Recap: 40 podcasts, single-elimination brackets — 1 winner will emerge!

For the thesis, read the first post here, then come back for the results.

West, Game 1: Sawbones v. the Hilarious World of Depression

First up is Sawbones: a Marital Tour of Misguided Medicine. I appreciate all the alliteration assigned to the appellation (sorry, couldn’t resist). A husband and wife podcasting duo talk about crazy things that happen (or happened) in medicine.

I decided to ease myself in with “the 80-Hour Workweek,” which discusses the hours interns and residents work. Which are crazy, if you didn’t know. But also it’s supposed to be helpful to completely immerse new doctors into the world of medicine and patient care.

The doctor and her (non-medical-professional) husband had an interesting perspective, and I’m impressed they have time to put out a podcast.

Second, I listened to the first episode of The Hilarious World of Depression, with Peter Sagal. I appreciate that people are becoming more willing to talk about depression and urge those struggling with it to get help. The podcast gives a few resources, and as Sagal mentioned, it’s to help people feel they aren’t alone.

That’s one of the difficult things about human suffering: you feel alone in it, and knowing others are going through the same thing can help, even if it can’t solve the difficulty.

The title made me think the podcast would be funnier, but I think it’s more about comedians who suffer from depression. That’s not to say it wasn’t a good podcast, just that my expectations needed adjusting.

In the end, I’m going to have to go with the medical podcast, partially because I have brothers going into the medical field, so I want to learn more.

Winner: Sawbones

West, Game 2: The History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps v. On Being

First up, The History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps, in which I listened to episode 271 on William of Ockham. Well, technically, it’s the first episode in a several-part series on Ockham. The podcast is about a half hour, so it keeps things short and manageable. This introduction gave some background about Ockham’s political career, which I didn’t know much about. Part one hasn’t even gotten to the famous razor bit that’s pretty much all people know about him, so there’s much more to learn.

Second, I listened to On Being, a show with a host and a guest discussing big questions. I listened to “The Power of Words to Save Us,” an interview with poet Marie Howe. The conversation was lovely and unhurried, about the poet’s life, inspiration, and obviously, reading some of her poetry.

Poetry is so hard to pin down — at least for me. I don’t know much about it, really. It comes at you sideways, and I’ve never learned how to analyze it well. But Howe’s poetry felt good.

I enjoyed both of these podcasts, though they were very different. But I have to pick a winner, so…

Winner: The History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps

Next time, West, round 2.2.