I used to listen to long form essays on Youtube. My favourite ones either break down the history of a conspiracy, teach me something new and cool about the world, or explore a hobby I’ve never been interested in.
I don’t like the ones about killers or heavy drama. I also don’t like podcasts that spend half the time reading the latest news from [topic] in verbatim .
What are some podcasts you can recommend me while I chip away at other things?
The Constant, by Mark Chrysler.
Headlined as “a history of getting things wrong”, the host goes into deep dives about what we thought we knew, how we eventually came to figure out we were wrong, the repercussions of both.
It takes a seriously funny and well researched approach to a number of major events in our history, and I absolutely must recommend “the foolkiller” a five episode exploration of a submarine found at the bottom of the Chicago River then lost to history, with a very juicy footnote delivered several episodes later, that I dare not spoil for you.
I agree, it’s brilliant. Early episodes (some of which he re-recorded for better quality) really fit the bill, like the ridiculous ideas about where babies come from and where birds went in the winter.
That said, OP should exercise some caution as there are a few episodes that deal with darker topics.
But, yeah. Fucking Aristotle.
I also would recommend occasional collaborator Our Fake History, which looks at events and characters that have lots of myths about them. Again, there are some darker topics, but many fun ones. Was there a real Troy? Did Shakespeare write his plays? Is there a real inspiration for Atlantis? Could the Chinese treasure ships beat Columbus to the Americas? And just how big of an asshole was Columbus (although that one may be one of those dark topics)?