Point of Inquiry

A colleague at work recently tipped me off to the Point of Inquiry podcast, and I've listened to a bunch of episodes now. This podcast is right up my alley, taking a skeptical, freethought message to it's listeners. I've listened to a whole bunch of shows on similar subjects, but this one is my current favourite, for a few reasons:

• I've met a few of the people who have been on the show through my attendance at few workshops at the University of Oregon a few years back. (This was also a reason that I liked Bullshit! -- several of the folks from the workshop were featured there too.)


• The host, DJ Grothe, is simply fantastic. In the earlier shows he seemed to get a little excited and tended to try to speak over his guests (I've found this to be a fairly common trait for folks I've met in the Skeptic movement), but in recent shows he's been great. He's possibly the best interviewer I can remember hearing -- although his guests are generally people with whom he agrees this doesn't stop him from playing devil's advocate and asking tougher questions.


• Lauren Becker. An occasional contributor to the show, Ms. Becker seems to be some kind of expert carpenter -- continually hitting nails directly on the head. I've been reading skeptical literature for quite some time, and -- frankly -- most of it is quite similar. But Lauren provides fresh insight into some tired topics and completely new ideas in some other areas. (Well, new to me, anyway.) If the show was nothing but her five minute commentaries, it would still be well worth downloading.

The show's format is rather softball (i.e. Michael Behe hasn't been a guest yet), but it does a great job at presenting the mission of the Center For Inquiry. Highly recommended.