Books, documentaries and podcasts to educate an adult on anything interesting....

[Freshon]

Please help! All suggestions welcome. Feel like I’m not learning much at all these days being locked in the house!

Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez. Essential feminist reading.

I just recommended My Octopus Teacher (Netflix) on another thread. A nice short doco that reminds us of the wonder of nature and the peace that can be found in it.

I really enjoyed a recent book, The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper. It's a fascinating glimpse into the lives of Victorian women. And another essential feminist read, actually.

No Such Thing as a Fish for quick and funny facts - it’s written by those behind QI so if you like that you’ll like this.

Skeptics Guide to the Universe for in depth but not too highbrow looks at science news (and other news).

Criminal which are short episodes based on smaller and more overlooked crimes - for example, I just listened to one about how when a police car hit and killed a woman, the person they were chasing was jailed for her murder. This and the SGU are American.

The Dollop for very funny takes on American history.

I don’t have the patience for non-fiction books, but podcasts I love.

This is a fabulous thread idea!! Any other suggestions? I feel like my brain is wasting away

I like the History Extra podcast, or Witness History for 10 minute interviews with witnesses to more recent historical events. Loads of episodes to scroll through until I find something that looks interesting.

I've downloaded loads and loads of BBC Radio 4 podcasts on many different topics (from botany to economics to medical science to comedy to naval history to philosophy etc etc) and often just put them on shuffle play - never short of something stimulating, refreshing or interesting to listen to. I must have a few hundred of them; rarely get the same one twice.

Also I've recently discovered the Gresham lectures - superb presentations, hundreds of them, on a huge range of topics by some of the top experts in the UK all on youtube (or you can download the mp3s) - www.gresham.ac.uk/watch/?

HTH

BBC Sounds App if you’ve not discovered it is amazing.

Oh definitely, definitely check out Stuff You Should Know podcast. It's funny and cosy and so informative - I'm always quoting facts I learned through it.

My current favourites are You're Dead To Me (history) Desert Island Discs (I always learn something from it and there's music!) and law in action - all these are on BBC Sounds.

I'm also listening to Power, Lust and Glory about the history of gold, free on Audible. That was from a recommendation on here actually and I'm really enjoying it

80 Days podcast is great, each episode focuses on a little known country/territory and explains it's history, culture, and general information.

Podcasts: History of England (makes up for my woeful school history, which went: Romans, Tudors, Nazis Nazis Nazis); Melvyn Bragg's In Our Time (massive range of topics, BBC); Your'e Dead to Me and Evil Genius (also from the BBC) for something a bit lighter but still informative; This American Life

I'm reading 'Money: The True Story of a Made Up Thing' by Jacob Goldstein at the mo - a fascianting and farily easy to read book about something I know little about!

@BearSoFair - the 80 Days podcast sounds great, just subscribed!

I watched a documentary the other day Leftover Women. It's about marriage in China , if you're not married by your early twenties, you're leftover. Very sad and the main woman had some quite brutal things said to her.