Blog Posts About: recommended

This Week in Love is a series of blog posts where Sachi and I share what we love. Browse the archives and follow @weekinlove on Twitter. 

This Week in Love:  The Radiolab Podcast

Over the last couple of years, podcasts have become a big part of our lives.  We work from home and end up sharing our listening habits, for better or for worse.  We've discovered a number of podcasts that we love.  We play them while working (especially doing creative work), cooking dinner, working out, etc. They've become among our most frequently used types of media and we listen through iTunes and Stitcher Smart Radio. We explain podcasting here.

While there are podcasts on nearly every subject imaginable, we prefer informative ones.  We want to be enlightened, to learn something new.  That's why we fell in love with a podcast called Radiolab by Jab Abumrad and Robert Krulwich. It is, by far, our favorite.  At heart it's about science, but more than that, it's about exploration and discovery.  Produced in hour-long shows and twenty minute "shorts", the hosts pick a single topic and dive into the details, usually from several different perspectives, in a way you'd never expect. 

Photo: Radiolab/WNYC

But Radiolab is not just great content - it's great production.  Jad Abumrad (who recently won the MacArthur Genius Grant) runs the sound design and integrates music and sounds in a way we've never heard before. For example, a guest describing an experience is not a flat audio feed. Their commentary usually includes background sounds, the hosts' voices, and layers of sound, all artfully composed into a unique experience. Further, while their discussion is mostly scripted, it comes off with authenticity and friendly humor. 

Here are a few of our favorite episodes:

Parasites

What's gotten into you? In this hour, Radiolab uncovers a world full of parasites. Could parasites be the shadowy hands that pull the strings of life? We explore nature's moochers, with tales of lethargic farmers, zombie cockroaches, and even mind-controlled humans (kinda, maybe). And we examine claims that some parasites may actually be good for you.

Talking to Machines

What can machines tell us about being human? This hour of Radiolab, Jad and Robert meet humans and robots who are trying to connect, and blur the line.

Limits

On this hour of Radiolab: a journey to the edge of human limits. How much can you jam into a human brain? How far can you push yourself past feelings of exhaustion? We test physical endurance with a bike race that makes the Tour de France look like child’s play, and mental capacity with a mind-stretching memory competition. And we ask if robots--for better or worse--may be forging beyond the limits of human understanding.

Kent Nichols is the co-creator or Ninja Master of Ask-a-Ninja, which I'm quite sure you know about. I recently discovered his Twitter feed and blog and since, I've learned a lot from his perspectives on disrupting Hollywood, the business of new media, and the web video industry. 

His no-nonsense and opinionated style really makes it clear where he stands, and I often agree.  Plus, he's full of smart advice for content producers. Recommended. 

On a side note, the story of my connection with the Ninjas is rather strange.  The other co-creator of Ask-A-Ninja is Douglas Sarine (on Twitter too).  Douglas lived on my hall our freshman year of college at Appalachian State University - that was 1991.  We were good friends, but lost touch after we graduated.  As Ask-A-Ninja became popular, I saw Doug's name and couldn't believe it.  Since then we've reconnected and hung out a few times.  Hopefully we'll see those guys again soon.  Keep up the great bloggin' Kent!

It's been a while since I read a book that made me think and get excited about changing the way I communicate. Chip and Dan Heath's book, Made to Stick does just that. In Malcolm Gladwell fashion, they use stories and studies to describe the everyday world in new ways. Their focus and subtitle for the book is "Why some ideas survive and others die".

Every blogger, writer, marketer, etc. has lessons to learn from this book. As bloggers we're highly motivated to make our ideas sticky - to galvanize readers with our perspective. They present a framework that can be used as a checklist for sticky ideas. Ideas should be Simple Unexpected Concrete Credentialed Emotional Stories. John Moore has more on this framework.

Here are some of the things I took from the book:

The use of mystery and suspense can keep people captivated. People are attracted to ideas that highlight a gap in their knowledge. Instead of addressing the gap directly, find a way to reveal the answer through a story. Consider the evening news teasers "which local restaurant has slime in their freezer?"

There is a difference between understanding and caring. You may be great at helping people understand, but you need to make them care to really engage them. To do this, appeal to a person's identity and self-interest. Consider the question: What's In It For Me? (WIIFM).

Get to the core. Find a way to communicate the single thing you want people to know. For writers and bloggers one big point comes from successful journalism - don't bury the lead. Identify why people should care and make it the lead of the story.

Use the power of idea spotting. You don't have to create sticky ideas, you just need to be able to spot one when it comes along and share it. Use your "Core Idea Glasses" to filter the world down to what ideas match with your core message.

Of course, these things are all easier said than done. Reading the book helps. The authors also have a blog.