Sunday, October 4, 2009

Pentagrams - History According to Bob

By now the stream of history podcasts flows so wide, one can hardly keep up with everything. How different was it in the early years of podcasting, say three years ago. One of the very few notable history podcast then was History according to Bob. What is amazing is that Bob is still around and still producing at his unbelievably high rate of one podcast per working day. (feed)

A recent episode I enjoyed, was about pentagrams. Bob checked his sources and gave a twenty minute lecture about the use and meaning of the pentagram through the ages. As with many symbols, it turns out to be one used and reused, intensively and one that has a wide scale of meanings bestowed upon it. Bob with his sense of humor and knack for demystification puts much of the fads and scares in perspective.

Bob covers every conceivable era and subject in history and has therefore a daily offer than is able to please everyone. This does not mean Bob merely scratches the surface. Frequently he digs through a theme or a historic occurrence over several episodes and so there is much to be had if you stick with him.

The style is that of the straightforward, nearly unedited, monologue podcast and this is where Bob has remained in the early ages of podcast. He has no music, sound effects or even a visual to come with the podcast. Also, his consecutive podcasts do not stick to the subject, even if he is in a series. The issues will be interspaced with different subjects, so that in the end, I can hardly see how anybody would listen to everything Bob podcasts, but rather expect every listener to do what I do: keep an eye on Bob and pick out the promising chapters.

My next post will be about another founding father of the history podcast genre: Lars Brownworth.

More History According to Bob
Pick and choose with Bob,
1000 AD according to Bob,
The battle of Tours,
The Franks,
Virginia Oldoini.

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