I am a podcast addict and my current favourite is , with David Runciman. It is about the history of ideas, and Runciman鈥檚 mellifluous tones guide us through an eclectic mix. There is plenty of science, including a recent episode on why taxonomy might have been a bad idea. I was sceptical, but ended up partly persuaded.
My favourite episode looked at Gulliver鈥檚 Travels, a book I thought I knew. But I didn鈥檛 realise that, as well as visiting Lilliput, Gulliver goes to Balnibarbi, a land where its inventors work on wild projects, like how to extract sunbeams from cucumbers. Runciman wonderfully unpacks the layers of meaning in this clever satire of the Royal Society.
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I also love , a TV series that richly imagines the lives of the disciples of Jesus Christ. As a science journalist and a Christian, I do think about the intersection of faith and evidence, and find it fascinating to see politics, power and (dis)belief collide as Jesus works his miracles.
