Fun
Hidden Brain
Dear Ann,
Our mutual New York knitting pal Elisabeth turned me on to the Hidden Brain podcast, hosted by Shankar Vedantam. It’s about the unconscious psychological and biological patterns that drive our behavior, even behavior we perceive as based on rational choice.
I always learn something surprising, and it’s often about something I’ve never given a moment’s consideration. People have deeply ingrained psychological differences, as it turns out. Who knew?
The list of episodes is here. The episodes range from just under a half hour to nearly an hour in length. The one I listened to most recently was “Nature, Nurture and Your Politics,” which first aired on October 8, 2018. (My politics are entirely rational, by the way.) Here’s another good one: “Eyes Wide Open”, about skipping sleep. (The video up top is about a famous sleep-skipping stunt in the 1960s.)
I hope everyone is enjoying a particularly luxuriant Saturday, maybe with some Thanksgiving leftovers on the menu.
Love,
Kay
I’m a fan of practically anything NPR, and listen to Hidden Brain every Thursday. Thanks for making other aware of this fantastic series.
Huge fan of Hidden Brain! One of my favorite episodes is Loss and Renewal (Dec 29, 2015). Listen to the end to hear Aimee Mann read “One Art” by Elizabeth Bishop – it is stunning and haunting over the piano music.
Do you happen to know the name of the piano music?
He does a segment on our local station called The Curiosity Desk where they answer listener questions about local topics. Always interesting.
I love how much you guys make me laugh.
I am a big Hidden Brain fan. I have to go back and listen to some of the older ones.
Love Hidden Brain. Great radio show!
I love HB! Big ideas there, and such a generous program. The unsung hero at the end of the episode, what a charming way to say thanks!
Thank you for the podcast recommend. Grandkids just left so I can finally put my feet up and knit and enjoy listening to a new podcast.
Kay, wondering if you’ve been following Bag Man- Rachel Maddow’s podcast about the fall of Spiro Agnew? It’s quite a story, made all the more so by the nothing short of heroic behavior of the US Attorney’s office in Maryland- especially that of George Beall. I believe we still have a great deal of integrity left in the Justice Department today and for that reason I remain hopeful- and thankful.
Thought you might find it interesting.
Hidden Brain is one of my very favorite podcasts. Couldn’t agree more with this recommendation — some episodes are more intense than others, but always fun due to the high quality reporting and Shankar’s tone.
Dear Kay,
It amazes me how you find all these wonderful things to watch, listen and read, be it playful, thoughtful or useful.
Just hooked up to the podcast and, wow!
I am so thankful to you for all these suggestions that make my knitting fly past and, often, make me a richer person.