Our subscriber base has grown so much since we first started eight years ago, that most of you have missed all our earliest recommendations. The best of these are still valid and useful, so we’re trying out something new — Retro Recomendo. Once every 6 weeks, we’ll send out a throwback issue of evergreen recommendations focused on one theme from the past 8 years.

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Learning from death

Frank Ostaseski has accompanied over 1,000 people as they died in a hospice, and in this 60-minute podcast (recorded at a Long Now seminar), he distills what lessons the dying — and death — have taught him. Their wisdom is deep, complex, potent, intimate, and unexpected (not cliche). It will shift your relationship to life. Listening (or watching the video) will be one of the best hours in your life. — KK

Exit Scam podcast

I have only listened to the first episode of Exit Scam, an eight-episode podcast about the mysterious circumstances surrounding the death of the founder of Canada’s biggest Bitcoin exchange. When Gerald Cotten died, the password to $215 million of cryptpcurrency was lost, and some people think he faked his own death. This is my favorite podcast since Serial. — MF

The Video Archives Podcast

In 1983, Quentin Tarantino and Roger Avery worked at the Video Archives movie rental store in Manhattan Beach, California. Nearly 40 years later, Tarantino and Avery have teamed up to host The Video Archives Podcast, where they talk about their favorite cult movies of the era. It’s a blast listening to these hardcore film fans reminisce about the films they loved growing up, and they have some great stories to share. — MF

The Gateway by Gizmodo

I was on edge weekly, waiting for the next episode of Gizmodo’s 6-part podcast, The Gateway. Journalist Jennings Brown investigates the dangerous effects of YouTube guru Teal Swan on her loyal Facebook followers. Teal Swan is not a licensed therapist and admits to using SEO and tags to target depressed and suicidal people, as well as creating her own therapy practices to treat them. She is hypnotic, alluring, and adamant that she is not the leader of a cult, even though her followers call themselves the Teal Tribe. There’s much more to this story that I can’t give away, and it made me wish this podcast would never end. — CD

Vital podcast

Supreme Court decisions can be monumental in their consequences, but they often hinge on very specific, sometimes messy cases. More Perfect is a super podcast from the folks at Radio Lab that burrows deep into the specifics of Supreme Court cases, in order to illuminate their logic and meaning. All the episodes are fantastic, but a recent one on the Commerce Clause in the US Constitution — One Nation, Under Money — is especially great. I was shocked how little I knew about this clause, and consider this audio lesson to be essential listening for any American. No matter what your political tilt you’ll be perturbed and educated. Afterwards, listen to the rest of the shows. — KK

Long conversations

A “long conversation” is a new format for a conference. Two speakers begin a conversation on stage. After 15 minutes one of the two speakers is replaced by a new speaker and the conversation continues, and every 15 minutes for the next 8 hours a speaker is swapped out. (Each speaker converses for 30 minutes.) The day is engaging, unpredictable, passionate, diverse, informative, and entertaining. It’s a format invented by Long Now Foundation that is worth stealing. For an example, here are highlights from a long conversation held at the Smithsonian. — KK

07/28/24