Ask HN: What are your favorite YouTube channels to learn stuff? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: What are your favorite YouTube channels to learn stuff?

418 pointssherlock_h138 comments

Any kind of channels are ok! I am specifically interested in urban (balcony) gardening, guitar and gaming (Apex Legends).

Would be interested in what other people are watching and what other cool channels are out there.

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Louis Rossman https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCl2mFZoRqjw_ELax4Yisf6w Routinely shows bench scope detail of him doing circuit troubleshooting and replace of "no user serviceable parts" modern surface mount Apple stuff, but in the process shows good heart and entertaining moxie.

EEVBlog (David L. Jones) https://www.youtube.com/user/EEVblog Likes to take things apart and people send him things, but he is a great teacher and gives an amazing does of theory and design practice, and (very rare!) his electronics design knowledge spans part and practice back to the early 1970s.

bigclivedotcom https://www.youtube.com/user/bigclivedotcom/videos Famous for his teardowns of the most ludircous and trashy designs, he's a maverick experimenter who plods along and pokes and prods and touches things he shouldn't, just like you would.

AvE is another channel in a similar vein (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChWv6Pn_zP0rI6lgGt3MyfA)

I do not recommend Louis Rossman. Instead of learning, you’ll listen to endless hateful anti-Apple rants, deceitful personal attacks and unsubstantiated speculations of how terrible Apple engineers are - the whole community is cultish and they love listening to LR just about anything. I despise his channel and his popularity.

You could say similar about Dave Jones (EEVBlog) to be fair. His forum very much reflects his audience...

Rossman has earned his grumpy and acerbic attitude in an old fashioned and honest way: routinely repairing expensive devices that were not meant to be repaired. Having to salvage working components from salvaged boards because the manufacturer decided not to supply them. His board working technique is first rate and he goes to great lengths to show you every step of the process. You learn things even if you were to mute the audio and play "Endless Sax Man" instead! How many other Youtube channels would survive that treatment?

Apple engineers are first rate also, but they've been dis-incentivized to do anything that would make affordable component level repair part of the life cycle, its parts distributed widely enough to be accessible, and technicians (factory trained or otherwise) capable, Unless this corporate approach FAILS spectacularly in the end, the human race is heading into a cul de sac of evolution by having its most essential technologies hanging by tiny threads. Some day Apple will decline and their newer technology will all be in the landfill... and Rossman will still be repairing last-generation boards.

But... by failing to make things repairable and removing whole customer care layers from their business plan, Apple has managed to bring prices down! That's a joke BTW

Among others that have already been mentioned (Applied Science, Bon Appetit, Food Wishes, etc.):

* Game Maker's Toolkit -- in depth analysis of game mechanics and game design (from a journalist / player perspective, not so much a technical one -- though he does host yearly game jams -- my point-and-type entry last year was https://vgel.itch.io/themengi </shameless plug>)

* NativLang -- (Mostly comparative / descriptive) linguistics videos

* Historia Civilis -- very in-depth takes on (mostly ancient) history, military, & politics

* Clickspring -- professional clockmaker, has a series of him building a mechanical clock, and is currently working on a series of him recreating the Antikythera Mechanism with investigations into the original construction methods

* This Old Tony -- videos on hobby machine shop projects

* Steve1989MREInfo -- showcases old military MREs, talks about their design / development, and eats & reviews them... including 40+ year old ones. It sounds weird, but it's strangely interesting and calming.

If you enjoy game makers toolkit the GDC channel has a lot of good similar stuff.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0JB7TSe49lg56u6qH8y_MQ

I really love the conciseness and accessibility of 'Two Minute Papers' - "Awesome research for everyone. Two new science videos every week. You'll love it!"

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbfYPyITQ-7l4upoX8nvctg

AvE - General engineering

Strange Parts - interesting electronics

Electroboom - blows up interesting electronics

Mark Rober - ex NASA engineer, builds cool stuff

Finish Carpentry TV - gives info on finish carpentry

Jay Bates - Woodworking - good woodworker

SmarterEveryDay - interesting science topics

Bald and Bankrupt - explores Russia and other countries

Curious Droid - NASA history

Bosnianbill - lockpicking

LEMMiNO - general documentaries

Cody'sLab - chemistry

Mustie1 - small engine repair

Matt Risinger - newer building trends

The Wood Whisperer - woodworking

Project Farm - tests products (oil, fuel, etc) against each other

bigclivedotcom - examines / fixes electronics

>Cody'sLab - chemistry

NileRed is far better (in content, video/lighting quality and Editing). His newer channel NileBlue shows him safely cleaning up and what not.

And he's not currently going through what appears to be a mental breakdown. Cody had the feds come out to his property after he posted several questionable videos (like rushing through an airport talking about blowing himself up, showing all of the radioactive ore and yellow cake he has just laying around, showing videos of jars of poison next to his canned food at home etc) and had his girlfriend leave him around which time he started being super mopey on his channel and wearing chainmail everywhere and using mercury as mouthwash.

I guess his experiments with mercury are starting to take their toll :/

This is just mean-spirited and exaggerated. Why not just make your recommendation and move on?

It isn't mean spirited at all. It's observations based on his videos the past 1-2 years. He also has pretty blah production quality with rough edits, often terrible lighting, lots of rambling, more oft than not questionable (at best) safety practices, when he's doing chemistry he never has proper safety equipment etc. Unlike NileRed that has fantastic lighting, proper ventilation, obviously at least partially scripts what he's going to say, doesn't get sidetracked with unrelated rants...

Cody literally had federal agents come to his house and search it after some of his highly questionable videos involving radioactive materials, commercial explosives and homemade (highly unstable) explosives.

He literally power-walked through a busy airport recording himself talking about blowing himself up in one video (referencing his 'prank' video where he 'blew himself up', not that all the people he was rushing past were likely to know that).

He literally used liquid mercury as mouthwash in a recent video.

He literally showed his shelf of canned food with his row of home made poisons and toxic substances.

He's had several videos lately where he's showing textbook signs of clinical depression after his breakup and has ramped up his eccentric behavior even more since, like wearing chainmail in public and ranting about the government and YouTube being against him.

While I agree your original post was maybe harsh, but not "mean-spirited", it drives me crazy when people use truth or objectivity as a catch-all justification for behavior or attitude. He wasn't accusing you of lying - e.g. "you're a fatass" would, in most contexts even where it is true, also be mean-spirited. Things can be both, and frequently are.

> girlfriend leave him around which time he started being super mopey

That tends to happen.

I often wonder what enables people to leave such scathing reviews of someone else's work. Reviewers like you had nothing to do with the production or promotion of videos and often don't pay anything to watch them. If a user feels a channel is going awry, they have no resistance to belittling the creator and doing so with a total lack of empathy.

Sure the anonymity is a huge factor that doesn't make someone care enough to write about it. It's as if you felt a sense of ownership in Cody'sLab and he let you down when he began to display the negative affects of his real live in the videos he created.

Your feeling of ownership over something you have done nothing to earn is entitlement. YT creators are just people and they don't get paid a lot. They are constantly chasing an algorithm created within a labyrinth for which they have they have no control over. They feel they need to create and post weekly or they will be penalized. Once they achieve Internet influencer status they find it is a very lonely depressing place to be and everyone watching has demands yet provides no money and no help to create. It's frankly disgusting to see people behave this way.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1mv0vwb08Y

In this video Cody'sLab clearly spells out that he's going through a hard time in his life. He's allowed to be human. If you don't like it just move on and shut your mouth. Have some dignity and allow others around you to reclaim or maintain their dignity and self-respect.

"I often wonder what enables people to leave such scathing reviews of someone else's work."

Possibly some sort of internet-enabled device running a web browser?

"Reviewers like you had nothing to do with the production or promotion of videos and often don't pay anything to watch them."

That's true of practically all reviewers of every product/service ever. In fact, if they were involved in any way it would deserve some sort of "vested interest" warning. It's also true of much of the content on youtube.

"It's as if you felt a sense of ownership in Cody'sLab and he let you down when he began to display the negative affects of his real live in the videos he created....Your feeling of ownership over something you have done nothing to earn is entitlement."

I don't see that in the original comment at all. They just seem to prefer channel 1 over channel 2, and gave a reason ("..shows him safely cleaning up and what not.."). What's wrong with that?

If one is producing youtube videos for fun, and finds it no fun, they should stop. Likewise, if they're doing it for money and not making enough money, stop. No-one's forcing them to do it. Nobody owes them anything. There are a million other channels out there, and i'm grateful to the OP and everyone else in this thread for pointing them out.

lockpickinglawyer is also a great channel

mark rober's quality has gone downhill fast. To the point of staging multiple videos and using obnoxious clickbait.

Examples of staging videos?

If I remember right, he staged some of the "glitter bomb" footage. Something like half the footage was of actual thieves. The other half was of people he knows. He didn’t disclose this until the video went viral.

I’m not aware of any other staged footage, but I’d be interested to hear if there is any.

The cherry on top is that he let someone else build the glitter bomb but his channel gets all the clicks/subscribers.

Primitive technology

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAL3JXZSzSm8AlZyD3nQdBA

  Rick Beato
  3blue1brown
  Smarter Every Day
  Bon Appetit
  Monty McKinnon
  Strange Parts
  Half as Interesting
  Produce Like A Pro
  Cinematography Database
  J M Archer
  Mix With The Masters
  Nerdwriter1
  Pensado's Place
  Peter Hurley
  Robert Scovill
  This Guy Edits

Adam Neely, 12 tone and Signals Music Studio are worth checking out as well, if you like Rick Beato

Rick Beato's channel is pure gold. Probably my favorite channel of all time (so far). The only other recommendation you've made that I recognize is Smarter Every Day, that one's great too.

At first I got taken in by Rick Beato. He is terrifically knowledgeable about music theory and plays a number of instruments well.

But it didn't take long to notice that his presentations of music theory are not done to help the listener understand music theory. They are done to show how terrifically smart Rick Beato is. I suspect a lot of his fans know enough music theory that they nod their heads at the parts they understand and it makes them feel good that they can follow. But it is terrible if you actually want to learn.

There are much better youtubers that present music theory that is conducive to learning.

Rich Beato and Warren Huard's (Produce like a Pro) channels are absolute gold.

Polymatter - mostly about company / nation scale economics. Possibly too high-level for the average HNer.

Mustard - great videos about the history of notable vehicles - mostly planes, with a couple of trains. Mixture of historical footage and great animation.

Journey to the Microcosmos - very new channel, basically little nature documentaries about microorganisms.

Robert Miles - really great videos about AI safety - why it's important, what the cutting edge of research is etc.

Captain Disillusion - VFX breakdowns of hoax videos and some explanations of video technology. His channel also hosts videos of a couple of his talks, which are excellent.

Tom Scott - five minute videos from interesting places, plus some layman level programming topics.

Jay Foreman - mostly maps and politics combined with British humour.

TechAltar - Tech company strategy discussion - some normie topics, but some interesting insights as well.

Internet Historian - very well made videos about significant events in 'Internet Culture'. Famous/signifant 4chan raids, cons that went badly and other misc stuff like Fyre festival and the launch of Fallout 76 that spawned a lot of discussion and memes. Definitely not for everyone.

I'm not sure whether you'd consider review channels educational but if you do then I like:

LinusTechTips, MKBHD, Dave2D, Jenny Nicholson, Ralphthemoviemaker

Out of necessity, lately it's been Grayfurnaceman (https://www.youtube.com/user/grayfurnaceman) for home HVAC/appliance repair and Scotty Kilmer (https://www.youtube.com/user/scottykilmer) for auto repair.

For fun: Amarguitar for Phish guitar solo analysis and lessons: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCP31spBZuvhmXf2gz9ugO8w

TwoSetViolin - classical violinists provide music theory infused hilarity

NardwuarServiette - idiosyncratic and over-researched interviews with musicians of all kinds

matthias wandel - canadian engineer and one of youtube's early wood working wizards

sam johnson - voice teacher analyzes vocal performances

practical engineering - civil engineering videos

Hand Tool Rescue - old tool rebuilds

mr. chickadee - handtool woodcraft and traditional building techniques

RegularCars - sassy and knowledgeable reviews of regular cars

My favorites, in no particular order: TheBrainScoop https://www.youtube.com/user/thebrainscoop

Adam Ragusea (cooking) https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9_p50tH3WmMslWRWKnM7dQ

Tom Scott https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBa659QWEk1AI4Tg--mrJ2A

Smarter Every Day https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6107grRI4m0o2-emgoDnAA

Minute Earth https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeiYXex_fwgYDonaTcSIk6w

Minute Physics https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUHW94eEFW7hkUMVaZz4eDg

Numberphile https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoxcjq-8xIDTYp3uz647V5A

Veritasium https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHnyfMqiRRG1u-2MsSQLbXA

You suck at cooking https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCekQr9znsk2vWxBo3YiLq2w

Tech Ingredients - Speaker and science maker series.

Savage Geese - Long form in-depth car reviews.

Rich Rebuilds - Guy rebuilds decommissioned Teslas.

Joe Rogan Experience - Longform interviews.

PBS SpaceTime - Quantum Physicist explains astrophysics.

Scott Manley - Everything space travel.

Joe Scott - Science for the masses.

SciShow - Science for the masses.

French Guy Cooking - French cooking.

FortNine - Motorcycle advice and reviews.

Bon Appetit - Cooking.

mtmwood - Making Chess and cutting boards.

kobeomsuk - Japanese handmade furniture.

Tom Scott - Applied Science.

SteveMould - Physics explanations.

Hudson Henry Photography - Photography.

Rick Beato - Music theory.

What I've Learned - Diet and Nutrition.

How To Drink - Cocktail mixology.

Firebox Stove - Camping cooking.

Forty Times Around - Motorcycle camping.

Stock & Barrel Co - Making leather apparel.

Thomas Heaton - Landscape Photography.

Simon Baxter - Landscape Photography.

WiseCrack - Film Theory.

The Film Theorists - Movie breakdowns.

Rare Earth - Sociology.

kobeomsuk is a Korean furniture making channel

My Bad, thanks for the correction :)

I'm on a phone so links are hard, but I'll throw in...

- Woodworking for mere mortals, it's a series that goes into detail about basic things for beginner woodworkers.

- PBS Spacetime, they cover astronomy and cosmology at a nice level for educated laypeople.

AvE Electronics is a hilarious, foul-mouthed Canadian who dismantles power tools and appliances and gives a thorough guided tour and quality assessment. His show is great fun.

Fun Fun Function, JS specific: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCO1cgjhGzsSYb1rsB4bFe4Q

Computerphile, general CS topics and computing history: https://www.youtube.com/user/Computerphile

Biographics, 20-minute biographies of historical figures: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClnDI2sdehVm1zm_LmUHsjQ

Intelligence Squared, long-form structured debates on current-day issues: https://www.youtube.com/user/iqsquared

MBJ <3

AvE - very intelligent and humorous guy who tears down tools and explains how they work. Probably my favorite channel.

Edge Precision - heavy duty CNC machinist https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCkSr3M8GXbS4txqPY7OMxQ

Essential Craftsman - construction, tools, etc. Has a great new series where he is walking through the entire construction of a home, dubbed the "spec house" https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzr30osBdTmuFUS8IfXtXmg

Frank Howarth - woodworking https://www.youtube.com/user/urbanTrash

Matthewmatosis - long-form video game analysis https://www.youtube.com/user/Matthewmatosis

NurdRage - incredibly interesting high level chemistry (to me at least). Has a really great series where he finds a new way to make Sodium Metal. https://www.youtube.com/user/NurdRage

RR Buildings - post-frame construction, tool reviews https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWXEQsK3UiHszjwgGN5HUeQ

This Old Tony - machining, welding. Very funny! https://www.youtube.com/user/featony

Vancouver Carpenter - mostly drywall tips. Offers very clear explanations of how to do various drywall jobs https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbZdXox6mKHdcT2QdVT-goQ

Numberphile and Computerphile : maths and computer topics. I learned all about the Enigma machine on there.

Standupmaths with Matt Parker, inventor of the famous "Parker Square"

Ben Eater : Electronics, breadboards, computer logic.

Astronogeek (in French) : astronomy. He also debunks UFO and crop circle stuff.

I just discovered Ben Eater!!

Numberphile is great, but Computerphile to me feels like a kinda lame rip-off with computer related topics really. It's mostly about the depth and presentation I think. Compared to Numberphile their videos are (at least for me) sort of superficial. The original problem most likely lies in topics being much more complex: It's easier to show and explain an OEIS or describe an interesting conjecture with a hand full formulas and proofs than to explain the entire concept behind e.g. machine learning or computer graphics in a ~15 minute video.

Example: There was a video about dithering not so long ago which basically boils down to "Well, if 2 of 2 pixels are black you perceive it as black, and if there is 0 of 2 black, it's white, and in between it's gray ..." The actual methods used (e.g. Floyd, Stucki etc.) and how they work? Not really.

A very general question there because stuff can be so many things!

Try:

Boris (search: boris kvass) this guy cooks Russian food, and is quite funny.

Except TypeError: Then I suggest Herbert Gross teaching Linear Algebra at MIT (they dont have such teachers anymore).

I also like the charming Python lady at Socratica.

And if you want to learn about Islam (and not the fake narrative imposed by MSM) Mufti Menk is a good source. You can learn about who Moslems really are, as opposed to the propaganda that is going on now with the "terrorism" circus.

Finally, Talos Principle game walkthrough by Derek Banas is good fun if you are into logic and games.

Lots of good suggestions in here. One I haven't seen mentioned yet is NileRed for those interested in chemistry (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFhXFikryT4aFcLkLw2LBLA).

Lindsay Ellis. While she does mostly film movies, she's also done some great documentaries about YouTube, fair use, etc. It's very long form, with not a lot of clickbait or CTAs. I think she's heading more that way these days, and she is entertaining, insightful, and wicked smart.

Medlife Crisis is great, does videos about medicine: (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgRBRE1DUP2w7HTH9j_L4OQ)

kiwami japan teaches a lot about various material properties without saying a single word: (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCg3qsVzHeUt5_cPpcRtoaJQ) PolyMatter is really good at economics and politics: (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgNg3vwj3xt7QOrcIDaHdFg)

Guitar and other music channels: Davie504 (https://www.youtube.com/user/Davie504) Rob Scallon (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyDZai57BfE_N0SaBkKQyXg) TwoSetViolin (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAzKFALPuF_EPe-AEI0WFFw)

They're not creating new content, but Every Frame a Painting was superb for cinematography.

https://www.youtube.com/user/everyframeapainting

* Park Tool - https://www.youtube.com/user/parktoolcompany - Tutorials for maintaining the most important machine ever invented.

- Lex Fridman https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSHZKyawb77ixDdsGog4iWA

- Rebel Wisdom https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFQ6Gptuq-sLflbJ4YY3Umw

- Fresh Out - Life After The Penitentiary https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTsGL6oeAKi4lHIMfWwkcyA

- Living Big In A Tiny House https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoNTMWgGuXtGPLv9UeJZwBw

- JunsKitchen https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRxAgfYexGLlu1WHGIMUDqw

- TrueFood TV https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOaof-3dr6b7dFIxNP_1Wlw

Dogen.

Though mostly satirical rather than actually educational lessons, I've recently found it to be an amazing channel. Some of his videos are almost poetic. They give an insight into Japanese culture and quirks. He also offers actual classes via Patreon.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucqMh9iYpTo

Oversimplified at: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNIuvl7V8zACPpTmmNIqP2A

It is a channel devoted to historical events(mostly wars) and it is very on point and entertaining. With only 10+ videos out, it has already gotten 2 millions + subscribers.

Philosophy Tube is pretty good for exactly what you'd expect. The recent stuff is mostly political, but the old stuff is a really good starting point for general philosophy.

And if you're into political stuff and want to actually have your views challenged instead of reinforced, on top of Philosophy Tube I'd also recommend: ContraPoints, Some More News, Shaun, Innuendo Studios, Three Arrows.

Some More News is very much "Here's an opinion you already have, let's be sardonic at the possibility others don't share it". I'd recommend Riley J. Dennis instead, for her excellent discussion of gender and sexuality.

I've seen at least some of most of those, but given my views, those would mostly reinforce them.

Fair enough. I've used that term because I wanted to represent them as left-leaning "saviors" (as in, opposition to PragerU, Shapiro, JBP, Crowder, and the rest of the shit on YouTube that only reinforces bigotry) without my comment getting flagged.

Even the political stuff is very heavily philosophy centric, though. He examines political issues _through_ philosophy.

I'm a big fan of engineerguy (https://www.youtube.com/user/engineerguyvideo). Lots of older tech explained.

As for Apex Legends, I find that Frothy (https://www.youtube.com/user/FrothyOmen) has some great strategy and discussion videos.

For general gaming topics, can't go wrong with Raycevick (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1JTQBa5QxZCpXrFSkMxmPw). His "Years later" series of videos is a highlight.

I watch a lot of cooking channels. Here are a few of my favorites:

https://www.youtube.com/user/MindofaChef

https://www.youtube.com/user/foodandwinevideo - Jacques Pepin

https://www.youtube.com/user/BBQwithFranklin - Aaron Franklin

https://www.youtube.com/user/CIANetwork

If you like Indian, "Get Curried" has some amazing recipes : https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChYpOn9tfcJkfjq7e0KaAhw

If you're into language learning, Easy Languages: https://www.youtube.com/user/magauchsein/playlists

Ben Eater for digital electronics (he's got an excellent series about building an 8 bit computer from scratch)

MRC Laboratory for Molecular Biology, videos on molecular biology research by Nobel Prize winners from the institute: https://www.youtube.com/user/LMBCambridge/videos

Leiden University, video series on Philosophy of the Humanities: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4ChzesrWKI&list=PLPeStI124d...

Computer Chronicles, TV show on computer technology from the 80s and 90s: https://www.youtube.com/user/ComputerChroniclesYT/videos

Peter Thiel's talks and interviews: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3ObfUE2qbhzkC11v0WQtQg/vid...

Best of Startup Secrets featuring Michael Skok: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxpB5Hi17Tp2cAs_OoRZS...

Some of my favorites are:

* CGPGrey - 10 minutes long explanations about some topic

* Seytonic - General security and electronic channel

* LiveOverflow - Computer security and software

* FunFunFunction - Functional programming and other CS topics

* GamersNexus - Most in depth computer hardware reviews on Youtube

* Actually Hardcore Overclocking (BuildZoid) - Hardware analyses

* Todd V - Seduction / Social Skills

Ands lot's that people have already talked about like PolyMatter, Louis Rossman, Tom Scott, Brady Haran's Channels (Numberphile, Periodic Table...), and much more...

FunFunFunction is my favorite. It has a nice balance of silliness and interesting information.

Electroboom (Electronics) https://m.youtube.com/user/msadaghd

Electroboom is very entertaining and knowledgable, but it bugs me that he purposely shocks himself almost every episode. His safety practices are terrible. I get that that's part of the joke, and as long as you know it's a joke, fine. But somebody who doesn't get the joke and tries to copy him could get hurt.

Of course this is Youtube, so anybody who blindly copies anything there is asking for trouble.

My perception of Electroboom is that he makes it blindingly obvious why you shouldn't blindly copy him: as you say, he shocks himself in almost every episode. To me, at least, the message is that if you try to do what he does, you'll get shocked, and if you don't know exactly what you're doing, those shocks can kill you (surely he very carefully calculates how much he's going to injure himself?). I find that message makes me much more careful than the generic "don't try this at home unless you know what you're doing", where I don't really have a good way to assess whether I know what I'm doing.

I really enjoy math videos on youtube. https://www.youtube.com/user/MIT anything with Gil Strang is fantastic. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtAIs1VCQrymlAnw3mGonhw appeals to my sense of humor.

If you like lasers and everything related check out styropyro

https://www.youtube.com/user/styropyro

Also, for random contraptions/robots Michael Reeves delivers hilarious content

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtHaxi4GTYDpJgMSGy7AeSw

I just found this channel and I'm amazed at how technical and well researched everything is: Tech Ingredients

The best thing is that he repeats experiments to verify the concepts he is exploring. It seems to still be in its infancy, it could benefit from practical improvements, such as including links to parts, as well as professional video editing, but the content is really strong.

I too can vouch for Tech Ingredients! Fantastic channel with some really interesting experiments on there.

Tech Ingredients and Applied Science. Just phenomenal. Absolutely amazing.

I love exploring different fields that I really know little about. One of my favorite channels is NileRed (and alternative channel NileBlue) which is a chemistry channel that really acts like a proper science channel. NileBlue has recently been showing the clean-up process of projects featured on the main channel, which are just as interesting.

Andreas Spiess has some great content, especially for ESP series microcontrollers. He has some videos on soil sensors that you might find interesting. (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCu7_D0o48KbfhpEohoP7YSQ)

My all time favorites:

Isaac Arthur - Futurism (A must for any Sci-fi fan)

Astrum - Astronomy (easy astronomy!)

Redlettermedia - Film reviews (Rambling. Incredibly bad puns. Acquired taste)

Baldandbankrupt - Amazing travel blog

Videogamedunkey - Game reviews (and occasionally a song)

Food Busker - Food (recipes & learning about different types of food like Ramen / Beef etc)

Bonus:

RaggtagGamer - Apex Legends Gutter-tier gamer (since you mentioned apex)

Binging with Babish: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJHA_jMfCvEnv-3kRjTCQXw

His basisc series is what has essentially been teaching me how to cook, and the binging series is great for getting some inspiration.

I really like Bucky Roberts. His channel name is "TheNewBoston." He has a fun way of teaching and gets to the point. I started programming 6 years ago watching his intro to java videos. 6 years later he has millions of subscribers and has videos on a ton of topics including how to make beer lol.

I still remember back in 2010 when I was in 5th grade watching his HTML/CSS videos, as a child no other tutorial series stuck as his did. really great work

I've been really enjoying these two:

Jamie Windsor (photography) https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxCFQfO05RinX6x_r5VVuiA

The Crafsman SteadyCraftin (various crafting techniques, mostly around making small models and casts) https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzsjHlc0WRwZYwlinsmtM4w

For cooking I was watching Alex the French Guy but his channel fell into content that's a bit too formulaic for me: https://www.youtube.com/user/FrenchGuyCooking

I'm watching Binging with Babesh and picking up some tips from that.

Lots of great material here to check out after work!

My contribution is a vintage stuff restoration channel called My Mechanics. No verbal explanations of what he's doing, just some subtitles where necessary, and I find this really helps me focus on what he's doing with his hands while restoring these bits.

Aimee Nolte Music - really excellent jazz piano and theory with practical examples and explanations

DocMikeEvans - https://www.youtube.com/user/DocMikeEvans - Health tips from a Canadian doctor (as they say on their page, a "Med School for the Public")

Eastory - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCElybFZ60Hk1NSjgCf7I2sg - History channel focused on Easter Europe and WW2 (for now); very similar with Historia Civilis, which has already been mentioned here; their animated maps of WW2 or mind-blowing; highly recommended

High Pressure Aviation Films - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCopOnltjd_os9EhR0nE_tSA - cockpit video recordings of takeoffs/landings from various planes and airports; they include airport maps, radio traffic and subtitles (the guys are French)

Historia Civilis - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCv_vLHiWVBh_FR9vbeuiY-A - already mentioned here, very nice history channel

J Utah - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBcVQr-07MH-p9e2kRTdB3A - the guy drives through downtown of major cities, especially from USA/Canada, but also Europe; I guess you learn about other cities in these videos :)

Kurzgesagt - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsXVk37bltHxD1rDPwtNM8Q - general channel about science

Nerdwriter1 - https://www.youtube.com/user/Nerdwriter1 - a channel about movies and art in general

Thanks for the other people that commented, I found some nice channels that I didn't know about!

Very niche, but good: Eli Fieldsteel’s YouTube channel for learning Supercollider, the programming language attached to a powerful audio synthesis engine. He also goes into building custom interfaces for experimental music with arduino.

He also explains SuperCollider's quirks that might confuse a beginner as they come up, in a way that doesn't overwhelm.

* thebennybox (3d and 2d rendering and game engine development tutorials)

* Periodic Videos (charming elemental chemistry)

* Kristen Dirksen (alternative living spaces)

* Practical Engineering (civil engineering)

* Kruggsmash (neat things to do in dwarf fortress, so you don't have to)

Any channel which gives a high level view on various software tools i.e what was used before, what problem they were trying to solve, practical usecases, pros and cons , any new tools in that space.

Or ELI5 on various Enterprise stacks.

TechLead - Awesome for general coding practices

Fun Fun Function by MBJ - Amazing for learning the ins and outs of Javascript.

Traversy Media - All around amazing coding tutorials.

Level Up Tuts by Stolinski - Beat boy teaching us the ins and outs of web development

* https://www.youtube.com/user/TheScienceAsylum - like a kid's science channel but often surprisingly deep

* https://www.youtube.com/user/lefticus1 - C++ trivia, weekly short

* https://www.youtube.com/user/whatdamath - astronomy, daily 10 min

For real maths, 3blue1brown is my go-to (1.9M subscribers, fwiw).

For "real science" with younger kids (or just non-sci/eng people), Kurzgesagt is wonderful.

And +1 for Minute Physics (previously mentioned).

Some of my favorites include:

Professor Leonard - math

NancyPi - math

EEVBlog - electronics / electrical engineering

3blue1brown - math

Lex Fridman - AI

Agree with your math choices. Professor Leonard is an underrated workhorse - every few months I refresh my knowledge on his channel.

I really like

* Self Sufficient Me (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJZTjBlrnDHYmf0F-eYXA3Q) – channel about gardening * The Gaming Merchant (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCz2_M6-NBgdiLvDOmlH074g) – great tutorials for Apex Legends

The CMU Database Group: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHnBsf2rH-K7pn09rb3qvkA

It's mostly run by Andy Pavlo, a professor at CMU. Full recordings with slides+notes of class lectures, and lots of talks by visiting lecturers. It's far and away the best resource I've found for learning about DB internals.

Paul Harrell — Guns

I'm a typical European with only basic training in the armed forces, no other gun relation, I believe in strict gun control, and yet — those videos are fascinating. All those different guns (he's an expert in black powder guns, muzzle-loaded), the monotonous readings from the chronograph, anecdotes and a really down-to-earth and a bit awkward presenter. It's a time sink I've been sucked into lately.

Check out forgotten weapons. It has all sorts of history of the development of certain firearms and inspects them as artifacts and engineering marvels.

CGP Grey - Similar in spirit to Wait But Why blog. Great, insightful, cartoony explanations.

Futur - Not just a great resource on design but on how to run your own company.

A channel I don't see in this thread is "The Thought Emporium", and I think he deserves at least an honorable mention with all the recommendations for Nile Red, Applied Science and Tech ingredients. Its very much in the same vein.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCV5vCi3jPJdURZwAOO_FNfQ

IppSec. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCa6eh7gCkpPo5XXUDfygQQA He does offline HackTheBox boxes, very detailed clear explanation. Excellent resource for anyone interested in hacking and exploits. It's also very fun to spin up the box yourself and follow along.

I really like Ashton Gleckman’s YT channel. He goes over the process of making and composing movie scores. Check out the video on the Dark Knight. It’s fantastic. Unsurprisingly he got hired by Hans Zimmer’s studio.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9Z0p8W-IvB_2K_cAQdf7bg

YouTube is so good and so unfortunate at the same time. YouTube has revolutionized educational content. And I’m not talking about cookie cutter wendover productions, thanks-to-our-sponsor-nord-vpn kind of educational channels. I’m talking about ave, thunderfoot, mikeselectricstuff, and etc. videos coming from engineers who are on the ground and who provide the most clear, unbiased and complete information on whatever they find that is relevant to their field. Thunderfoots busted videos for have been so amazingly enlightening. That’s the definition of education: sweeping away all the hearsay bullshit and throwing a light of facts and science on the topic. It’s something I couldn’t live without.

However, this changes life in a negative way. It’s not just that YouTube is pumping out more videos that you would enjoy, it’s that YouTube is now pumping out more video content than you can watch which is vitally important. You have no choice but to be watching YouTube in your free time. It makes you a slave to the video feed. Not because you’re addicted, but because it’s the most effective way to build your information web. The economics demand that you be watching all the time. It’s another step in the direction of people being hacked into the matrix hive mind all the time because without the matrix hive mind one will only be left behind.

Applied Science, Ben Eater

Bonsai/tree channels: Nigel Saunders, Masteryo, Bonsai Mirai, Heron's Bonsai, Arborist Blair Glenn

Boatbuilding: Acorn to Arabella, SV Seeker, Sampson Boat Co

Home building: Kris Harbour, Essential Craftsman, Matt Risinger, Matthew Cremona

Cooking: Pasta Grannies, Cheap Lazy Vegan, Maangchi, Alex the French Guy

Astronomy: Anton Petrov

Coder vlogs: ThinMatrix, Jonathan Blow

Esoteric Knowledge: Rev Jonathan Barlow Gee

Found linus tech tips surprisingly entertaining.

e.g. Their episodes attempting to watercool 6 powerful PCs on a giant watercooling loop

Michael Stark Investing - to learn about long-term & professional investing

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJetbEO3QGCosQHb_43jVNg/fea...

Throwing in some random favorites : Kento bento ( amazing bank heist, war, world politics vids )

3blue1brown (math)

brothersGreenEats ( cooking )

codingtrain

'JHS Pedals', 'shnobel', 'JLeonardJ', and 'Mike Hermans' all have great content about guitar pedals, effects, etc.

[Note: Even if you're not a guitarist, JHS's "The First Guitar Effects Ever" is an interesting watch.]

Food Wishes, Laura in the Kitchen, Bon Appetit, Tasty, Munchies, Pasta Grannies, Maangchi

I'd add Americas Test Kitchen - independent testing of kitchen appliances and basics. Recipe how to's after extensive testing. Good cooking tips.

PBS Eons for Paleontology and Anthropology - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzR-rom72PHN9Zg7RML9EbA

Try Smartereveryday. Love Dustin to hell. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6107grRI4m0o2-emgoDnAA

Tech channels for keeping up to date: LinusTechTips, Techlinked, Science Studio

Tech channels that go in-depth on various topics: GamersNexus, Actually Hardcore Overclocking, Computerphile, LiveOverflow

Math:

3Blue1Brown

History:

Shadiversity, The Armchair Historian

Futurism:

Isaac Arthur

Politics:

Aydin Paladin

Videogames:

Bellular News, Digital Foundry

Electronics:

EEVBlog

Guns and other weapons:

hickok45, ForgottenWeapons

Accursed Farms is the best gaming related channel I'm subscribed to. For whatever reason I think his series, Game Dungeon, is the best thing on the internet.

For engineering/machining - This Old Tony, AvE, Micheal Cthulhu

Watercolor by Shibasaki

Surprised not to see Computerphile mentioned so far:

https://m.youtube.com/channel/UC9-y-6csu5WGm29I7JiwpnA

Gaming & politics: Hbomberguy, Jim Sterling

Politics: Shaun, philosophytube, contrapoints

Food & Travel: Tabieats, mikey chen/strictly dumpling

Mountain Biking: seths bike hacks, bkxc

If you haven't checked out mountain biking youtube before I highly recommend it!

Will throw a shout out to bps.space, a channel about one guys quest to make a business out of model rockets. I don't think I've actually learned that much about rocketry but the videos are awesome.

Learn how to fix your car - Scotty Kilmer https://www.youtube.com/user/scottykilmer

Always enjoy watching ColdFusion - https://www.youtube.com/user/coldfustion

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4xKdmAXFh4ACyhpiQ_3qBw

Guitar:

- Pete Thorn - amazing guy, although no lessons, he shows various effects and stuff!

- Ben Eller - His lesson about vibrato is a must-watch

- Rick Beato - Just plain amazing

- Adam Neely - If you want to delve REALLY deep into music theory

Jayz2cents - lots of info and tutorials on custom PC water cooling. Last year I heavily binged his videos and built a custom rig with a custom loop. It's great fun.

Jackson Galaxy - How to be a better kitty father

Helpful Vancouver Vet - How to be a better kitty father

EricTheCarGuy - DIY car stuff

Scotty Kilmer - DIY car stuff

50sKid - DIY car stuff

I Like To Make Stuff - Woodworking

Paul Sellers - Woodworking

Stumpy Nubs - Woodworking

Jason Turner - C++

Wow. Thanks everyone for all these great suggestions. I guess I’ll have enough content to watch for years to come. Definitely bookmarking this thread

I've been inspired GoRails and Laracasts.

Outside of coding, I've enjoyed Day9, Marginal Revolution and various interview shows with accomplished guests.

My personal favorite is "closer to truth".

It touches on everything - math, biology, religion, philosophy, physics.

Just read. More information, more compressed, easier to skip what you already know. Now flame me :)

Your comment is definitely legitimate.

This post is for those who have already chosen to use youtube. How about you help us out with a Reading recommendation or a ask HN?

* Paul Davids

* Adam Neely

* Veritasium

* Smarter Every Day

* AvE (only if you can laugh with a Drunk Canadian)

* Minute Physics

* SciShow

* Cody's Lab

Hmmm based on the above list, you might also enjoy Up and Atom:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSIvk78tK2TiviLQn4fSHaw

Ivan Miranda This Old Tony Skyentific James Bruton Peter Sripol Marco Reps

scanlime https://www.youtube.com/user/micahjd

honest manual labor/heavy machinery/repairs/fabrication - Andrew Camarata https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUujfNBK9uv3cIW-P5PX7vA/vid...

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fixing old junk/cars/bikes/engines - Mustie1 https://www.youtube.com/user/mustie1/videos?disable_polymer=...

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fixing old electronic junk - The Post Apocalyptic Inventor https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDbWmfrwmzn1ZsGgrYRUxoA/vid...

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old technology deep dives - Technology Connections https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCy0tKL1T7wFoYcxCe0xjN6Q/vid...

Techmoan https://www.youtube.com/user/Techmoan/videos?disable_polymer...

VWestlife https://www.youtube.com/user/vwestlife/videos?disable_polyme...

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fixing electronics - The Workbench https://www.youtube.com/user/kore464/videos?disable_polymer=...

CORE https://www.youtube.com/user/1servicecore/videos?disable_pol...

Terabit Lab https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRRTfkRDKqsI9FSXP1sc4kw/vid...

Laptop.In.UA Videochannel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIHSBp0MiQDV-b1dQuS_BfA/vid...

Langeron.lg.ua https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2EQmypjuRR4oBYQICIEgCg/vid...

Remonter https://www.youtube.com/user/MrMarigor/videos?disable_polyme...

STS Telecom https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC39yMXOL0ubFxLWwF1RwelA/vid...

iPad Rehab https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPjp41qeXe1o_lp1US9TpWA/vid...

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welding aluminum - ПРАВКА,СВАРКА АЛЮМИНИЯ. Евгений Иванов https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_HZvxzC_PWvRKoFznYOfYw/vid...

what! you've been spying at my YouTube account for ideas? heheh.

Japanese Ammo With Misa

Khan Academy - Maths

Kurzgesagt - ??

are the ones I can think of right now.

Any good one for learning synths?

Dylan Tallchief is pretty good:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIu2Fj4x_VMn2dgSB1bFyQA/fea...

Some wide variety of picks for eclectic tastes :)

If you have any recommendations you think I'd enjoy please drop a reply.

============================

* LiveOverflow (security/hacking/CTFs)

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClcE-kVhqyiHCcjYwcpfj9w

His Pwnie Island series is super fun and accessible for just about everyone about how to apply hacking concepts to a networked video game, with more in-depth other vids on smashing the stack, overflows, and lately, hacking JS engine.

============================

* Tronics Fix (repairs)

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfOrKQtC1tDfGf_fFVb8pYw

He repairs broken consoles, especially modern eg. Switch / PS4 / XBone. If you're interested in repairability / how these things work inside it's pretty interesting.

============================

* Helpful Vancouver Vet (pets)

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtEnS6HGyK1oe71sxbJuhcw

Tips on how to look after your pet, with a general focus on cats, occasionally dogs.

============================

* People Make Games (gaming industry background stories)

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZB6V9fUov0Mx_us3MWWILg

Stories on the stuff that goes on behind the games. How Neopets was owned by Scientologists. The history of a particular title. Shutdowns / layoffs at Blizzard / Telltale.

============================

* Middle 8 (music)

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfeppgcy70ERp4gQrsYijsg

Focus on particularly indie/alternative music - how influential albums were made, how up and coming stars are changing the landscape

============================

* Marshall McGee (audio design)

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIoNgwHpavUi2UnC68cKgbw

He works for a AAA game developer. Focus on how to create engaging sound design, with a lean towards gaming, but also dipping into TV and movie audio design

============================

* Modern Vintage Gamer (emulation/DRM/anti-piracy)

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjFaPUcJU1vwk193mnW_w1w

Vids go into detail on how different consoles, arcade boards etc. implement(ed) DRM and anti-piracy measures. Also works on his own homebrew stuff, so some vids on that like getting Diablo running on Switch.

============================

* Summoning Salt (speedrun history)

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtUbO6rBht0daVIOGML3c8w

Pick a game and run through the history of speedrunning a particular category in that game. How the record has progressed over time, major breakthroughs, glitches and the stories behind the records.

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