The Core

Littleman recently said he is listening to a lot of podcasts, lectures and so forth lately. I thought along the lines of the neverending "Quotes that hit home," when someone comes across some spoke word audio that really hits home, you could mention here.

I'll kick off with two audiobooks I really enjoyed and a podcast episode I liked

"Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk," by Ben Fountain. Novel about a group of soldiers whose combat video from an embedded reporter goes viral and they are on a "heros'" tour of the USA. The whole book takes place during a Dallas Cowboys football game. Fun, funny, incisive and generally well written. I loved it. My wife really enjoyed it. And it came with a high recommendation from a friend who has made his living as a ful-time writer since leaving the army - West Point grad who was a Army Ranger platoon leader, so if it rang true enough for him, that's good enough for me. Very well read too, so a good audio choice.

"The War of Art," by Steven Pressfield. I've heard of this book for years. Finally listened to it as an audiobook. Loved it. It's not that long. Just give it a try, but skip the preface by someone else (boring).

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Alex Honnold interviewed by Tim Ferris. I've met Alex and had dinner with him once or twice because we have mutual friends (though I'm sure he would have no clue who I am). But I always had a good feel from him and found him to be an interesting character. This interview captures him well. For those who don't know - Alex burst on the climbing scene with an audacious solo of the NW Face of Half Dome and unabelievably fast solo times of the biggest faces in Yosemite. He took those skills and did something that rocked the climbing world - he and Tommy Caldwell climbed five Patagonia peaks in a single push. Just 25 years ago the professional writer I mentioned above, Greg Crouch, made a name for himself and got a book deal out of climbing *one* of those routes over multiple days. But Alex is just a balanced, slightly goofy, eminently likeable guy. Tim Ferris can drive me nuts in his... everything, but he does a great job interviewing Alex.

http://fourhourworkweek.com/2016/05/17/alex-honnold/

+1 for Dan Carlin, absolutely great stuff.

>>Dan Carlin's Hardcore History

Thanks. I tried it once and didn't stay with it. But that's why I started this thread. The Memory Palace sometimes grabs me, sometimes not at all. If I had started with one of my least favorites, I would not have subscribed. But I started with this one:

http://thememorypalace.us/2016/02/the-wheel/ - story of a slave who plots an escape... and revenge

and then went back to this one:
http://thememorypalace.us/2016/01/below-from-above/ - the men who worked in the caissons building the Brooklyn Bridge

It's sort of novelized history. I don't know the term, but an episode from history, but taking license to imagine, for example, what someone's neighbors must have thought of the eccentric old man.

[update: a sadly surprising amount of the satire would work just fine in the US by changing the names and the accents.]


>>Probably does not translate across the pond

Listening to the current episode (June 18). Opening was quite funny, then a lot I really didn't understand... I have enough passing understanding of who Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbin and so on are to kind of get the jokes, but I would never recognize the impressions, so a lot is lost on my (though Ian McKellen impression was readily recognizable). Fun... but, yes, a "Bit too Brit" to get all the humor.

>>Chaperon

I don't see that on his site (any of them) and on Amazon I just get "65 ANS DE VIE POLITIQUE DANS UNE SOCIETE EN MUTATION 1925-1990" which, I have a feeling, might be a different Andre Chaperon ;-)

Want to know what is going on in the world's hot spots or want to know where the next hot spot is?  Current affairs, conflict, diplomacy from a military POV.

BFBS Sitrep
http://www.bfbs.com/news/programmes/sitrep

Yes it's from a British Forces perspective but this is good since the UK pays attention and reports on parts of the globe that US news media overlooks. And since it is intended for UK Forces it's not dumbed down like mainstream media.

Last I looked was available on iTunes (podcast) and other podcast directories.

>dumbed down

I don't watch broadcast TV/Cable anymore -- sometimes they'll be playing CNN at the gym; it seems like an endless loop of sound-bites that just scrape the surface and often gets it wrong.  I don' know how anybody could sit there and watch that.  BFBS sounds interesting

RadioLab is good stuff, I didn't think about it because the show is on NPR as well as being a podcast.  Along those lines, Freakonomics & Big Picture Science are also good.  Even though I enjoy Dan Carlin a lot, I could see how he could be taxing to some people.  He tells historic stories which is different than getting a lecture from a historian.  Thanks for the list!