“Stuff You Should Know” – Josh Clark and Chuck Bryant

$0.00 (!) on iTunes

Buy it if: You’ve ever been a subscriber to Smithsonian Magazine. Or keep your car radio tuned to NPR constantly.

Don’t Buy It If: You think iPods are for music only and NPR is nothing but a commie plot.

Books can be wonderful diversions from the real world, or delicious slices of information about it. But the one thing they can never be is…safe to read to while driving! So, in a small break from tradition, Will’s Super Nerdy Reviews is officially recommending a podcast! For all of its pop-up ad, Viagra-selling, social-networking annoyance, every once in a while the internet lands something – quite literally – in your lap(top) that brings intellectual joy to the dot com era. And in the best of times, it’s free!

I would go so far as to say that the ‘Stuff You Should Know’ sessions are practically required listening in terms of keeping your ‘Super Nerdy’ status. (For those of you uninterested in the social sadness that can result, don’t worry, ‘Stuff You Should Know’ can also make you seem incredibly worldy at the cocktail parties to which I’m sure you inevitably get invited.) When you add in the convenience of being able to download them from iTunes gratis and store them on you iPod, iPhone, iPad, iMac and iEverythingElse, there’s quite literally no excuse for not at least giving them a try. (Start with the episode: ‘How Jack the Ripper Works,’ you’ll be instantly hooked.)

An outgrowth of the HowStuffWorks.com website, the podcast is essentially a very focused take on one of the site’s articles, a basic overview with a bit of background and quite a few fascinating tidbits to add some color commentary, all done in 20 to 40 minutes. (Being a podcast, there’s no real time restraint. And, like old time radio broadcasts, no interruptions once you’re through with the initial sponsor obligations.) Should the program sufficiently capture your interest, the website provides articles and information with far more detail on the subject. If it turns out that ‘How Crime Scene Clean-Up Works’ doesn’t hold your interest – though I can’t honestly imagine that’s possible – you can delete it guilt-free having spent not a cent on its purchase.

Of course, as any high school history student will tell you, content does not an interesting lesson make. It’s all in the delivery. This is where ‘Stuff You Should Know’ stands head and shoulders above the rest. Let’s face it, the world is littered with boring and pretentious people spewing stream-of-conscious drivel into their laptops, uploading it to the digital world and calling themselves broadcasters. Josh and Chuck, erstwhile hosts of ‘Stuff You Should Know,’ are NOT these people. Instead, they’re Riggs and Murtaugh meet Gifford and Cosell by way of Ernst & Young, self-deprecating wisecrackers that are as entertained and amused by the subject at hand as the audience. And always with fascinating statistics.

This is what makes ‘Stuff You Should Know’ so uniquely appealing. The tag team approach to their research means the hosts are as apt to be surprised by the subject matter as their listeners. So, whatever geeky question enters your head is probably in theirs, too. That nerdy chuckle you’re stifling is being shared by one or both of the hosts. They’re just like you - well, if you’re at all like me – and the half hour you spend together will make you feel amongst kindred spirits.

So, embrace that part of you still loves of old James Bond movies, rekindle the childish spirit that stares wide-eyed in the Air&Space Museum and download a few of the episodes. ‘Stuff You Should Know’ is at least stuff you should try.