New podcasts in August 2009 - Anne is a Man

Traditionally August is a quiet month on this blog. I am usually away for a week or two on vacation. This year I figured that even during vacation, I can give updates on the blog and I have taken the liberty to write ultra-short entries that simply point to one podcast or another, without further ado. And that was taken quite well. I think this is a good formula for more vacation spans and for the occasional PC-low weekend.

In addition, this month saw a couple of noteworthy endorsements of the blog, just when the readership seems to drop, so that made me very happy. On Twitter: philosophybites, liqweed, lawneuro, profron, livmaritd and varnam_blog. In blogs: Wide Awake Minds (interview with Charles Lipson) and The Podcast Place.

Then, there were four podcasts, I reviewed for the first time.

Science Talk (Scientific American) (review, site, feed)
A very charming and accessible science podcast from the Scientific American. Steve Mirsky takes up a subject for 15-20 minutes.

Dichter und Denker (University of Freiburg) (review, site, feed)
Lecture series around poets and thinkers at the university of Freiburg. (German)

Het Marathon Interview (VPRO) (review, site, feed)
Not exactly a new podcast, but rather an old one with a renewed feed. The cream of Dutch interviews since 1986. (Dutch)

Structure of English Words (Stanford) (review, site)
Lecture series on Open Stanford on language, by William R. Leben. These lectures can be had through iTunesU, but are not syndicated (no feed).

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

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A Great Escape - The Memory Palace

The Memory Palace (feed) is a fantastic, short history podcast one absolutely must listen to. No matter how deep or how faint your interest in history is, or wherever your favorite subject lies, The Memory Palace is a five minute delight you should be able to squeeze in your playlist twice a month.

If you wonder where to start, try the last episode 'Dig Set Spike'. Host Nate DiMeo tells the tale of a German prisoner of war in Arizona, during World War Two. The man thinks of escape and rejoining the war. His comrades in the camp feel the same and they invent and carry out an ingenuously devised escape plan.

The ever present sense of irony in DiMeo's tone of voice and in the soft and subtle music that accompany the narration, one detects immediately that this plan simply must go wrong. It seems infallible though and then, the thought crossed my mind, the irony might be just that it succeeds and that these dedicated and sympathetic men will rejoin a bad cause. Or else. But I shouldn't give away the surprise.

More The Memory Palace:
The Memory Palace,
Ferris Wheel and other historic experiences,
The hollow earth,
The Memory Palace - history narration.

Husserl and Heidegger - Dichter und Denker in Freiburg

Husserl and Heidegger are two important names in philosophy I have run into time and again, but never been able to get a sufficient grip on, in order to at least have a general idea what they are about. My colleague blogger Baxter Wood, has recently written a post (Heidegger, all too Heidegger) that points to several audio and video sources on-line that may be of help. Berkeley's Philosophy 185 by the incomparable Hubert Dreyfus, John Drabinski's lectures on audio and a BBC program with Hubert Dreyfuss on YouTube.

While I was trying these out and getting confused as happens so frequently in philosophy, I went on to search some more and found a very charming and insightful lecture. I recommend it to all you seekers, but must warn in advance: it is in German. Günter Figal speaks at the University of Freiburg in a podcast lecture series 'Dichter und Denker in Freiburg' (feed). His is the lecture 'Husserl und Heidegger' (video-stream) among others around the theme of poets and thinkers in Freiburg.

Dr. Figal relates the history in which Husserl comes first and Heidegger becomes his student. Husserl founds the philosophical stream of Phenomenology and Heidegger takes it on to a level where Husserl no longer agrees and the two fall out. Figal attempts to take away the idea, Heidegger overtook his master and made him obsolete. In Figal's view, both thinkers have different contributions to Phenomenology and he points to a strong French line of thinkers (such as Sartre and Levinas) who have taken the two further and who can only be understood if one will not leave Husserl out.

Of nightmares and sleepwalking - Ran Levi

As always, one of the most charming podcast in the history of science genre is the Israeli עושים היסטוריה! עם רן לוי (Making History with Ran Levi). With an amazing variety, high production frequency, high content level and the ever present, Israeli tongue in cheek sense of humor, this podcast is a must have for all who mast the Hebrew language.

The latest episode was about sleep in its widest sense. Why do people and most animals need sleep, what happens during sleep and how do we find out about it. The issue spends many entertaining and informative minutes about the aberrations of sleep like nightmares and sleepwalking. One will learn the etymology of 'nightmare', the truth of the urban myth that one should never wake a sleepwalking person and how all these excesses can easily be explained once one fully comprehends the phenomenon of sleep.

For the international audience it is going to be a long wait for the English version of this outstanding podcast. As with so many other foreign podcasts: there are plans to make an English version, but the execution is eternally delayed.

More Making History with Ran Levi:
Mass Extinctions,
Making History with Ran Levi - עושים היסטוריה! עם רן לוי,
From Pavlov to Milgram,
A history of pandemics,
Surviving the atom bomb.

Het Marathon Interview - vernieuwde VPRO podcast

Een van de meest belangwekkende podcasts in het Nederlandse taalgebied is VPRO's Het Marathon Interview. Het levert de nieuwe en de oude, monumentale, radio-uitzendingen. Interviews die in de begintijd nog 5 uur duurden, maar geleidelijk aan zijn ingekrompen tot 3 uur. Nog altijd een lekker ruime spanne om echt tot een gesprek te komen. Reeds vele malen heb ik de afleveringen besproken. (zie onder)

De feed van Het Marathon Interview was niet erg toegankelijk. Het aantal bestanden was groot en ze waren niet overzichtelijk geordend. De VPRO heeft ingezien dat dit verbeterd moest worden en heeft een nieuwe feed gemaakt. Daarnaast is de oude feed nog wel te bevragen, maar met genoemde nadelen. De reden dat ik hem hier nog even geef, is dat er, vooralsnog, interviews uit te halen zijn die in de nieuwe nog niet staan.

In de nieuwe feed zal, zo laat de VPRO weten, elke week een nieuw interview geplaatst worden. Op dit moment, staan er twee oude uit 1986 in (Karel van het Reve en Kees Fens). Dit doet vermoeden, dat de interviews op chronologische wijze geleverd zullen worden en als dat inderdaad het geval is, wees dan voorbereid op het fenomenale interview dat Ronald vanden Boogaard in 1986 met Jan Wolkers had.

Ik hoop echter dat we op een meer afwisselende wijze bediend zullen worden. Sinds ik Ian Buruma op UChannel Podcast hoorde, heb ik meteen zijn Marathon uit 2004 opgezocht. Deze staat niet in de oude feed, noch in de nieuwe en heb ik daarom via een moeizame download opgehaald. Vervolgens wilde ik ook luisteren naar een aanvulling van 15 Augustus jongstleden, maar die werd alleen in een stroperige stream aangeleverd, die, bij mij in ieder geval, hopeloos vastliep. Ian Buruma uit 2004 is zeer de moeite waard, kan ik daarom alvast verklappen, maar over 2009 kan ik, vanwege de onmogelijke stream, niets zeggen.

Meer Marathon Interviews:
Karel van het Reve,
Jan Montyn,
Arthur Japin, Johannes van Dam,
Mr. G.B.J. Hiltermann,
James Kennedy.

Endorsing Anne is a Man as a resource for podcasts

Recently this blog has received two outstanding endorsements. First, on Twitter, Nigel Warburton the professor of philosophy at the Open University in Britain and maker of the excellent podcast Philosophy Bites, called this blog "Best general reviewer of podcasts around." His tweet was immediately retweeted by Professor Ron McClamrock (departemernt of Philosophy, University at Albany) , altering it to "Best general reviewer of (intellectual) podcasts".

Today, I found Professor Charles Lipson (University of Chicago), who has endorsed this blog before, in an interview he gave at the blog Wide Awake Minds. There is he explains his ideas and activities into self-education. On the subject of resources he says: "When I’m looking for podcasts, for instance, I always read the analysis at Anne is a Man, which specializes in reviewing educational podcasts."

I am delighted by these endorsements and feel they are coming at the right time. This blog deserves to be more known throughout. Therefore, I ask each reader of this blog to do the same as the professors: endorse the blog at any platform you are active as a spokesperson.