Culture

A Trip to Mars and 4 More Must-Hear Podcasts

These are the five podcasts you need to listen to this week.
This image may contain Astronaut
Definitely Human

Oh, did you think your commute would be a subway naptime this week? No way. We've got inspirational séances, office comedy set on Mars, and the original graph paper cartography of Middle-earth to keep your ears awake and alert. Plus, candid stories of how Americans spend their days as recorded by Studs Terkel, and insider gossip for any Gimlet podcast fan.

  • In the 1970s, Studs Terkel traveled around America interviewing people about their jobs. For their latest installment *Radio Diaries* tracked down the original tapes for Terkel’s resulting book, *Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do*. Listen for the legendary interviewing style of Studs Terkel, the candid answers of telephone switchboard operators and car assemblymen, and the reactions of the people Terkel interviewed, 40 years later.
  • How much credit do contemporary fantasy cartographers owe J.R.R. Tolkien? *Imaginary Worlds* delves into the the history of fantasy maps, from *Gulliver’s Travels* to Tolkien’s maps of Middle-earth on graph paper to tips from the fans who help authors create maps for their imagined universes today.
  • If you’re a fan of *Reply All* or *Sampler* or *Science Vs* or *Heavyweight* or *Surprisingly Awesome* or *Mystery Show* (RIP), then the new season of Gimlet’s very first show is an irresistible look at how the sausage is made. Gimlet Media isn’t a scrappy upstart anymore—and now that it’s become an institution of the podcasting space, the co-founders have a new set of questions: How do you deal with growth? How can they judge which shows are successful? It’s the candid panic we’ve come to expect from *Startup*, but from a corner office.
  • In the first episode of *Raw Material*, SFMoMA explores how artists get inspiration from the unknown—séances, interdimensional beings, and agreements made before a musician’s birth. Tune in for a lens into the strange pathways of how performance artists, philosophers, and composers engage with their own creativity.
  • Image may contain Astronaut
    Definitely Human

    MarsCorp, “Welcome”

    In 2072, Station Supervisor E.L. Hob emerged from suspension to terraform Mars. But she finds the mission in disarray. Part space adventure, part *The Office*, follow Hob as she tries to get her coworkers together—and save the expedition to Mars. The series ended last week, but start at the beginning to spend a full season at Hob’s side. [Listen here.](https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/part-1-welcome-introduction/id1130424845?i=1000373152512)

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Charley Locke writes about growing up and growing old for publications including The Atlantic, The New York Times Magazine, and WIRED. ... Read More
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