mom Never Told You” is where you should turn.
What makes these podcasts so enjoyable isn’t always the subject material, which can cover some disturbing things, such as unsolved murders, incurable diseases and the concept of mortality, but the ways in which they are presented. The hosts are fun to listen to and well-researched, and the amount of information presented means that the listener has to take a break from any mind-bending activities such as homework in order to pay attention. The podcasts are perfect material for doing household chores, coloring background noise or just for sitting back and listening to.
All of these podcasts are hosted by different writers at “How Stuff Works,” and their presentation of their material varies wildly, making each show markedly different, even if it is about the same topic. For instance, when “Stuff You Should Know” discussed Lizzie Borden, a woman who allegedly got off for murdering her father and step mother with an axe in the early 1900s, the hosts editorialized the piece and said they thought she was guilty. In “Stuff You Missed in History Class,” the hosts refrain from passing judgments and have issued follow-up episodes when they felt there was enough new information to elaborate.
Perhaps the biggest failings of these shows is that they are, for the most part, narrated by white people, and therefore some topics, such as Thomas Jefferson’s sexual relationship with his slave Sally Hemmings, are sometimes whitewashed and made less racist or sexist than they were. The podcasters are always open to corrections, however. For instance, the hosts on “Stuff You Should Know,” where the hosts said Jefferson and Hemmings were in love, apologized on air and said there really was no room for consent in a master-slave relationship as theirs was.
All of these episodes are free on iTunes and other podcasting platforms.
@Ehmannky