It often seems the front runner is not deserved. People continually wondering why is this top rated? Or who’s listening to this regularly? However, the opposite seems to hold true with one particular front runner, Malcolm Gladwell’s podcast Revisionist History. Continually ranked in the top 5 on essentially all podcast streams and ratings it warrants a further look. If you scan the high ranking podcasts there seems to be a trend with most casts geared towards the usual suspects money, entrepreneur goals, fitness, diet, or just Joe Rogan’s opinion, and well you get the idea… But standing strong among these titan categories of podcast is a podcast about history? Yes, puzzling would be the most common reaction. That puzzling query is perhaps what brings listeners in at first, but there is SO much more to why listeners return. First, lets just say how the topics of each podcast are conjured up and put into play is clearly the result of relentless research and dedication. The content of the topics are rare, generally forgotten (which is the major theme), and of massive importance. How does Gladwell find these points of interest? Genius would be the one word in the realm of explanation. Exploring topics from a variety of milestone events ranging from immigration, the changing of the McDonalds French fry, racism, civil rights movements, understanding music genres, and the panic of a Toyota recall. If you look at that previous sentence you may understand some of the topics and be unsure of how the others fit in. That’s good and perhaps even what Gladwell wants in order to bring you into the episode. However, know that there is so much more depth than is displayed on the surface. Each episode begins with explaining what we already know, or think we know. From there the narration will lull you into a trance of understanding about the subject being presented. If your steadfast enough to have made it to that point consider yourself a lucky one. It is at this point which the proverbial carpet will be ripped out from under you and there remains no chance that you will not finish the episode (that’s a promise). What you thought you knew about said subject will be turned around, flipped, and examined under the lens of objectivity and facts. Thus leaving you with a feeling of “Did that just happen?” Or “How did history get it so wrong.” It’ll find you searching for more information about points of personal interest and questioning those which you knew. Which brings it all back to the title of this… “A front runner deserved?” Listen and find out for yourself.
P.S. The answer is yes!
