Ask HN: What are some of the most interesting YouTube channels to follow?

- FarmCraft101 = A guy who owns a farm and does a mixture of Dad skills and quite ambitious engineering https://www.youtube.com/@FarmCraft101

- StuffMadeHere = A lot of people have already recommended this, I also would too https://www.youtube.com/@StuffMadeHere

- Asianometry = "Science, Technology, History, Asia, mostly" great on semiconductors and the economics/business levers behind it https://www.youtube.com/@Asianometry

- Project Farm = thorough testing of hardware https://www.youtube.com/@ProjectFarm

- TwoMinutePapers = Latest breakthrough in AI https://www.youtube.com/@TwoMinutePapers

- Marius Hornberger = a very talented machinist/maker who makes good videos https://www.youtube.com/@MariusHornberger

Stuff made here

I mada a 100MPH flying hoop -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHWXZyfhQas

Boy Boy

"We went to North Korea to get a haircut" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BO83Ig-E8E

"Ukraine: The avoidable war" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LL4eNy4FCs8

Also one of the people behind boy boy:

I did a thing - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJLZe_NoiG0hT7QCX_9vmqw

Liveoverflow - Exploration / explanation videos about it security https://www.youtube.com/@LiveOverflow

Stacksmashing - Videos about it security https://www.youtube.com/@stacksmashing

MIT Opencourseware - Courses published by MIT https://www.youtube.com/@mitocw

# General

Chris Titus: https://www.youtube.com/user/homergfunk

Linus Tech Tips: https://www.youtube.com/user/LinusTechTips

LockPickingLawyer: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCm9K6rby98W8JigLoZOh6FQ

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

Wolfgangs Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsnGwSIHyoYN0kiINAGUKxg

# Electronics

GreatScott!: https://www.youtube.com/user/greatscottlab

Hugh Jeffreys: https://www.youtube.com/user/hughydo

# Linux

LearnLinuxTV: https://www.youtube.com/user/JtheLinuxguy

Luke Smith: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2eYFnH61tmytImy1mTYvhA

I’ll list some of my subs that aren’t mainstream and were not posted yet:

Tech museums:

Necroware - a guy repairs and discusses circa '90s pc pcbs and other stuff. https://youtube.com/channel/UCKU5nwSWYXa3xfXGBlKyvdw

vswitchzero - another guy, same topic. https://youtube.com/channel/UCGcOrQ_IW4TYcdF5M1pRchA

Chyrosran22 - keyboard reviews, focuses on historical and non-mainstream models, enthusiast. https://youtube.com/user/Chyrosran22

All three a good language, zero sensational bs, “hands and things” format.

Nice views, exploration:

Ninurta - https://youtube.com/user/NinurtaSpb

Stefan Forster - https://youtube.com/user/stefanforsterdotcom

Shiey - https://youtube.com/results?search_query=Shiey (channels get banned(?) / not available sometimes; go through search and related videos)

https://www.youtube.com/@seancarroll | (The Mindscape playlist) Cosmology, philosophy, many topics, great AMAs

https://www.youtube.com/@HistoryoftheUniverse | Well researched cosmic history, excellent voice-over talent

https://www.youtube.com/@VoicesofthePast | Stunning first-person historical accounts, same excellent voice talent

https://www.youtube.com/@CoolWorldsLab | Astronomy, cosmology, etc

https://www.youtube.com/@CSIStarbase | In-depth research on SpaceX's Starbase in a fun format

https://www.youtube.com/@EverydayAstronaut | In-depth rocketry

https://www.youtube.com/@scottmanley | Everything space

https://www.youtube.com/@GrindHardPlumbingCo | Crazy car builds, machining

https://www.youtube.com/@rctestflight | DIY radiocontrolled projects, lots of Ardupilot

https://www.youtube.com/@ZackFreedman | DIY electronics, 3d printing, love his wacky style

https://www.youtube.com/@StuffMadeHere | Incredible DIY mechanical engineering projects

I would add

https://www.youtube.com/@pbsspacetime | PBS Space Time

and

https://www.youtube.com/@HistoryoftheEarth | History of the Earth, which is think is a sister channel to History of the Universe.

Good additions!

Few more which I had forgotten, ParallaxNick is a hidden gem:

https://www.youtube.com/@parallaxnick637 | Science, history, astronomy, gorgeous poetic narration, love how he puts science in historical context

https://www.youtube.com/@WardCarroll | Veteran F-14 Tomcat radar intercept officer covers air power, episodes with Justin Bronk are the best open intel on Russia and Ukraine available

https://www.youtube.com/@MakingShorts | Joel Haver's quirky comedy shorts, sometimes sublime melancholic pieces

Tom Scott‘s:

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

Adrian's Digital Basement for all things retro, with a focus on CRTs, C64, early Apple stuff, Tandy, TRS-80, and more.

https://www.youtube.com/@adriansdigitalbasement

A mix of various things. Google to get to the channel:

pbs spacetime

stuff made here

ben eater's 8 bit computer

mike boyd

nerdforge

sabine hossenfelder

gotham chess

uthermal

3blue1brown

veritasium

Numberphile

Suckerpinch (all time favourite: https://youtu.be/LA_DrBwkiJA)

Stevey's tech talk

leonard susskind's stanford lectures

Wristwatch revival

Advoko Makes

Jeff Geerling, he has everything that your inner Geek deserves!

I think nobody mentioned Applied Science, so that'll be my contribution to the thread:

https://youtube.com/@AppliedScience

From his about page: "You'll see how an electron microscope was built in a home shop, how an X-ray backscatter system works, how to make aerogel, and many other hi-tech projects. Topics usually include electromechanical systems, chemistry, and electronics."

That totally depends on what you're looking for. Some of my favorites are

- Primer (academic subjects)

- Linking your Thinking (tutorials for Obsidian)

- Stuff Made Here (Entertaining and impressive robotics projects)

- a life engineered (all sorts of career advice stuff)

- Reducible (animations of CS subjects)

- ByteByteGo (short and informative videos about system design)

- Wolfgang's Channel (all sorts of home networking/selfhosted videos)

- Jack Rhysider (entertaining and informative podcasts about cyber security and cyber crime)

- Dark History (disaster documentaries)

Wintergatan is pretty awesome IMHO.

https://youtube.com/@Wintergatan

Internet Historian is doing the best work on the site right now.

Unfortunately his most recent video got a copyright claim, but in the meantime you should start here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qh9KBwqGxTI

I like South Main Auto's (Auto Repair) channel. The way he troubleshoots and diagnoses problems is very informative and you will learn something new about fixing cars in every video.

I say, If you can turn a wrench then you can fix a car. You just need to know which bolt to turn.

I started playing around with the youtube api to find just that. They only give you so many free search credits so you have to be careful with which calls you make. And in what order. I found the best way is to search for keywords like:

https://github.com/andrewarrow/many-possible-worlds/blob/mai...

then call get channel from the channel_id returned in the search:

https://github.com/andrewarrow/many-possible-worlds/blob/mai...

Inheritance Machining is one of my most recent favorites: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVI8Mfisni3GaobL1e2JOIQ

I’ve watched every single video.

Obviously, the answer to this question about "most interesting" is gonna heavily depend on your specific interests, but if you're interested in 3D graphics (and creating them yourself), Blender 3D is excellent (and Free[dom]; and free[of cost]), and https://www.youtube.com/user/AndrewPPrice (Blender Guru) has excellent tutorials to help you in your journey from "noob" to "guru". ;~)

Modern Vintage Gamer if you're into emulation history: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqP3ZzWiul0

This guy is deceptively good, when I first heard him I wasn't impressed, but he does seem to have in depth knowledge.

Suckerpinch barely ever releases a video, but when he does they are great. NaN gates and FlipFlops are my favorite: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TFDG-y-EHs

You can only get good at mathematics by doing, but if there is a channel that helps you get better at math passively it is probably Michael Penns': https://www.youtube.com/@MichaelPennMath

- Ted Woodford (https://www.youtube.com/@twoodfrd): Stringed instrument repair, mostly old accoustic and electric guitars.

- Artisan Makes (https://www.youtube.com/@artisanmakes): Hobby machining.

- Rex Krueger (https://www.youtube.com/@RexKrueger): Woodworking.

Kurzgesagt

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsXVk37bltHxD1rDPwtNM8Q

Short cartoon science videos

There has been quite a lot of controversy around them in the past, to my understanding especially in the topic of global warming.

Adam Duff (LucidPixul). He does Art talks - talks about stuff while drawing, but something in the way he speaks and presents his stories clicks with me.

His channel: https://www.youtube.com/@AdamDuffArt

Example video about procrastination: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJlJC6yjLpw

If anyone here knows similar YouTubers - please let me know.

- Jacob Geller (video essays, usually about video games, literature and film) - Baumgartner Restoration (narrated professional art restoration) - Itchy Boots (woman traveling continents by solo motorcycle) - Mustard (aviation and naval history) - Posy (hard to explain, just watch a popular video) - Ronald Finger (DIY auto restoration) - Technology Connections (essays on technology in the general sense- not just computers)

Gaming Historian https://www.youtube.com/@GamingHistorian

Lots of my regulars are already covered by others here, one to add: https://youtube.com/@2STROKESTUFFING

I'm not a petrolhead, not but a longshot, but his optimization process has very similar qualities to good software optimization. Oh, and there's also lots of great premature optimization.

Well, I’d recommend following me! https://youtube.com/@atomic14

https://www.youtube.com/@getoffmylawn6692 is an upcoming channel which covers many obscure DOS games. It's cool to see old games which are usually made by one or two people.

It's also one guy who posts 5 times a week and has ~2000 subscribers, which IMO makes it deserve views on its own

I really like fasterthanlime, especially with the depth of knowledge. He was the first video creator that explained register usage in assembly in a way that wasn't so dry that I lost attention.

https://youtu.be/VMpSYJ_7aYM

Andrew Huberman provides deep dives into health, longevity, and fitness. Anyone interested in those topics would be well-served to check him out.

https://www.youtube.com/@hubermanlab

Some of my favorites include:

Professor Leonard (math: mostly lectures) - https://www.youtube.com/@ProfessorLeonard

Math Sorcerer (math: book reviews, lectures, comedy, etc) - https://www.youtube.com/@TheMathSorcerer

PatrickJMT (math) - https://www.youtube.com/@patrickjmt

Up and Atom (science) - https://www.youtube.com/@upandatom

Physics Girl (science) (sidebar: get healthy again soon Diana!) - https://www.youtube.com/@physicsgirl

Last Best Tool (tool reviews) - https://www.youtube.com/@lastbesttool

Torque Test Channel (tool tests: sometimes destructive) - https://www.youtube.com/@TorqueTestChannel

NC Bassin' (bass fishing: mostly on Lake Norman in NC) - https://www.youtube.com/@landonmoore76

3Blue1Brown (math: emphasis on cool visualizations) - https://www.youtube.com/@3blue1brown

Michael Penn (math) - https://www.youtube.com/@MichaelPennMath

EEVBlog (electronics) - https://www.youtube.com/@EEVblog

ElectroBOOM (Mehdi, electronics) - https://www.youtube.com/@ElectroBOOM

Great Scott (electronics) - https://www.youtube.com/@greatscottlab

Marco Reps (electronics, 3d printing, CNC, etc) - https://www.youtube.com/@reps

Sabine Hossenfelder (science) - https://www.youtube.com/@SabineHossenfelder

The Signal Path (electronics) - https://www.youtube.com/@Thesignalpath

Marsh Man Masson (fishing: mostly in the bayous of South Louisiana) - https://www.youtube.com/@MarshManMasson

The 8-bit Guy (retro-computing) - https://www.youtube.com/@The8BitGuy

Ben Eater (electronics) - https://www.youtube.com/@BenEater

Zach Freedman (aka Void Star Labs) (maker stuff - 3d printing, etc) - https://www.youtube.com/@ZackFreedman

Dr. Becky (astrophysics) - https://www.youtube.com/@DrBecky

618 Fishing (fishing: mostly in the lower midwest) - https://www.youtube.com/@618Fishing

Intuitive Angling with Randy Blaukat (bass fishing) - https://www.youtube.com/@randyblaukatintuitive

Reel Hillary Sue (bass fishing) - https://www.youtube.com/@TheReelHilarySue

Scott Martin Fishing (bass fishing) - https://www.youtube.com/@ScottMartinChallenge

Corporals Corner (bushcraft, camping) - https://www.youtube.com/@recall5811

Reallybigmonkey1 (bushcraft, camping) - https://www.youtube.com/@Reallybigmonkey1

Camping with Steve (steve wallis, stealth camping) - https://www.youtube.com/@campingwithsteve

Tibees (math) - https://www.youtube.com/@tibees

The Amp Hour (electronics oriented podcast) - https://www.youtube.com/@TheAmpHour

The Den of Tools (tool reviews and related) - https://www.youtube.com/@denoftools

WranglerStar (tool reviews, homesteading, and "other") - https://www.youtube.com/@wranglerstar

Millis Construction (tool reviews) - https://www.youtube.com/@MillisConstruction

Flammable Maths (math) - https://www.youtube.com/@papaflammy

Stand Up Maths (math) - https://www.youtube.com/@standupmaths

Blackpenredpen (math) - https://www.youtube.com/@blackpenredpen

Louis Rossman (electronics, repair, right-to-repair, apple) - https://www.youtube.com/@rossmanngroup

Profrobbob (math) - https://www.youtube.com/@profrobbob

I like Clickspring - https://youtube.com/@Clickspring

The series for his build of a Anthikythera mechanism is great to watch.

Cryo Chamber: https://www.youtube.com/user/cryochamberlabel - Dark Ambient label

Wow, no mention of Practical Engineering, yet?!

https://www.youtube.com/@PracticalEngineeringChannel

Huge +1 for Practical Engineering.

This guy is doing a public service. He admittedly loves public infrastructure and civil engineering and does an amazing job of balancing the technical details and gist of the underlying physics and engineering constraints with the context of the real world applications.

Sometimes the topics are almost comically mundane, but I jumped into them and found it thoroughly interesting. One example is his 10-minute explainer "What is a Culvert"[1]. It's the perfect debunking of something seeming "trivial" to the casual observer. In another video he comments on why on construction sites you see so many folks "just standing around".

He has videos you can watch with your kids about things you might ordinarily just wave your hands about, like "How Water Towers Work"[2]. And then bigger more much involved explanations on topics you certainly have heard of but never bothered to look into, like "What Really Happened During the 2003 Blackout?"[3].

lol I feel like I sound like a advertisement but I really just love his work and thoroughly recommend having this channel in your repertoire. He's also just earnest, not unnecessarily dire or animated, and often gives what feel like fair and balanced perspectives on some of the social issues surrounding these topics.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15XJDmawbYU [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZwfcMSDBHs [3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KciAzYfXNwU

https://johnzanussi.com/youtube

Anton Petrov https://youtube.com/@whatdamath

I mean, that describes the vast, vast majority of Youtube channels, but...

Esoterica[0] scholarly explorations of occult texts and practices (also see Religion For Breakfast, hochelaga)

Kaz Rowe[1] historical essays, usually LGBT inclined (also see Matt Baume, Contrapoints, T1J)

Secret Galaxy TV[2] toy and tv history (also see Kenny Lauderdale, Pushing Up Roses)

Freya Holmer[3] Math, gamedev and tech (also see gamesfromscratch, javidx9)

Steve Shives[4] Politics, Star Trek and pop culture (also see Jesse Gender, Kat Blaque, Trekyards)

Drachinifel[5] Boats and boat related accessories (also see Dr Alexander Clarke, lindybeige)

Scholagladiatora[6] Swords and sword related accessories (also see skallagrim, shadiversity, themetatron)

Justin Whang[7] Internet culture and lost media (also see sakura stardust, LsupersonicQ, blameitonjorge, wendigoon)

[0]https://www.youtube.com/@TheEsotericaChannel

[1]https://www.youtube.com/@KazRowe

[2]https://www.youtube.com/@SecretGalaxyTV

[3]https://www.youtube.com/@Acegikmo/videos

[4]https://www.youtube.com/@SteveShives

[5]https://www.youtube.com/@Drachinifel

[6]https://www.youtube.com/@scholagladiatoria

[7]https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3jdnIP2u5hCJpVZ-TuDrCg

Also prior HN threads:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32220192 (316 comments)

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20385679 (143 comments)

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7609584 (128 comments)

A few I follow that don't seem to have been mentioned already.

RMtransit - Good videos about Transit topics and individual transit systems https://www.youtube.com/@RMTransit

CityNerd - Very drool videos about cities and transit. US orientated https://www.youtube.com/@CityNerd

Railways Explained - Railway topics https://www.youtube.com/@RailwaysExplained

Economics Explained - Reviews of economics topics https://www.youtube.com/@EconomicsExplained

What about it - Rockets but especially SpaceX's Starship https://www.youtube.com/@Whataboutit

Since you mentioned City nerd I would add City Beautiful and Not Just Bikes

Anthony Fantano for music

Anton Petrov - space and science

MOVIES

https://youtube.com/@AaronHunter

https://youtube.com/@SpikimaMovies

https://youtube.com/@TheKinoCorner

https://youtube.com/@patrickhwillems

https://youtube.com/@ThomasFlight

https://youtube.com/@RedLetterMedia

https://youtube.com/@deepfocuslens

https://youtube.com/@styleissubstance

https://youtube.com/@TheCinemaCartography

https://youtube.com/@lwlies

https://youtube.com/@EyebrowCinema

https://youtube.com/@pillboxmovies

------------

MUSIC

https://youtube.com/@theneedledrop

https://youtube.com/@professorskye

https://youtube.com/@MicTheSnare

https://youtube.com/@deepcuts

------------

DESIGN

https://youtube.com/@LinusBoman

------------

COOKING

https://youtube.com/@aragusea

------------

POLITICS

https://youtube.com/@Channel5YouTube

https://youtube.com/@ContraPoints

------------

VIDEOGAMES

https://youtube.com/@XboxAhoy

https://youtube.com/@videogamedunkey

------------

FUN

https://youtube.com/@ManCarryingThing

https://youtube.com/@KRAZAM

https://youtube.com/@MeatCanyon

https://youtube.com/@PrimmsHoodCinema

------------

GUILTY PLEASURE

https://youtube.com/@loomecyv2653

I watch reasonably long content typically in the philosophy/sociology space, though not exclusively. Here are some of my favorites:

Philosophy Tube has pretty good rundowns of different areas in philosophy. A year or so ago she came out as trans and that has really elevated the show to a new level, but perhaps also narrowed the focus somewhat.

Alice Cappelle makes down-to-earth video essays about structural and social issues we all encounter. I enjoy hearing her European perspective.

We're In Hell is your pot smoking neighbors lefttube video essay channel that frequently sidetracks about reality TV. I don't know what else to say about that. His takes tend to be well thought out.

jonasceikaCCK makes really good videos about philosophical concepts, their origins, and their counterparts. I would say the same about Then & Now

Unlearning Economics is the left-tube economics channel. There are others that will touch on economics, but this guy is much better informed and presents more thorough analysis than the rest.

Maggie Mae Fish is an excellent media critique video essayist. Her videos tend to reveal the social pressures which shape media into what they are, whether that be patriarchy and bigotry or something more specific to the creator. She also provides different perspectives on (or different readings of) the text that tend to differ pretty wildly from what you'd get on other similar channels.

Noah Samsen, Tara Mooknee, and Tiffany Ferg all make content showing different subcultures on the internet and usually how they're harmful. I like watching channels like these because it helps me understand at least a little of what's going on in the side of the world that participates in that form of social media.

https://www.youtube.com/@PhilosophyTube

https://www.youtube.com/@AliceCappelle

https://www.youtube.com/@WereInHell

https://www.youtube.com/@jonasceikaCCK

https://www.youtube.com/@ThenNow

https://www.youtube.com/@unlearningeconomics9021

https://www.youtube.com/@MaggieMaeFish

https://www.youtube.com/@TaraMooknee

https://www.youtube.com/@NoahSamsen

https://www.youtube.com/@tiffanyferg

https://www.youtube.com/@SMN

https://www.youtube.com/@Tom_Nicholas

Almost everything here is at least somewhat leftist so this list may not be for you.

Thoughtful right wing channels:

https://www.youtube.com/c/thomassowelltv

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEBY1LNHPiJ6AE0B1wxfNHw

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2kkU18MIJpUaCdokZj3_kQ

Would love any similar recs.

Some that hadn't been mentioned yet (at least when I started writing this) :)

CuriousMarc has some stunning repair/teardowns of old kit, including a long series on the Apollo Guidance Computer: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3bosUr3WlKYm4sBaLs-Adw

Juan Browne's Blancolirio channel has interesting insights into most air crashes and near misses: https://www.youtube.com/user/blancolirio

BobbyBroccoli has created some stunningly high quality videos on scientific scandals and controversies: https://www.youtube.com/user/BobbyBroccoli

Captain Disillusion has fantastic insights into CGI and video manipulation, presented in a rather unique style: https://www.youtube.com/user/CaptainDisillusion

CGPGrey produces high quality, informative and quirky videos about all sorts of things (why runways have the numbers they do, the history of the name Tiffany). Always well written with a pleasing use of language: https://www.youtube.com/user/CGPGrey

CodingSecrets has been commercially coding on consoles for 30 years and has some great insights into how old games work - sega especially https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkY047vYjF92-8HcoVTXAOg

ConnectionsMuseum is a must watch if you're into early telephone exchanges (or want to understand where half the terminology and timers come from in SIP). They have a handful of different vintange telephone switches and go quite in depth explaining how they work: https://www.youtube.com/user/museumofcomm

Frame Voyager has a fantastic series on "abandoned" cinema cameras. Well presented, and interesting if you're into film and tech: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmXGDFnFh95WlZjhwmA5aeQ

Hbomberguy is... something else, especially in presentation style (personally I love it). His "Vaccines and Autism, a Measured Response" video is stunningly informative and presents more information into the Andrew Wakefield scandal than any other documentary on the topic. https://www.youtube.com/user/hbomberguy

HowNOT2 started out as slacklining, but have spent a lot of time deliberately breaking and abusing rock climbing gear in various ways. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQvq-0fss4lNrmIz7gcPLtQ

Ian Hubert has created a couple of short but absolutely unbelievably amazing videos in Blender. A must watch if you're interested in 3D, green-screen or scifi. https://www.youtube.com/user/mrdodobird

Isaac Arthur: Science, space, futurism. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZFipeZtQM5CKUjx6grh54g

John Ward does some dry but extremely informative mains electrical theory and regulations (UK centric): https://www.youtube.com/user/jjward

Jay Foreman: Silly educational videos: https://www.youtube.com/user/jayforeman51 (also find "Map Men").

Karl Jobst: Video game speedrunning and controversy: https://www.youtube.com/user/karljobst

LindyBeige: History of war and weapons: https://www.youtube.com/user/lindybeige

Photonic Induction: Think ElectroBoom, except this nutter blows up 400A fuses. High voltage silliness: https://www.youtube.com/user/Photonvids

Ringway Manchester: (Ham) radio related: https://www.youtube.com/user/RINGWAYMANCHESTER

Sabine Hosselfelder: Science updates without the hype or spin: https://www.youtube.com/user/peppermint78

This Old Tony: Stunningly high quality, dry humour machining: https://www.youtube.com/user/featony