Others may recognise their world in 'Eat Sleep Work Repeat'. This podcast is the side project of Bruce Daisley, who works at Twitter. It consists of him talking to experts about what makes us happy at work and why.
David Hepworth
Christmas is a time for slipping into familiar patterns.
The podcast by 'The Kitchen Sisters' celebrates the staggering variety of a society of immigrants via its food, from the Sheepherders' Ball in Boise, Idaho, through the favoured cuisine of Emily Dickinson to the unbelievable rituals of the great rural barbecue.
Richard Hoggart's cultural analysis 'The Uses of Literacy' was published in 1957, but its influence still hovers over anyone setting out to write seriously about people's affection for things that aren't serious, such as the products of pop culture.
'Intrigue: Murder In The Lucky Holiday Hotel' is a podcast put together by the BBC's Carrie Gracie that investigates the story behind the death of British businessman Neil Heywood in the Chinese city of Chongqing in 2011.
'The Daily' from the 'New York Times' - which offers smart analysis of one key story - sets the pace here, and can see you through one standard train commute.
Bobby Bones is a young country DJ who does a widely syndicated morning show. He's at his best with his BobbyCast, in which he talks to Nashville up-and-comers such as Kelsea Ballerini and Lauren Alaina. Guests are encouraged to relax on Bones's couch and talk about anything they like.
Justin Hayward was a teenager when he was drafted into the Moody Blues in 1966. He brought with him one song he had written for his girlfriend. This was called 'Nights in White Satin,' which subsequently made a fortune for a lot of people.
'The Weeds' is a timely podcast from the news and opinion website Vox. It leaves the coverage of the Punch and Judy politics to others and confines itself to the details of policy.
In 'The High Low', in some respects an audio version of 'Grazia,' Pandora Sykes and Dolly Alderton wonder whether they missed something in their survey of the Harvey Weinstein story. Maybe they did, they decide.
There's a tendency to locate the cliche of the 'strong woman' exclusively in the present day, as if those many women who endured such inconveniences as the Depression and the Second World War were porcelain compared to, say, Amy Schumer.
The 'Art of Charm' podcast can be intimidating. Not just because it's the work of a lawyer called Jordan Harbinger. Not simply because Jordan has worked out how to weaponise all the many elements of the human personality that go to make up charisma in order to get people to listen to him, be impressed by him, or hire him.
Radio 3 shows such as 'Between the Ears' also make the kind of podcasts that draw the most from your noise-cancelling headphones. The programme commissions ideas that make adventurous use of sound.
The 'Sodajerker' podcast is the work of Liverpool songwriting duo Simon Barber and Brian O'Connor.
All political careers end in failure, but few did it so quickly as David Cameron's. He came to power promising not to 'bang on about Europe' and ended up having the continent's name chiselled into the lid of his political coffin.
The age of the rock star was coterminous with rock n' roll, which, in spite of all the promises made in some memorable songs, proved to be as finite as the era of ragtime or big bands. The rock era is over. We now live in a hip-hop world.
Upload Radio is a new venture offering content creators and bedroom DJs the chance to get their own programmes on the air by buying time.
If, like me, you've never watched 'Game of Thrones', the podcast 'Binge Mode: 'Game of Thrones'' ought to be unlistenable. It isn't, thanks to the energy of the two expert presenters Mallory Rubin and Jason Concepcion, who have the wit to laugh at their own deep-dive devotion and are helped out by some smart editing.
'The Anthill' is the podcast wing of The Conversation, the site that presents news and views derived from the academic and research community.
Half the battle with successful podcasts is in the naming; here, the big media owners have a lot to learn from the smaller operators.
Radio 4 Extra is the network which offers the broadcasting version of eternal life.
I loathe anyone impressed by fame or money.
The opening solo on 'Once in Royal David's City' is still the most dramatic radio moment of the year.
The 'Backlisted' podcast describes itself as 'giving new life to old books'. In each episode, John Mitchinson and Andy Miller are joined by a guest from the world of books who brings along some overlooked gem to enthuse about.
'Bombshell' is a remarkable podcast. In the course of it, three people who know what they are talking about cover 'military strategy, White House mayhem, and the best cocktails'.
'Athletico Mince' started life as a football podcast but has dropped the football, unless the latest on the state of the 'hair island' atop Steve McLaren's head is your idea of football coverage.
Karina Longworth, the genius behind 'You Must Remember This', has quite correctly spun off her series about the Sharon Tate murders as a separate podcast called 'You Must Remember Manson' to mark the passing of the man who unleashed hell because he couldn't get a recording contract.
For a wide-ranging look at literary matters, the 'Book Review Podcast' from the 'New York Times' is still one of the best. Presented by Pamela Paul, each episode has an interview with an author - recent guests have included Neil Gaiman and Sana Krasikov - plus a roundup of the uppers, downers and hanging-arounders on the U.S. bestsellers chart.
Songwriters often seek the company of fellow songwriters to help finish what they've started, and these days, many do it at songwriting camps.
The '30 for 30' strand started life as a series of behind-the-scenes docs for the sports channel ESPN. It has now spawned an equally fascinating series of podcasts. Like the films, these podcasts don't rely on access, the usual currency of sports journalism, and are strangely excited by stories that are complicated and require telling at length.
From Public Radio International, there's 'PRI's The World', which is the States looking out at the rest of the globe. Elsewhere, the 'Global News Podcast' from the BBC World Service offers something similar.
Podcast listening, much like radio listening, is largely a question of habit. And the most powerful habits are the ones that fit into our daily routine.
For magazines seeking to extend their reach into podcasting, half the battle is finding members of staff who don't sound like the kind of people you wouldn't care to be stuck in a lift with.
'Twenty Thousand Hertz' investigates the role of audio professionals in our daily lives, from the engineering that ensures a car door closes with that reassuring finality to the Foley artists of Hollywood who synthesise the sounds of marine life using old kitchen equipment gathered at the pound shop.
Many pop songs seem to be more potent now than in their heyday.
'Spectator Books' is presented by the genial Sam Leith. Leith has a little catch in his delivery that quickly becomes addictive. It's things like this that give podcasts their charm.
Mongolia is a country of only three million souls. One million of them live in Ulaanbaatar, where, despite the skyscrapers, half the population sleep in tents. One of the few Mongolians to become famous outside his home country is Ariunbaatar Ganbaatar, who won the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World prize.
'The Canon' is a film podcast that also has much in common with books podcast 'Backlisted.' Both suggest you can get a lot of pleasure out of things that aren't new.
The podcast most likely to encourage you to fully appreciate your food is the episode of BBC World Service's 'The Food Chain' in which Antonio Carluccio talks to Emily Thomas about his life in five dishes.
The neurologist calls it 'Non-REM parasomnia'. For the sufferer, it might mean rising in the middle of the night, getting your motorbike out, going for a ride, and waking in the morning with no memory of the experience.
If you don't work near a water cooler and hanker for the company of fellow natural history enthusiasts, 'The Blue Planet II Podcast' has Emily Knight and Becky Ripley enthusing infectiously about and delving deeper into the most recent episode.
'Podcasting House' is pivotal to the BBC's plan to scatter the seed of its various non-broadcast audio products beyond the narrow silos of the people who happen to listen to the programmes from which they arise.
Podcasting is a personal medium, and I savour those moments where details of the podcasters' lives glint through.
When Shanthi Ranganathan was the featured turn on 'Hip Hop Saved My Life With Romesh Ranganathan,' we learned she didn't allow him to have a girlfriend until he'd finished university, and she learned - to her unfeigned horror - that he used to sneak girls into the house when she was out.
'How I Built This With Guy Raz' asks entrepreneurs to tell the story of how they made their name and, in some cases, their fortune. Whether they're in the business of selling burritos or dating apps, there's inevitably something you can learn from their stories.
According to the producers of gripping podcast 'Death, Sex & Money', these are the three things we think about a lot but need to talk about more.
Anyone born in the year 1950 who grew to fancy themselves as a soulful 18-year-old bought 'Songs of Leonard Cohen' upon its original release in 1968. For many of them, it was the beginning of a lifelong friendship.
An interesting way into the celebrity interview podcast is via their dogs. Celebs may not be keen to let us into their homes, because they don't like us to see how wealthy they are. However, tell them you want to go for a walk on Hampstead Heath with them and their mutt, and they're only too happy.
As more podcasts become available, it's becoming a challenge to keep everything in order.
If you listen to 'Pod Save America', which is run by former Obama staffers and Democratic party partisans, you'll be exposed to ads for home delivery of everything from gourmet meals to underwear, presumably in the belief that you're too busy being fabulous to go near a shop.
