What are your favorite educational or informative YouTube channels?
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Ordered randomly.
- RobWords — Lots of trivia about English as well as some other languages, some focusing on etymology, others on alphabet and so on..
- Tapakapa — Quick explainers, recently focusing on country flags (there should be a -logy word for flags knowledge, I don't remember) EDIT: vexillology, as a few people pointed out
- Carefree Wandering — Philosophy; Religion: specifically Daoism and Confucianism; Media theory; Identity "technolgies", specifically the concept of "profilicity"
- Unsolicited Advice — Philosophy explainers; more approachable and less academic than the previous one, I guess
- Ben Eater — 8-bit CPU made on breadboard fame, hands on explainer of computer architecture, networking, electronics and so on
- Patrick Boyle — On finance, mostly for entertainment purposes
- LegalEagle — In-depth analysis and discussion on American law and reporting on recent prominent legal cases
- TechAltar — "Analytical videos about tech companies"
- rewboss — A Brit living in Germany, with some videos on recent events, local history, cultural tidbits from a personal perspective
- PolyMatter — In depth analysis of almost random, yet important matters
- Computerphile — Like Numberphile, but with computer scientists instead
- Artem Kirsanov — Computational neuroscience explainers
- LowSpecGamer — History of (home) computing with focus on gaming; I am most impressed with the story/lore of 6502, 8080, Z80, ARM CPUs, how they came about etc.
- NativLang — Linguistics, going quite in-depth, yet remaining approachable for the rest of us
- Reducible — Computer science explainers with high quality animation, reminiscent of 3blue1brown
- Faultline — "Telling human stories through geography"
- Explaining Computers — Operating systems and computer hardware, SBCs review, explainers
- The Present Past — History
- Lawarch — Deep-dives in politics, history etc.
- fern — "Armchair documentaries, almost weekly"
- Acharya Prashant — Spirituality
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Going alphabetically and leaving out ones that I think are a bit too niche.
12tone: Videos about music theory and song analysis https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTUtqcDkzw7bisadh6AOx5w
Atomic Shrimp: Very broad channel with topics as diverse as nature, cookery and scam avoidance. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSl5Uxu2LyaoAoMMGp6oTJA
CGPGrey: Gone downhill in recent years but his old stuff is still there. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2C_jShtL725hvbm1arSV9w
Design Theory: Recently discovered this channel, videos about product design. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdgUN8rX3SEb9L7FDub3I6A
Dr Geoff Lindsey: Linguistics videos focusing on the English language. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtFuCBKQTItHCwfHRP9LIjQ
Driver61: Videos on the technical aspects of motor racing; I'm not a huge motor racing fan but I find it interesting. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtbLA0YM6EpwUQhFUyPQU9Q
Geoff Marshall: Videos on UK railways and public transport, OK a bit niche but I like Geoff and his enthusiasm. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCd18OhMfRmjMjzSHP7Zrzmw
Jay Foreman: Comedy education videos on a variety of topics, largely UK-centric but not always. Uploads rarely but it's always worth the wait. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbbQalJ4OaC0oQ0AqRaOJ9g
Kurzgesagt: I think needs no introduction. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsXVk37bltHxD1rDPwtNM8Q
Langfocus: Linguistics videos. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNhX3WQEkraW3VHPyup8jkQ
Numberphile: Videos on mathematics that I think strikes the right balance of being accessible without dumbing down. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoxcjq-8xIDTYp3uz647V5A
Simon Roper: Mostly videos on the history of the English language. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChnRk6mxWsSOGElm8phdSxw
Tasting History with Max Miller: History told through recreating historic dishes. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsaGKqPZnGp_7N80hcHySGQ
The Aesthetic City: Ideas and opinions on archetecture and city planning. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCX4ppwcUldlxpuiRGoT1INQ
The Tim Traveller: Quirky travel videos about interesting places around Europe, quite nerdy, off-the-beaten-path type stuff. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2LVhJH_9cT2XKp0VAfsKOQ
Tom Scott: One of my most enduring favourite YouTubers, no longer active but there's plenty there. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBa659QWEk1AI4Tg--mrJ2A
Veritasium: Very good long-form science videos. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHnyfMqiRRG1u-2MsSQLbXA
Wendover Productions (and sister channel Half as Interesting): I guess mainly videos about infrastructure and logistics and stuff. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9RM-iSvTu1uPJb8X5yp3EQ
Geoff Lindsay is great
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Religion for breakfast is so much better than I'd expected when I first saw his channel pop up
Yeah, I'm always rather sceptical and have my guard way up when I come across a creator talking about religion. If it hadn't been for the greater trust I automatically have in a creator being added to Nebula (which is where I first came across this channel), I don't know if I would have started watching it. But I certainly don't regret it.
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Edit: Thank you for your responses! I’ll be sure to upvote and check out everyone’s annswers even if I don’t reply to each one individually.
Folding ideas is pretty cool
https://youtube.com/@foldingideas -
I’m a big fan of Practical Engineering — https://youtube.com/@practicalengineeringchannel
I'm Grady, and you just read this in my voice.
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Edit: Thank you for your responses! I’ll be sure to upvote and check out everyone’s annswers even if I don’t reply to each one individually.
sage the bad naturalist
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Edit: Thank you for your responses! I’ll be sure to upvote and check out everyone’s annswers even if I don’t reply to each one individually.
I have many faves, but for this list I offer Science Fiction With Damien Walter and Merlin.
Damien is an English writer living in Bali and talking to himself and us about scifi writers and philosophies. He has.....a delivery style.
Merlin is relatively new; a mesmerizing voice and afro discussing literature and philosophy.
https://youtube.com/@damienwalter
https://youtube.com/@merlinmeek
SEIDS is awesome if you're a Logic Pro user. She knows ALL the tips and tricks
Tale Foundry is great commentary on literature and culture given by a robot with a very milquetoast delivery
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PBS Space Time
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Edit: Thank you for your responses! I’ll be sure to upvote and check out everyone’s annswers even if I don’t reply to each one individually.
Renaissance Periodization - working out, dieting, bodybuilding and steroids.
Dr Mike Isratel is a Dr of exercise science and doesnt chat shit. They make their money pretty transparently, and give honest to god research backed information. Lots of information that can be extracted from Beginners to Advanced and he loves a good dick joke enough for all of his content to feel fun.
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Edit: Thank you for your responses! I’ll be sure to upvote and check out everyone’s annswers even if I don’t reply to each one individually.
If you're into an academic study of the occult or comparative religion, I like Esoterica by Doctor Justin Sledge (he's the guy from the tumblr alchemy meme about making a Paracellcian era anti-depressant)
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Edit: Thank you for your responses! I’ll be sure to upvote and check out everyone’s annswers even if I don’t reply to each one individually.
Crash Course! They have series on history, politics, games, psychology, philosophy, folk tales, and almost every host is very good.
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I’m a big fan of Practical Engineering — https://youtube.com/@practicalengineeringchannel
I second this. His teaching style is perfect.
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Edit: Thank you for your responses! I’ll be sure to upvote and check out everyone’s annswers even if I don’t reply to each one individually.
FYI, if you love long-format videos, be sure to share on c/mealtimevideos
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Edit: Thank you for your responses! I’ll be sure to upvote and check out everyone’s annswers even if I don’t reply to each one individually.
Garry's Economic
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Renaissance Periodization - working out, dieting, bodybuilding and steroids.
Dr Mike Isratel is a Dr of exercise science and doesnt chat shit. They make their money pretty transparently, and give honest to god research backed information. Lots of information that can be extracted from Beginners to Advanced and he loves a good dick joke enough for all of his content to feel fun.
I watched a couple of Mike's videos. Seems like good information and he is entertaining. No music, no ads, no goofie sound effects.
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Edit: Thank you for your responses! I’ll be sure to upvote and check out everyone’s annswers even if I don’t reply to each one individually.
wrote on last edited by [email protected]Not Just Bikes
Tales from a Canadian from Suburbia, Ontario who moved to the Netherlands.
He talks about public transit and city planning.They say falling into this rabbit hole is to take the "orange pill".
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FYI, if you love long-format videos, be sure to share on c/mealtimevideos
[email protected] - is this the one?
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Edit: Thank you for your responses! I’ll be sure to upvote and check out everyone’s annswers even if I don’t reply to each one individually.
wrote on last edited by [email protected]Ooo just thought of another. Animagraffs — https://youtube.com/@animagraffs
Takes large scale things (Hoover Dam, locomotive, F1 car, etc) and breaks them down into their components in a long-scale video format (30+ minutes). It’s oddly soothing to watch.
I think the Steam Locomotive one is my favorite so far. https://youtu.be/Hszu80NJ438
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Edit: Thank you for your responses! I’ll be sure to upvote and check out everyone’s annswers even if I don’t reply to each one individually.
wrote on last edited by [email protected]Esoterica is great. It’s mostly about gnostic side of western religious history. Dr. Justin Sledge is doing awesome research on the relevant topics. I’m watching that to know more about to put religion in a historical context.
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Edit: Thank you for your responses! I’ll be sure to upvote and check out everyone’s annswers even if I don’t reply to each one individually.
wrote on last edited by [email protected]Most of my youtube subs are educational/informative in some way or another, so I'm gonna break it up by category a bit..
General
- Half as Interesting
- Wendover Productions
- Answer in Progress
Religion/Philosophy
- Religion for Breakfast
- Esoterica
- Bart D. Ehrman
- PhilosophyTube
- Wisecrack (though it's dead as of a month ago it still has tons of great content)
- Michael Burns (the guy who did Wisecrack, now has his own channel, though it's more politically-oriented)
- UsefulCharts (not exclusively religious content, but largely)
- SatansGuide (I keep hoping they'll make more videos like their original 2, but it's been a year...)
General Science:
- Veritasium
- Dr Ben Miles
- Kyle Hill
- Stand Up Maths
- Primer
Science Experimentation:
- Nile Red
- Thought Emporium
- Styropyro
- Tech Ingredients
- Alpha Phoenix
- Applied Science
- BPS.Space
Programming/AI:
- Sebastian Lague (his Coding Adventure series is super fun and informative)
- Emergent Garden
- Code Bullet
Engineering:
- Practical Engineering
- Real Engineering
- SuperfastMatt (guy builds crazy cars for fun, love his sense of humor)
History:
- History Matters (great short videos on historical topics)
- Miniminuteman/Milo Rossi (mostly archaeology and such)
Geography:
- Daniel Steiner
- Map Nerd
- Jay Foreman (Map Men is hilarious, and the rest of his stuff is pretty good too)
