My Favorite Podcasts of 2023 (Premium)

I listen to several podcasts regularly, some of which I never miss and episode and others that I selectively listen to based on the topic.

Not much has changed in my podcast listening since last year. I still use and recommend Pocket Casts because of its clean interface and Sonos compatibility. But looking back at the previous years, things have changed quite dramatically: I only listen to one of the podcasts I subscribed to in 2017, for example. The following years are available for comparison: 2022, 2021, 2019 Part 1, 2019 Part 2, and 2017.

Here are my favorites from 2023.
Bingeable favorites
These are all so important to me that I've listened to every episode of each.

If Books Could Kill with Michael Hobbes and Peter Shamshiri
Genre: Non-fiction

This weekly debunking of trendy but vapid and poorly researched "airport books" (and other objectively bad ideas) is now my favorite podcast by far, and I will be subscribing to one of their Patreon tiers soon so I can hear more of it. The hosts are incredible and smart, and make for quite a pair.

Maintenance Phase with Aubrey Gordon and Michael Hobbes
Genre: Health and nutrition

This health and wellness podcast has gotten steadily less enjoyable this year because of Gordon's increasingly histrionic and one-sided opinions about fatness and whether it's somehow possible to be very fat and healthy at the same time. (Spoiler alert: It's not.) But I really like Hobbes---he co-hosts my favorite podcast, above, as well---and the rationality he brings to the discussion. And I do care about the topic a lot.

Made by Google by Google
Genre: Personal technology

This Google podcast is a bit short and formulaic, but I listen because I care about the topic and am interested in hearing from the Google engineers who work on the products and services I use every day.
Other favorites
I listen to select episodes of these podcasts, depending on the topic.

.NET Rocks with Carl Franklin and Richard Campbell
Genre: Software development

This show is hosted by two of my favorite people, and I listened to episodes with Jeff Fritz, Gary Ewan Park, Javier Nelson and Steve Sanderson, Grant Barrett, Mads Torgersen, a MAUI panel discussion, and others this past year.

American History Tellers with Lindsay Graham
Genre: History

Lindsay Graham is probably my favorite podcast host overall, and this story-based history podcast is terrific. I listened to episodes and series about the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, the Salem witch trials, the World War II home front, Aaron's Burr's insurrection, and more this past year.

American Scandal with Lindsay Graham
Genre: History

This other story-based history podcast hosted by Lindsay Graham is perhaps my favorite of the two. I just started the series of ex-Patriot player Aaron Hernandez, but I also listened to series about Jonestown, Spiro Agnew, the Iranian coup, the Oklahoma City bombing, and more this year.

Hanselminutes with Scott ...