This American Life
Shares rank 18 of 42 podcasts by recommenders
People recommend it for well-reported episodes on journalism, immigration and science, and for Ira Glass's narration. Critics say its framing shows a clear agenda toward one side.
People recommend it for well-reported episodes on journalism, immigration and science, and for Ira Glass's narration. Critics say its framing shows a clear agenda toward one side.
10 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 8
- criticize it
- 2
- approval share
- 80%
Recommended in 5 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 8 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 4 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 5 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Standout episodes on varied topics
“There is an excellent "This American Life" episode on rats.”
Comment from 5 Jul 2026 in “Scientists reverse brain aging, with a nasal spray” “Check out this podcast on the purge of immigration judges”
Comment from 4 Nov 2025 in “You can't refuse to be scanned by ICE's facial recognition app, DHS document say” “did a good narration of this in Act 2 of episode 803”
Comment from 8 Apr 2026 in “They're Made Out of Meat (1991)” Excellent narration and delivery
“did a good narration of this in Act 2 of episode 803”
Comment from 8 Apr 2026 in “They're Made Out of Meat (1991)” “hard to beat Ira's delivery”
Comment from 29 Sep 2026 in “Kids turned low-traffic NPR Spotify comments into a secret group chat”
Other podcasts people recommend
The four most recommended other podcasts, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dwarkesh Podcast | 29 | 8 | 78% | 9 | — | Approved |
| Oxide and Friends | 26 | 3 | 90% | 10 | — | Approved |
| Acquired podcast | 25 | 0 | 100% | 11 | — | Approved |
| Behind the Bastards podcast | 18 | 1 | 95% | 11 | — | Approved |
| This American LifeThis page | 8 | 2 | 80% | 5 | — | — |
What people said
9 of the 10 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“hard to beat Ira's delivery”
“until they abandoned their mobile app”
“it was great for a long time”
“There is an excellent "This American Life" episode on rats.”
“their belief / agenda is clear in how they frame and respond to one side”
“did a good narration of this in Act 2 of episode 803”
“I've certainly enjoyed episodes of, for example, This American Life, which friends have recommended to me.”
“This episode details what happened when factual errors were brought to their attention. It's what good-faith journalists do”
“Check out this podcast on the purge of immigration judges”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.