“I may not have been sure about what really did interest me, but I was absolutely sure about what didn’t.”

– Albert Camus, The Stranger

etflix’s ability to produce so many shows, movies, and documentaries makes the process like going through cognitive dissonance of sorts. Should you watch Shonda Rhimes’s first production for Netflix called Bridgerton, or Christopher Nolan’s Tenet (that was always meant for the big screen and not our phones) or Andy Warhol Diaries or Black Holes: The Edge of All We Know and wait for it… Hitler’s Circle of Evil. Watch one series or film and the algorithm will automatically recommend several such productions, including ones that might give you nightmares.

Something similar is happening to Podcasts as well, because everyone from celebrities to journalists to enthusiasts of a certain subject seems to either have one or is planning to bring one to light in the future.

If you listened to one podcast, other recommendations from algorithms will put you in a daze. But as we go on the expedition for best audible content out there, the process should make your lives somewhat easier.

Freakonomics Radio

Started by Stephen J. Dubner, co-author of the Freakonomics and its follow-up Super Freakonimics, his weekly podcast debunks and explains why some things change but not for the reason we assume. “From the economics of sleep to how to become great at just everything, the podcast includes conversations with Nobel laureates, intellectuals and various underachievers” to paint a narrative that helps in truly understanding what and why is it happening around the globe. Dubner breaks our original ideology behind why some things happen like why non-violent African Americans offenders spend decades in jail but not Caucasian. It makes you realize that nothing is as it seems and provides you with a kind of clarity and knowledge on a divisive subject you may not have thought you needed.

Radio Headspace

Headspace helps you track several mental challenges is now available as a podcast as well. This weekly podcast is an extension of the original app. Its purpose remains the same, which is to help people mentally via meditations and tracking moods, anxiety levels and similar things. The podcast, available on major streaming platforms, in this format aims to “step out of the inner clatter and external noise. We’ll pause and reflect to consider what brings us together in this shared human condition and how we can live a life that best reflects our limitless potential.”

1001 Sherlock Holmes Stories

Sherlock Holmes, a character created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, lives to this day. From Benedict Cumberbatch, Johnny Miller to Robert Downey Jr, its appeal is such that even Hollywood keeps on adapting it. Not as delightful as the books, the films and TV series, in the end, introduced the character to generations.

Nonetheless, those mystery stories and how Holmes with his cohort John Watson also solved the strangest of crimes. The fictional crimes, complex and eerie, are available on the 1001 Sherlock Holmes Stories.

If you’re a fan of mystery novels or TV/Films content, this podcast will entertain and command your attention. Narrated by well-known storyteller Jon Hagadorn, it is a retelling of Sherlock Holmes adventures as he is on the trail of one miscreant or another. The podcast contains the best collections from the catalogue of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s epic stories with Sherlock Holmes stories at the heart of the podcast. Duration can run from 25 minutes to 60 minutes or so but it is a great distraction from the political game of chairs happening in the country and the severe load shedding being experienced. Just download it on your device and listen without procrastinating and it will capture your imagination as sincerely as the premise of the books.