Maximal, minimal, optimal

Most of the recommendations in this newsletter have been at or around the thirty-minutes-long mark. Many of you have commented that this is "just right" and probably "the best length of podcast to be recommending". So naturally I'm mixing it up for this issue. There's a long rambling chat about supply chains (my personal favourite podcast format!), and a short snappy tidbit that's been really well produced. Plus a show at the "optimal" length. But you tell me: reply to this email and let me know what your favourite length is for a podcast.

Three great episodes to listen to this week:

In pursuit of tea, Sourceress (52mins, 2019-09-04)

Sourceress is a podcast about supply chains, and this episode is an interview with a New York based tea importer. It's a long chat conducted during a tea ceremony, but stick with it because there's some fascinating stuff in here. Learn all about how the picking process determines the type of tea, and also why you can’t sell Americans tea that tastes “shrimpy”. Find it here.

Dinosaur, Science Diction (12mins, 2020-03-10)

Richard Owen won acclaim as the world's first palaeontologist and inventor of the word "dinosaur". Trouble is, Owen himself was the one doing the acclaiming. With a talent for naturalism, and an even bigger talent for self promotion, Owen was a controversial figure who picked a fight with one of the world's most revered scientists. Find it here.

He's having second thoughts, Dead Eyes (33mins, 2020-01-23)

What do you do when you've been fired by the most likeable man in the world? Actor and comedian Connor Ratliff's career was almost over before it had begun, and twenty years later he's digging into what happened when Tom Hanks decided he had "dead eyes". This is an odd story, hilariously told. Find it here.

Not a podcast, but...

There aren't many of my fellow nerds that are as interested in late-nineties BMWs as I am, but most nerds I know are interested in cameras and the craft of filmmaking. This film is a quick look at the concept of the "chase car": a fast but practical car that has a monstrous camera rig strapped to it and is used to get all the fantastic shots of supercars travelling at speed. Even if you're not as excited by an E39 M5 as I am, you've got to admit the footage is stunning. Find it here.

As always, feel free to forward this email to someone you think might like it. And if you've been forwarded this email (by someone awesome, no doubt), you can sign up for yourself at podcastsfornerds.com to be sent all future issues.

Thanks again, Tom.