Podcast Review: Cautionary Tales
I am a longtime listener to Cautionary Tales, a podcast hosted by Tim Harford and published by Pushkin Industries with the tagline “telling true stories about mistakes and what we should learn from them”. Harford is a multi-talented communicator, blending history and statistics to publish books, host radio shows, and write newspaper articles along with hosting this podcast. His ability to balance the often dark cautionary tales with a sense of humor brings witty charm to each episode. The show is currently in its third season, having debuted back in November 2019.
The show follows two standard formats. In the more common format, Harford introduces a main story taken from history and then relates the problems in the historical event to modern issues, often using statistics to compare the two stories. Actors such as Jeffrey Wright and Helena Bonham Carter read letters or newspaper articles from the time period. In the less common format, Harford interviews an expert on a topic, and this expert provides the stories. Towards the end of each episode, Harford reveals a twist in the stories, causing both host and listener to reevaluated the facts behind the issues. These episodes last around forty minutes, including advertisements. Narrators speak at a consistent, leisurely pace.
My three favorite episodes so far have been Episode 2 of Season 2, Florence Nightingale and Her Geeks Declare War on Death; Episode 15 of Season 2, The Truth About Hansel and Gretel; and Episode 29 of Season 3, The True Scandal of Lydia E. Pinkham’s Vegetable Compound. I enjoyed the episodes on Florence Nightingale and Lydia E. Pinkham because of my familiarity with 19th century women’s history, while the Hansel and Gretel episode skillfully juxtaposed a funny prank with a tragic story.
While talking about the work of Florence Nightingale, founder of the Red Cross during the Crimean War along with an inventor of infographics, Harford described her heroism on the battlefield, medical knowledge ahead of her time, political savvy, and gift of portraying statistics with illustrations. Her meticulousness in every field she mastered seemingly contrasts the haphazard depictions found in many modern infographics. However, Nightingale’s numbers do not stand up to scrutiny. She manipulated visual data to overemphasize what she knew to be right, that hygiene and good diet aid soldiers in healing from battle wounds.
Lydia E. Pinkham — a resident of Lynn, MA whose clinic still operates in nearby Salem, MA — was in some ways a sharp contrast to Nightingale. She and her family sold quack medicine in bulk to thousands of women across the United States, claiming to cure all ailments when the main ingredient in her bottled tonic was alcohol. Pinkham’s advertisements hinged on her ability give motherly health advice to women at a time when doctors were no more advanced. Even with the improvement of modern medical practices based on rigorously tested treatments, many desperate patients look for cures outside a doctor’s prescriptions when their diagnoses seems hopeless.
Finally, the fairytale of Hansel and Gretel famously recorded by the Grimm Brothers was once used in a prank by children’s book author Hans Traxler. The German writer published Die Wahrheit über Hänsel und Gretel in 1963, purporting that the story of children abandoned in the woods and nearly eaten by a witch was based on historical fact. The book fooled many readers, spurring a brief tourist industry in the area where the events supposedly took place. Considering the success of archeologist Heinrich Schliemann in rediscovering the city of Troy from the Iliad, the idea of historical truth behind legends is not so far fetched. At the same time, modern urban legends based on tragedies befalling real people capture the attention of the media, obscuring the truth.
With its clever mix of history, pop culture, and gentle introduction to concepts in psychology and statistics, Cautionary Tales is a rare example of a podcast that has it all. Harford’s narrative style may confuse to some listeners, especially those who prefer a single, linear storyline, rather than one that fluidly travels across time, space, and disciplines. His website features a brief bibliography for each episode but no transcripts, so hearing impaired users cannot enjoy the experience without enabling live captions on their browser or device.
Abby Epplett’s Rating System
Experience: 9/10
Accessibility: 6/10