Questions to my readers

Dear Readers,

This blog is full of podcast reviews and hopes to direct you to the podcasts you like. What is implicitly assumed, is that you all know where to find the podcast (once I have directed you to its source on the web), how to dowload it and how to listen to it. However this may not necessarily be the case. I am therefore considering an article series (possibly in three languages) that will deliver these basic instructions as well as some more advanced stuff like managing your podcasts without the use of iTunes.

So, what I would like from you is that you let me know whether you think this is a good idea and what specific question you have, you'd like to see answered. Please comment on the blog or send me mail at Anne Frid de Vries (in one word) AT yahoo DOT co DOT uk.

In the mean time, what else can you expect in the coming days?
- History 5 about the Enlightenment and the French Revolution
- Tudorcast
- Irvin Yalom on two podcasts: Wise Counsel and KQED Forum. He speaks about his new book Staring at the Sun, which deals with the issue of confronting death
- King Lear on two podcasts. Recently In Our Time dealt with King Lear and by the end of the month it is expected that English 117S, the Berkeley lecture series about Shakespeare will take on Lear.
- A host of new History Podcasts

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Jaap van der Zwan - Simek

Persoonlijk vond ik het interview met Jaap van der Zwan, maar matig. Martin Simek deed er alles aan, maar Van der Zwan kwam helemaal niet los. Het streven van het programma om tot de emotie door te dringen stuitte op een gast die alleen in algemeenheden wilde praten en daar in slaagde zelfs als het over emotionerende zaken ging. Niettemin kan je wel zien dat het motto van Simek 's Nachts overeind blijft: je blijft je verwonderen.

Hoe is het mogelijk dat zo iemand zonder enige spoor bewogen te zijn, kan vertellen over het afscheid van zijn vader? De verzetsman was ter dood veroordeeld en vrouw en kinderen mochten afscheid van hem nemen. Ze werden geleid naar de kooi waar hij opgesloten was. Tegelijkertijd, als er al iets van emotie te merken is, dan is het over iets als het verdwijnen van Scheveningen als vissersdorp. Hij heeft er een boek over geschreven en laat weten dat hij bij het schrijven steeds kwader werd. De politiek heeft de authentieke bevolking van haar omgeving beroofd ten gerieve van de mondaine toeristencultuur aan het strand.

Wat is er nou precies verdwenen, wil Simek weten. En Van der Zwan begint te vertellen van een achterlijkheid waar je geen nostalgie bij voelen kan als luisteraar. De vissers slachtten in 1929 het jongste maatje aan boord, als zoenoffer om een goede vangst af te bidden. De bevolking woonde in krotten in de meest abjecte omstandigheden. Daar kan je toch niet naar terugverlangen? Het wordt niet duidelijk wat Van der Zwan dan wel gewild had. Daarover kan je je verwonderen en blijf je je verwonderen, want de uitzending geeft geen uitsluitsel.

Meer Simek op dit blog:
Lucie Stepanova,
Olaf Tempelman,
Paul Gelderloos,
Bas Heijne,
Herman Finkers.

An evolved controversy - Missing Link

The Missing Link Podcast opened a series which intends to investigate the history of the Evolution vs. Creation controversy. Host Elizabeth Green Musselman incorporates in the podcast the audio essays made by her students.

The series starts with an essay by John Burchfield and Shalane Giles, which intends to show the historic development of the scientific method. As Green Musselman points out in her introduction: the essay's pith is towards the scientific method in the way of Karl Popper. Hence the essay describes the development of naturalism, to empiricism, to theory testing. The culmination is a biography of Sir Karl himself.

There are a number of unanswered questions that pang me with this first installment. Why does Musselman suggest she herself doesn't agree with Popper's views, but does nothing to indicate what her criticism might be? The effect is that the essay is labeled with an alleged naivety before it even starts. Another is: why is the show titled 'the ghost in the machine'? Also: are all the installments going to be student essays? Then how will the subject be condensed and ordered?

Apart from these concerns, I am very excited about this subject. The Missing Link podcast keeps me glued to my iPod.

More about The Missing Link on this blog:
Time's Arrow,
On Time and on Counting - The Missing Link,
Strength in Numbers,
Constant Companions,
From Berlin.

Anne is a Man, the coming days

Within 24 hours:
- The Missing Link (kicking off a new series)
- Simek 's Nachts (Jaap van der Zwan)

Within 48 hours:
- Tudorcast
- History 5

In the coming days
- Irvin Yalom (on KQED and Wise Counsel)
- Shrink Rap Radio (Mindmentor and others)
- UChannel Podcast
- Ancient & Medieval History
- Podcasts on Medieval Texts

In New podcasts on trial we have March as a history podcast month with a wide range of candidates:
American History before 1870
Hank's History Hour
Redborne History Podcast
Teaching American History Podcast
History 2311

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You can let your preferences (I'd love get new podcast recommendations) know by commenting on the blog or sending mail to The Man Called Anne at: Anne Frid de Vries (in one word) AT yahoo DOT co DOT uk

Ada Lovelace - IOT

In Our Time's issue about Ada Lovelace gave me the impression at the beginning Ada Lovelace was in a way the first computer scientist. By the end of the program it has become clear that even though much can be ascribed to Lovelace, what exactly is hers and what, for example, was the contribution of Babbage remains something of a mystery. What is essential though, and that makes this podcast yet another fine production, is that Lovelace, Babbage and some of their colleagues conceived of computing.

When listening again to the introduction, this is revealed to have been the intent of this episode. Even though we speak here of 19th century mathematicians, computer science remains dormant well into the twentieth century. When the British employ the famous (or infamous) Alan Thuring to crack the German codes, some of Lovelace's work is rediscovered.

Apparently it is Thuring who began to ascribe to Lovelace the deepest of insights: the computing machine could be applied beyond the realm of calculations. And so we tend to credit Lovelace. To Lovelace podcasters and bloggers are indebted, so it seems. An as for historical insight, when looking at the history of science and technology, we see here how theory preceded practice. As with some of the best stuff (think of Darwin, think of Einstein).

More In Our Time:
The Social Contract,
Plate Tectonics,
The Fisher King,
The Charge of the Light Brigade,
Albert Camus.

Roman History in podcasts

A lot of people are interested in Roman History and naturally, there are a number of history podcasts that pay attention, in part or as a whole, to the Romans and the various aspects of their history.

For one there is the History of Rome podcast. This podcast is entirely dedicated to Roman History. Host Mike Duncan studied Political Science and Philosophy and is therefore an amateur historian podcast. He goes through Roman history in chronological stages, by means of weekly 20-30 minute podcasts. He has reached the rise of Scipio (and the demise of Hannibal) in 200 BC. This is the period of the Punic wars.

I have just discovered this podcast. It is a straightforward, tell the history, monologue style podcast that is especially suited for those who want to know everything about Rome. As many podcasters, Mike Duncan is not a scholar in this field, and therefore hands the history by means of the facts as he knows them and engages less in interpretation, analysis and historiography.

History according to Bob has had a series on the Punic wars (or at least the first of those) and some more installments on Roman history, but unfortunately for those who arrive at his feed only by now, they are no longer available for download. On can purchase old podcasts on CD however.

More Bob:
The Franks,
Virginia Oldoini according to Bob
Alexander the Great,
Special acclaim for Bob Packett,
History according to Bob.

From the perspective of Hannibal, there is one of the best lecture series brought out as podcast by historian and Hannibal specialist, the scholar Patrick Hunt. This podcast can be found on iTunes U in the history section of Stanford University.

More Patrick Hunt:
Hannibal in the end,
Ten discoveries that rewrote history,
Patrick Hunt on Hannibal (and more),
Hannibal Barca on the couch,
Where did Hannibal cross the Alps?.

From Berkeley we have Isabelle Pafford in History 4A The Ancient Mediterranean World. The last half of this lecture series is dedicated to Rome.

Also from Isabelle Pafford at Berkeley is History 106B The Roman Empire, which deals very rapidly with early Roman history and focuses on the Empire.

More Isabelle Pafford and History4A:
The best History courses on podcast,
Alexander the Great,
Assyrians,
History 4A and others.

For many the history ends in 476 AD, but not so for the truly discerning. In the east the empire continued until 1453, as what we call Byzantium. 12 Byzantine Rulers is dedicated to the history of Byzantium. High school teacher and podcasting legend Lars Brownworth spent over two years piling up 18 episodes of this history podcast classic.

More 12 Byzantine Rulers:
Sources,
Byzantine Conclusion,
The Byzantine Empire on Podcast,
Byzantine Podcast.