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Ask HN: Favorite teachers on YouTube?
770 points by akudha on Sept 16, 2018 | hide | past | favorite | 189 comments
Currently I am watching Daniel Shiffman (example : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_p5IH0L63wo) and I really like his enthusiasm. I've watched a whole bunch of high production, paid courses (udemy, udacity etc) and somehow Shiffman's free videos are more fun to watch and learn.

Any other teachers you like? Doesn't need to be math or computers, other subjects welcome too




Sentdex has some excellent videos on python, surprised nobody mentioned him yet.

general engineering/science: Applied science is just so so good

Chemistry: NurdRage and Nile red are both good, although I prefer NurdRage.

Electronics: Mike's electric stuff, Mr Carlson's Lab,and bigclive.

Math: Can't beat 3blue1brown, although numberphile has some good content as well.

Maching/shop: This old tony and mrpete222. Ave is entertaining but not too educational.

Comp Sci: sentdex (python) and liveoverflow (security/Rev eng).

Most of these aren't courses, although they are all educational. For instance, applied science isn't trying to teach anything, he's just presenting his projects. But unless you are a true rennisance person I guarantee you will learn something from every video.

Edit: forgot to mention, check out speeches from conferences like cppcon and defcon, excellent sources that are sometimes easy to miss.


Just going to add Clickspring to the machining category. Content doesn't come up as often, and there can be an immediate reaction of "wow, that's above my pay grade" because of the things he's making and the video production, but in the end Chris is a hobbyist using hobbyist tools and doing a lot of hand work, all with good explanations.


The size of his shop also eliminates most "I don't have a space big enough" excuses.

http://www.clickspringprojects.com/blog/from-little-things


Seconding Clickspring. His australian accent is also very soothing


> Maching/shop: This old tony and mrpete222. Ave is entertaining but not too educational

Please also check out Abom79, Keith Fenner / Turn Wright Machine Works, Keith Rucker / vintagemachinery.org, Tom Lipton / oxtoolco, Stefan Gotteswinter, and ROBRENZ (this guy _really_ knows what he is talking about)!


Ave is extremely entertaining, but I think he is highly educational. He imparts a lot of pratical knowledge, that you won't find elsewhere. Knowledge about molds and manufacturing.


I wish he would grow up, cut the profanity, sex talk and ethnic bashing so that my kid could watch.


You basically don't want to watch AvE


As much as I want to like sentdex he's a bit lacking in depth and experience. For security you forgot Gynvael if you have the time for a 2 hour livestream vod.


RE: Conference Speeches

There's a channel called 'Coding Tech' that conglomerates talks from a variety of conferences.


Sentdex is one of my favourites too!


+1 for Sentdex


I’d throw in Periodic Videos for chemistry, brought to you from the same guy who does Numberphile. It’s just a pleasure to watch, even if you already know the material. MinutePhysics is also a lot of fun as a teaching aid, or entertainment.


Let me be the first of many many people who would vouch for 3Blue1Brown's Grant Sanderson - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYO_jab_esuFRV4b17AJtAw

It's one of the best channels to learn math and his amazing style of explaining concepts in simple to put terms and visually appealing graphics is mindblowing. This is one channel that is worth supporting on Patreon for sure.


Agreed. FWIW, I support two creators on Patreon:

Professor Leonard, and 3blue1brown.

Both are great if you are interested in learning math.


I can't recommend 3Blue1Brown enough. I essentially had to learn linear algebra three times between high school and college, and his Essence of Linear Algebra series still managed to teach me new things. What particularly sets him apart is his phenomenal visualizations of tricky problems involving higher dimensions, mappings, and the like.


His videos on neural networks are also great. Current Patreon supporter too! My t-shirt is in the mail ;)


I second that. The effort that goes into the visualisations are great.


AvE (arduinoversusevil). He's a Canadian engineer of some kind that mostly does tear downs of various equipment, commenting on their construction. He's also a foul mouthed master of malapropism, but those things just add spice. The engineering content and commentary are really fascinating and keep me coming back. He has the great teacher's ability to convey joy and astonishment at things I didn't even know were things and make me want to learn more. He's also taught me a lot of things that turned out to be of great practical use, like how to drill through steel, which brands of tools to avoid and which to pay through the nose for.

Keep your dick in a vice! (I don't know why. Maybe if I keep watching I'll find out.)

https://www.youtube.com/user/arduinoversusevil/about


Yep, enjoy watching him. He has an interesting combination of knowledge about materials, electronics, machining and general tools know-how.

I got a kick out of an episode when his young daughter came into the workshop while he was filming. Clearly he has had an effect on her because she wanted to "make some metal". He told her she had to leave because otherwise he can't swear. She replied "That's OK."

While I sometimes chuckle at his vulgarities, I'm a little disappointed that I can't let my young kid watch him because of the language. It would be a great way to help instill a love of tools and making stuff.


FWIW, I have a 12 yr old boy and had to reconcile my and the culture’s proclivity for swearing when he was old enough to know what was going on. I decided to treat it like other things in the category of “for adults only”. I.e it’s ok to watch adults doing it and when you’re an adult you can too, but until then, no swearing.

For the most part it’s worked. On the few occasions where he’ has sweared (sworn?) there have been consequences. So far he’s stayed on the straight and narrow.


Identical situation. Two boys; I swear frequently in front of them. They don't speak similarly.

In my case, I've emphasized the fact that if they start speaking as I do in public, they will face consequences from their teachers and the other adults around them. I think it helps that there are people, times, and places for which I distinctly modify my tone and vocabulary, and I think they have absorbed that along with everything else.


The subject of using profanity around your kids is a subject I have definite opinions about. But it is a whole other topic that I'm not sure belongs in this thread. I will, however, mention something Paul Graham says in one of his essays, that the only reason we teach our kids not to swear is because we want them to remain cute - that is just so off, in my opinion. I like what the comedian Jerry Seinfeld said, that if you have to use profanity when telling a joke then you didn't nail it. I think that applies more broadly than just joke telling.


> that the only reason we teach our kids not to swear is because we want them to remain cute

I disagree with that. For swearing to be useful as swearing, it must be taboo. Avoiding it in certain places and teaching children not to do it is part of preserving the taboo; it's preserving the cultural heritage for your children to enjoy when they grow up.


I like having content that is specifically not kid friendly. I find vulgarity to be quite entertaining and I wish there was more of it.


I can listen to him talk for hours (and do). He has absolutely mastered the English language, in the sense that it sounds like he's talking gibberish half the time, but you still know exactly what he means. That to me is a skill in itself, but then he also REALLY knows what he's talking about, to an incredible depth, so the puns and unique expressions actually complement some quite serious knowledge and teachings.

I wish I was half as good with words and explaining things.


His video on using hair shampoo to whiten his wife's dimmer cover was bordering on spoken word poetry.


I don't believe that was shampoo, rather bleach for hair.


“Keep your dick in a vice” is a play on words of the saying “keep you stick on the ice”. The latter being made famous by the Canadian comedian Steve Smith aka Red Green.


Probably should include the red green show - for a bit of redneck engineering https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUXPuYZ4DEQ&list=PLYA1dURVg2...


It would have been nice to have been warned not to take it literally.


One of the most joyful dude to watch, the constant stream of crummy puns rarely gets old IMO. Not a lot on the theoretical side but you'll learn things for sure.


I love AvE, though do grimace every time they start a clip with "Gentlemen!".


• Vi Hart (Math) https://www.youtube.com/vihart — I'm amazed nobody else listed her. She's my favourite math channel on YouTube (even though 3Blue1Brown is more technically informative, I just love Vi Hart's sense of style).

• Isaac Arthur (Space / Futurism / Speculative Science) — https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZFipeZtQM5CKUjx6grh54g — The graphics are pretty cheeseball, but the some of the topics he explores are fascinating. I recommend starting with https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pld8wTa16Jk&list=PLIIOUpOge0...

• Aerotwist (Frontend / JS) — https://www.youtube.com/aerotwist — Paul Lewis works (or used to work?) on the Chrome team, and is an alum of the (good) HTTP203 podcast

• LunchBox Sessions (Industrial hydraulic systems) — https://www.youtube.com/lunchboxsessions — The videos are just screencasts of schematic simulations, but the presenter (Carl) has a good level of enthusiasm. (Disclosure — I contributed to these videos as an editor / software dev.)


I have been listening to Isaac Arthur lately on the drive in to work - can't say I learn anything amazing, and he stretches his stuff out, but I haven't found anything better to fill the time.

I.e. it's more history channel than a tutorial, but you might be introduced to something to google later, maybe.


Robert Sapolsky's course on Biology of Human Behaviour (Stanford) - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL150326949691B199

Every Frame A Painting - understanding movies - https://www.youtube.com/user/everyframeapainting/videos

Captain Disillusion - debunking fake videos/understanding video effects - https://www.youtube.com/user/CaptainDisillusion/videos

Maths-related: Gilbert Strang

Science-related: Feynman

Hamming's The Art of Doing Science and Engineering: Learning to Learn course - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2FF649D0C4407B30


I'm reading Sapolsky's book "Behave". It's quite packed with info, better than a usual popular science book. I think I'll first finish it before I'm gonna go for another form factor to digest the same material.


Maybe rest for a few months first. :-) It's 25 x 90-100 minute lectures, an enormous amount of material. I enjoy his lectures a lot more than reading his prose; he's amazing.


Seconding Sapolsky's course.


I find Ben Eater's 8-bit computer from scratch series really wonderful, mainly because of his skills as an educator and the effort he puts into the material: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyznrdDSSGM&list=PLowKtXNTBy...

Check out his latest videos on low-level data transmission techniques as well.


Such an underrated channel, also check out his podcast with 3blue1brown and the other Ben, https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvEgr48zmIIYKzRzcl3nWbQ/vid... https://www.benbenandblue.com/


ChrisFix is an excellent channel for home auto repair. He has a format that both explains concepts with the appropriate level of depth and encourages the viewer to learn by doing. Any tutorial maker could learn a lot from his style.

His recent videos (last 2 years) have really taken the camera work and narration to a new level of quality, too. The contrast with other auto videos with poor framing and lighting is stark.

https://www.youtube.com/user/PaintballOO7

Bonus: Around the Corner (1937) is probably the greatest educational video ever made. The method of defining the problem and then building and iterating on the solution is extremely effective.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYAw79386WI


When it comes to car channels you also need to mention Project Binky from Bad Obsession Motorsport. They are building a 4 wheel drive classic mini cooper and it's both high quality metalwork and high quality very dry British humour. If you are even remotely into project cars (or British humour) then this is a must watch!


If you like Binky, I highly highly recommend Dogged Fabrication[0] and The Skid Factory[1], both of which are Australian car builders with insane amounts of skill, building some very interesting stuff.

[0] https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrK2_gqI4knOij31p_iandQ

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eA_dkvjUUu4&list=PLvKTvFJhZU... (the 4th and latest build, worth looking at their older ones too)


In that vein, fordtechmakuloco is wonderful for pretty much anything Ford, up to and including some pretty tricky stuff in the middle of the engine. I'm sure there are similar channels for other make/models, but that's a great one for Ford.



Dan Shiffman of The Coding Train is one of my favorites: https://www.youtube.com/user/shiffman/featured

He does creative coding tutorials mostly using Processing and P5js.


wow. i am blown away, this is what i've been looking for for the past few months. thank you so much. i was trying to figure out how to build and deploy and app ant he "Build a Full Stack Twitter Clone with Coding Garden" was extremely helpful. If you have similar suggestions for tutorials on how to build and deploy apps (ideally to AWS) please send them my way!


That's what inspired OP to create this post in the first place


I partnered with a Youtube teacher to create my video-based German language learning app.

She has a unique format of asking native Germans topical questions on the street and mixing in some grammar videos. And she is seriously beloved by language learners here in Berlin! We can barely walk down the street with her and her husband being recognized:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbxb2fqe9oNgglAoYqsYOtQ

My app: https://seedlang.com


I used to teach German as a foreign language and I found that Michael from smarter German is an excellent youtuber as well.

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


That looks pretty good - how times have changed since I used Lohnes and Strothman at uni


Im gonna guess here that shes not the founder of "easy german" so shes just part of that format, she didnt come up with it. The "easy langauge" is simply a bigger brand/ org and they offer many languages with many "teachers".

I checked out you app and its pretty generic flashcard learning and video lectures which is what every language learning app is doing (zero innovation on your part). And you demand 12 or 15 eur for "advanced features". Makes me depressed if you earn any money on that.

I am 90% done developing a really good language app which is better then duolingo (which is the Marktleader) and my goal is to integrate it with actual language classes by cooperating with language schools.

The work is hard but I believe in increasing efficiency of learning by a factor of 10x - then people like you pump out these apps that dont even do anything new and demand 12 eur for it.


If your app is as good and parent comment’s is as shit as you claim, you shouldn’t have any problem succeeding in the open market.

Dare you share the name of your app on HN, or are you afraid of someone taking a big steamy anonymous dump on it like you just did?


Posted a Prototype on reddit, and I plan on posting it on HN in a month or two. I learned programming to build that platform, I have a job and I had to do it in parallel to my university. I hope some day I can work full time for it.

But to respond to you, I already showed it to real people, who took a dump on it, and the redesigns are partly what I am working on right now. After that is finished I will try to do a cooperation with my universities language department and do a test roll out.

There is a woman who did multiple Kickstarter campaigns for a language learning app and she raised like 100k, but 5 years later the app is horrible. My goal is not the money but to build a perfect learning platform, so critique is welcome.


Your comment comes across as quite bitter, why not share your app and let your work speak for itself rather than degrading someone else’s efforts. If it’s as good as you say you won’t struggle to find users



Strang is wonderful. I worked my way through his entire OCW Linear Algebra course. His lectures are engaging and always explain complex topics well.


Pavel Grinfeld (MathTheBeautiful) has a wonderful Linear Algebra course that is imo underwatched. He also has courses on Vector Calculus and Tensor Calculus. [1]

Sandy Bultena has a great series on Euclid's elements with beautiful visualizations made from software she wrote [2]

For learning Mandarin Chinese, Mandarin Corner is my favorite channel. [3]

[1] https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCr22xikWUK2yUW4YxOKXclQ

[2] https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnHh6XeLupJ5FHSKDh9eIMw/pla...

[3] https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2fAiRQHRQT9aj9P_ijYeow


Thanks for this!


PBS SpaceTime for clear and deep introductions to modern Physics

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7_gcs09iThXybpVgjHZ_7g/


Funfunfunction with Mattias P. Johansson is awesome. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCO1cgjhGzsSYb1rsB4bFe4Q

Mostly short videos but with good relaxed content.


That's one of my favorites. He's not just informative, but inspirational. I even enjoy watching the videos where he covers something I'm already familiar with.


Leonard Suskind and Walter Levin are both phenomenal for physics.

Just checked and was also happy to see YouTube now also has the original Cosmos with Carl Sagan available [1]. It's more of a general interest series, but simultaneously also one of the most inspiring and thought provoking things I've ever watched. I couldn't recommend it more to anybody who's never seen it.

[1] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfCc7ZJjHiM&list=PLKSi40WEKt...


For lathe and mill stuff, I really love Abom79's approach: https://www.youtube.com/user/Abom79 He takes a single project at a time and just works through it step by step. The pacing and time it takes to do the work is part of getting a feel for it, IMHO.

For ham radio stuff and electronic test equipment, W2AEW is excellent: https://www.youtube.com/user/w2aew


For machining, it's hard to beat tubalcain (Mr. Pete). Retired high-school shop teacher, very educational and entertaining.

Edit: spelling



Agreed, I have learnt many things from his videos. Good content creator.



For Architecture - Eric Reinholdt, https://www.youtube.com/user/30by40

For construction.Matt Risinger , https://www.youtube.com/user/MattRisinger


Professor Pavlo at CMU Database Group. A rapid and engaging style of teaching. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHnBsf2rH-K7pn09rb3qvkA/fea...


No way! I went to grad school with Andy, he's a great guy, his channel is very good


Long time lurker, created an account just to post this - but Aswath Damodran (NYU Stern) posts almost all of his class lectures on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLvnJL8htRR1T9cbSccaoVw).

Apart from being a great teacher, his Financial Valuation course is one of the best you'll find online. To top it all he provides all the resources/datasets needed (including the quizzes/solutions etc.). Wonderful guy :-)


mycodeschool taught me core CS concepts better than anything else.

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

One of the teachers passed away and they stopped making videos, which is a shame. The Data Structures series is the best place to start:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92S4zgXN17o&list=PL2_aWCzGMA...


Essential Craftsman when it comes to DIY and construction: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzr30osBdTmuFUS8IfXtXmg


OMG four stars. I love him.


Introduction to Cryptography by Christoph Paar: (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1usFRN4LCMcfIV7UjHNuQg/vid...) He's a good professor and he takes the time to explain every detail.



Ian McCollum from Forgotten Weapons. The show is about the history and engineering of military and consumer firearms. I have no training in mechanical engineering, but its nice to just turn it on, and hear an expert talk about all the design tradeoffs and engineering considerations involved in a particular piece.

If you have ever wondered how a gun works, and what makes some work better than others, this guy literally has thousands of videos that will show you!


This is a great suggestion even if you're not a big gun person. I'm not a firearm owner but the detail and historical context in Forgotten Weapons is fascinating. Check out the sister-channel In Range as well.


This Old Tony, hands down my favorite. He covers a lot of shop topics, projects and such without going too monotone droning, but still covering an awful lot of information. He's also incredibly funny and the production values (educational notes and drawings and such) are amazing.


I rarely laugh out loud when whatching YouTube videos. If I do, it's probably because Tony caught me off guard with some sneaky subtle joke that snuck up on me 5 seconds later.


Walter Lewin for physics. His MIT undergrad physics courses (8.01, 8.03, and 8.03) are a perfect combination of practical with mathematical rigor.

Classical Mechanics: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyQSN7X0ro203puVhQsmC...

Electromagnetism: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyQSN7X0ro2314mKyUiOI...

Vibrations and Waves: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyQSN7X0ro22WeXM2QCKJ...


For music & music production theory, I really enjoy Rick Beato and Adam Neely when he's not being too overbearing.

For vintage guitar amp repairs I like the Guitologist. For general guitar repairs Dave's House of Fun Stuff gives me a chuckle sometimes.


Does Beato ever open up a DAW and talk about any techniques? I only ever see his opinion videos.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfzAxjn-kL4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLpD-6SqXvs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lTYIHftOrg

Those are 3 out of his 530 videos I found in under a minute.

Not to mention he has stacks of videos on song breakdowns, music theory and guitar technique which I'm more interested in anyway.


Sergey Levine - Deep Reinforcement Learning

All manner of control methods are covered, including non-neural-net methods, and how to mix and match different methods. Up-to-date and the best information you can get on sensorimotor learning to my knowledge.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLkFD6_40KJIznC9CDbVTj...

Complete course materials: http://rail.eecs.berkeley.edu/deeprlcourse/resources/#prevof...


A non-computing recommendation: 10 Minutes to Better Paintings

This playlist of 6 videos by Canadian artist Marco Bucci is excellent. Even if you can't draw or paint, or you have no interest in doing so, you'll still learn so many surprising details about visual design and colour. All presented with no fluff. I highly recommend it

(Note: the playlist is not ordered correctly but if you prefer you can watch only the only the videos you're interested in)

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLmXZMqb_9sbNLM83NrM0...


Not sure where to draw the line between edutainment and education here. Some favorite or curious -

barnabydixon : Puppetry - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxseO_JzIiiJENauW2RmcJQ

Gary Cheynne : A colorful whitebeard teaching Archery - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCufXwwtJmZWDzjdHXeWYO0w

History with Hilbert : A light history channel - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1Zc6_BhPXiCWZlrZP4EsEg

Northmen : Vintage footage of Nordic crafts - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcaVClI50rGZmbYMhoSSDGA

Rare Earth : Chris Hadfield and Son's reports and ruminations - https://www.youtube.com/user/ColChrisHadfield

Thought Slime : Funny anarchist perspectives (impractical?) - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrr7y8rEXb7_RiVniwvzk9w


Tech Ingredients is hands down the most informative science channel I have ever seen on YouTube. He only has 65k subs but the unnamed host appears to be a professor of some sort and has absolutely fantastic explanations and demonstrations of everything from magnetics and jet propulsion to chemistry.

Can not recommend enough. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVSHXNNBitaPd5lYz48--yg



I was just about to say Eddie Woo, but searched the comments first. For high school math, he is one of the best.


Eddie Woo is awesome


May I add Bisqwit to the list. https://www.youtube.com/user/Bisqwit

He is very low profile, and an interesting thing about him is that he is a bus driver by profession.


Bisqwit is a true programmer in my mind. The type that actually gets the hands dirty on lower level stuff and enjoys it wholeheartedly. Always a joy to watch his stuff


Chess: John Bartholomew https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6hOVYvNn79Sl1Fc1vx2mYA It's amazing to watch a GM/IM that can actually go through their entire thought process for each move. He goes over ways that people at each level up to world class make mistakes and changed the way I think about the game.


For chess I'd like to add Chess-Network aka Jerry. Here's his presentation of the Larsen v Spassky game (1970) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8330Smqxds. He also commentates on lichess tournaments and has a great, easy-listening, laid-back style.


John Bartholomew is also a co-founder of https://www.chessable.com/courses/ which complements his YouTube and Twitch videos. Chessable has interactive online lessons. My present preference is to spend my time watching his videos, then head over to chess.com for my chess fix. If I got serious about chess, I guess I would use Chessable to improve.


Nerdwriter on YT is pretty decent if you looking for a channel with a focus on art.

Unsurprisingly I see it all over these comments but another shout out for 3blue1brown.


+1 to Nerdwriter. Really quality content.


I'm quite surprised that nobody has suggested Crash Course. The first one they did - Crash Course World History by John Green - is really great, and I personally found both endearing and funny (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yocja_N5s1I&list=PLBDA2E52FB...). It's not advanced material, mostly high-school level, but you've got to crawl before you can walk, and it can help to fill in some missing spots if you have them, or give a high-level overview or recap in an entertaining way. Example: I'd done basic biology, but taken instead chemistry and physics (where I was, you only did all three if you wanted to go into medicine). I used Crash Course Biology (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnQe0xW_JY4&list=PL3EED4C1D6...) to back-fill my knowledge before studying a masters in Bioinformatics.


I'd categorize crash course as "edutainment" along similar lines as Dan Carlin's hardcore history. The series doesn't really teach topics and skills so much as it presents information in an entertaining format. Not to mention , like Dan Carlin's shows, Crash Course often puts forth popular culture views of history that have are no longer accepted by experts (one example of the top of my head is the claim that Communist Chinese forces did more to resist the Japanese in WWII than the KMT, another was the Crash Course geography debacle that got the whole series cancelled).


I'm astonished that nobody has mentioned Technology Connections.

It's an awesome channel focused on how technology works - it goes in depth on subjects like analog TV, CD, digital audio and much much more.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCy0tKL1T7wFoYcxCe0xjN6Q/vid...


For electronics, GreatScott! : https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6mIxFTvXkWQVEHPsEdflzQ

Electronics had always been a big black box to me. His stuff has helped me wrap my mind around it by incrementally walking through so many use cases. Highly recommended.


Walter Lewin, I passed my physics exams thanks to him. His lessons are really engaging and full of experiments!


I'm surprised no one has mentioned smarter everyday's destin. Great guy! Has excellent content and would probably be an amazing teacher at a school/uni.



For programming, I recently came across Corey M Schafer's channel and he is by far the best programming teacher I have seen. He usually builds a full application starting with a blank page and explains every single line. Please have a look at his Django or Flask tutorial and you will be amazed.

https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCCezIgC97PvUuR4_gbFUs5g#

For frontend stuff, I will highly recommend Brad Traversy. He does teach in a similar style to Corey and they both seem to be teaching programming on a full time basis now.

https://m.youtube.com/channel/UC29ju8bIPH5as8OGnQzwJyA#


It's cool to see Corey recommended, I used to work with him and his stuff is good.


For electricity: Mehdi Sadaghdar (electroboom).

His electoboom 101 are great: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vn4J8RcMGrM&list=PLr_CZLgMkH...


Prof David Malan. Teaches CS50 and CS50x for remote learners through edX. In the immortal words of Russ Hanneman “this guy fucks.” https://www.youtube.com/user/cs50tv



How does it compare with the original Abelson & Sussman lectures? (for HP employees)


Harvey's lectures are more practical (impressive beautiful Scheme code), also cover some "new" concepts like map-reduce etc.



Nick Sibicky's lectures on how to play Go (well) made a huge difference when I started playing. I dont play as much nowadays, but I still think about some of his strategic concepts as they relate to startups.


Tobias J. Osborne:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpHjg_Qmzxm3xaAWRrwQPCA

He has a very understandable approach to studying Quantum Field Theory. Highly recommended!

David Tong is a very good lecturer on the same subject, but unfortunately the videos are of very low quality:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yplCob7_Ck&list=PL1C5310BB3...


Bisqwit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eF9qWbuQLuw

Also Professor Leonard but someone already mentioned him.


I really like watching educational entertainment

Evan&Katlyn -> Makerspace videos, running a small business manufacturing operation. https://www.youtube.com/user/EvanAndKatelyn

James Burteon -> Electrical + Mechanical engineer, doesn't deep dive like AvE, but gives you the big picture of projects from start to finish. Currently doing opendog, a replica of boston dynamics of the spot mini. https://www.youtube.com/user/jamesbruton

I have a full list on my blog site actually, don't feel like retyping it out http://vincentmtang.com/inspiration/.

For udemy, udacity, etc. I prefer udemy courses, as the video UX is the best of the lot. There are some really good authors on there, colt steele, andrew mead, among others. I find the best ones on freecodecamp's review forums / reddit


Gregory B. Sadler - Philosophy

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

N J Wildberger - Mathematics

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


Jeff Caveliere for ATHLEAN-X (fitness training)

He's a great positive motivator. The content is very accessible and also all justified and explained throughly yet casually.

https://www.youtube.com/user/JDCav24


Good to see fitness stuff getting mentioned. His channel is pretty good. This guy is a PhD in relevant field and he has been working with professional athletes for years. Combination of his experience and theoretical background simply makes his channel invaluable. And I wonder if he has trouble washing out pen marks he draws on his body whenever he explains how muscle fibers look on his arm and how that's related with different forms and movement he designed -- well I mean most mark pens I used in my college stink like bad alcohol mixed with muddy paint so, good luck with washing that out :-p

And I also wanna recommend fitnessfaq(https://www.youtube.com/user/FitnessFAQs)

Its' more of a bodyweight training focused fitness channel. Bodyweight training is arguably more difficult to progress (or unnatural? or inconsistent I would say? I mean you can't simply increment weight without changing your form like you can do when you progress with barbell/dumbell, you may have to adjust your form a little bit, can't think about right word for this) and yet more effective in training conditioning, mobility, skill (mainly because almost all bodyweight exercises involve more muscle groups/joints/body parts simultaneously, while, many weight training exercises using barbell/dumbbell as resistant instead of bodyweight, usually involve much fewer muscles joints and body parts) But not the case if we are talking about barbell trainings like squat and deadlift, these are as good as bodyweight training in terms of whole body involvement in my opinion. Actually I am doing bodyweight training for majority part of my body but squat and deadlift for my leg(dumbbell not barbell, well because I am too lazy to go to gym, I prefer exercising home, I would recommend using barbell though)

But with all those pros and cons of bodyweight training and non bodyweight trainng, both are good for your body, good to get you in shape and to look nice and to lose weight and to get stronger and all sort of things you can expect from arnold swarchenegger.


I like Jeremy Ethier much better, not only are his videos more dense, but they also tackle precise question with general applicability. They're also backed by solid science that is cited in the video, and feels less shaky than the "science" peddled by supplement vendors like Cavaliere or Jim Stoppani.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCERm5yFZ1SptUEU4wZ2vJvw


blackpenredpen (math): https://www.youtube.com/user/blackpenredpen

mathologer (math, rubix cubes): https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1_uAIS3r8Vu6JjXWvastJg

Welch Labs (math): https://www.youtube.com/channel/UConVfxXodg78Tzh5nNu85Ew

Physics Girl (physics): https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7DdEm33SyaTDtWYGO2CwdA

minutephysics (physics): https://www.youtube.com/user/minutephysics

Khan Academy (math, science, etc.): https://www.youtube.com/user/khanacademy

Bob Ross (painting): https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxcnsr1R5Ge_fbTu5ajt8DQ

The Virtual Linguistics Camps (linguistics & phonology): https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaMpov1PPVXGcKYgwHjXB3g

NativLang (languages & language history): https://www.youtube.com/user/NativLang

Dr Jackson Crawford (old norse, scandinavian languages, old english): https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXCxNFxw6iq-Mh4uIjYvufg


Art of the problem (https://www.youtube.com/user/ArtOfTheProblem). Deals with cryptography/information theory. And of course our beloved 3b1b


Monty Montgomery's explanation of digital audio might be the best explanatory video I have ever witnessed, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIQ9IXSUzuM


Recently came across Scanlime's youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/scanlime.

Some seriously impressive stuff on there when it comes to reverse engineering stuff.


One of my favorite video series on YouTube is Francis Su's _Real Analysis_. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqEyWLGvvdw He walks through the basics of constructing the real numbers, defines metric spaces and proves some topological properties, defines continuous functions, and goes into differentiable functions.

The video quality isn't great but his teaching style is phenomenal - he's really great about engaging the class and getting them to walk through the reasoning for each of the theorems.


Any course UNSW has put up by Richard Buckland

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

So much enthusiasm -- I wish I had teachers like him at school.


Dave's World of Fun Stuff is ostensibly guitar setup & repair. In actuality it's much more (and much more fun.)

I don't even own a guitar and I enjoy watching. Dave always cares about his work, and takes the time to do it right. The fun comes from when he gets pissed-off at some sloppy half-assed repair or manufacturing.

There's also a good bit of innuendo and word-play. Looking down the truss-rod hole, Dave's says (with a perfectly straight face) "I don't think anyone else has ever been in there." Turning the rod: "Oh yeah. That's tight."


Brendan Gregg: He is a performance engineer at Netflix. Has great content regarding performance engineering and tuning.

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

Raymond Hettinger: The contributor of collections module in python. Amazing content.

Raymond Hettinger Talks: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRVdut2KPAguz3xcd22i_...


Shameless plug? Myself :D! https://www.youtube.com/user/AMGaweda/playlists?view=1&flow=...

I started adding YouTube videos to courses as I taught them and opened them up. They are not designed to be a complete substitute for in class lecture, but do a good job at introducing computer programming and data structures. There's also some Excel and miscellaneous tool use.



Chemistry: Cody's labs

Math: Matt Parker, 3blue1brown

Electronics & Computer architecture: Ben Eater, Computerphile

You can never forget Crash Course, and SciShow from Hank/John Green


So many of my favorite ones in math, CS and statistics are already mentioned that I’ll mention one in English; Gabby Wallace. If you’re like me working with English speaking people daily and want to work on your accent she’s the best.

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


For Drawing/Painting/etc. - ProkoTV - https://www.youtube.com/user/ProkoTV Library of all Videos - https://www.proko.com/library/#.W58y5hxRXeR :-)



I love Bernstein, but he does say a lot of stuff, in many of his talks, which isn't actually true, or presents unlikely speculation as fact, which is a shame.

Check out Benjamin Zander, both his classical masterclasses and talks for general audiences. He's incredible!


Two minute papers (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbfYPyITQ-7l4upoX8nvctg) is a great place to keep up to date about mostly computer science related research. It's getting some traction these days you should check it out.


Not youtube, but I love Charles Isbell and Michael Littman's machine learning course on Udacity: https://in.udacity.com/course/machine-learning--ud262 They explain the topic in a very clear way, and are very funny


I find the following to be of consistent enough quality to subscribe. Mostly ones that might not already be listed:

Electronics: https://www.youtube.com/user/greatscottlab

Fun and practical making https://www.youtube.com/user/iliketomakestuffcom

Music theory/guitar: Signals Music Studio https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRDDHLvQb8HjE2r7_ZuNtWA

Hacking/reverse software engineering: Live Overflow https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClcE-kVhqyiHCcjYwcpfj9w

Cooking: https://www.youtube.com/user/BrothersGreenEats

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

Physics simulations: https://www.youtube.com/user/EugeneKhutoryansky

Science: https://www.youtube.com/user/1veritasium

Civil/structural engineering: https://www.youtube.com/user/gradyhillhouse

More than you ever wanted to know about woodworking. Also some engineering: https://www.youtube.com/user/Matthiaswandel

Engineering: https://www.youtube.com/user/engineerguyvideo

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


Jeremy Howard with hosts his video's of the fast.ai deep learning courses on youtube. They're great!


Don't have names, but I know that the style of teaching I prefer is informative and concise (boring?). I don't like wordly intros and inline jokes. Unfortunately being funny while you teach has become a measure of being a good teacher, But I guess that works for most students.


The problem is classic teaching is pretty much fading away and being replaced by "edutainment" type material. The new generation wants educational material but entertainment at the same time.

Problem is the classic teaching methods are generally better for building skills for higher-level learning/thinking/projects. When I say classic teaching, I am talking about structured material that is sequential and focuses on the more challenging aspects of the subject (not boring, mono-tone lectures). The edutainment material on the other hand focuses on a lot of off-topic discussions and generally dumbs down the material. So yeah, the video is entertaining and you learn something but you only learn the high-level of the subject. All complex aspects of the subject are avoided because, well, who the hell wants to spend time looking at complex mathematical equations or talking about some high-level topic that is hard to understand.


I have been watching videos of this guy narrate the process of creating and maintaining bonsai trees and they are interesting and relaxing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEGevD5jd64


Fusion 360 for both CAD and CAM, and specifically, a lot of great machining knowledge, including a lot of stuff on tormach CNC: https://www.youtube.com/user/saunixcomp


Real analysis: Francis Su

A subject laborious to penetrate by default, becomes easy. Quality is not so good, content and presentation is unique.

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0E754696F72137EC#



Siraj Raval is a social media hack who got popular making videos about ML and Crypto mining back when college kids talked about it on Reddit. If you watch any of his newer instructional videos, the code is just bad. The code itself is either not finished, or it doesn't compile when run, or it's full of linting / syntax errors. There are so many other better teachers out there, please don't recommend Siraj. He teaches bad practices, and it's clear he only does it for the internet fame.



Not a math or cs subject, but I love The Recording Revolution by Graham Cochrane. It's for learning how to record and mix music, but he also teaches principles that you can use to help manage your time better. Sincere guy, professional videos, and quality content.


For CAD modeling for 3d printing with Fusion 360 (free for startups and hobbyists) I was impressed by

"Learn Fusion 360 or Die Trying"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5tp4QXciK4


The Organic Chemistry Tutor - Math & Science (School level) - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEWpbFLzoYGPfuWUMFPSaoA


I don’t generally enjoy learning from videos, I find reading quicker and like being able to skip around, but Vi Hart (https://youtube.com/vihart) is brilliant.


Hands down best: David Goodstein, CalTech, "The Mechanical Universe" physics series on YouTube. https://youtube.com/watch?v=XtMmeAjQTXc


I'm a hobby carpenter by night. I really liked Wood Working for Mere Mortals when I first got started. He is smart and doesn't take himself too seriously.

Other channels I love: Jay Bates, April Wilkerson, I Like To Make Stuff, and Make Something.


Brian Douglas' Control System Lectures: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq0imsn84ShAe9PBOFnoIrg




mathematicalmonk for probability and information theory https://www.youtube.com/user/mathematicalmonk


Scott Manley has some amazing videos on rocket science and space in general.


Surprised Cody'sLab isn't mentioned yet. Lots of chemistry/physics in a somewhat DIY environment. Occasionally he also gets things that definitely aren't DIY.


Cody's lab is great for seeing what things are possible, but less so for how you do them. eg. how do you identify the reactions needed to do x?


Guitar lessons - all the TrueFire instructors - https://youtube.com/truefiretv


The Feynman Lectures on Physics available on Audible https://s831.us/2Ou8sWa


ViHart for math things, VSauce for intriguing tidbits, Smarter Every Day for science and engineering. Lots of other great examples in this thread, too!


Hands down "thenewboston", that guy rocks!

He has videos about numerous programming languages and goes into absolute depth on most of them!


As for kids, I think Blippi is one of the best teachers available on youtube teaching toddlers in a very engaging style.


I love sentdex. He teach to us as well as he loves to learn from us. This is big quality of a great teacher


I know it's a hobby, but my favourite youtube Chess teacher is GM Ben Finegold.


I watch him more for entertainment, his videos were for long time my favourite videos on youtube bar none. But he is a grandmaster, it's solid chess content. He's as much comedian as chess lecturer, or he was, he's toned down the constant stream of crazy jokes in the last couple of years. He's recently started his own chess centre in Atlanta, his new lectures are appearing here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqLLqbclDQ6IQg39Wsgy-4w/vid...

He started as occasional lecturer at St Louis, where he made dozens and dozens of great, super-silly videos. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=049NnoR1LGE&list=PLVWaFpMwta...

Also: Peter Svidler does banter blitz videos occasionally for Chess24 https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=svidler+chess24... ; he's in the world top 20. And el Divis on chess24 en español; everything he does is great. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTzRQxC3i7GOT4jtiTq4e0w/vid...


Woodworking --- Matthias Wandel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCckETVOT59aYw80B36aP9vw frank howarth https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3_VCOJMaivgcGqPCTePLBA

Electronics --- mikeselectricstuff https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcs0ZkP_as4PpHDhFcmCHyA tesla500 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMdOWi6nBZJ3Q0tHNQIOUVA EEVblog https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2DjFE7Xf11URZqWBigcVOQ GreatScott! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6mIxFTvXkWQVEHPsEdflzQ markusfuller https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCx36Uxaf_LHo635bK6kSCPQ

Metalworking --- This Old Tony https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5NO8MgTQKHAWXp6z8Xl7yQ Clickspring https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCworsKCR-Sx6R6-BnIjS2MA

Computer history / vintage technology --- Techmoan https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5I2hjZYiW9gZPVkvzM8_Cw Computerphile https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9-y-6csu5WGm29I7JiwpnA LGR https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLx053rWZxCiYWsBETgdKrQ

Mathematics --- Numberphile https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoxcjq-8xIDTYp3uz647V5A standupmaths https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSju5G2aFaWMqn-_0YBtq5A

Chemistry --- Periodic Videos https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtESv1e7ntJaLJYKIO1FoYw

General interesting things --- Tom Scott https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBa659QWEk1AI4Tg--mrJ2A Wintergatan https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcXhhVwCT6_WqjkEniejRJQ Curious Droid https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC726J5A0LLFRxQ0SZqr2mYQ engineerguy https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2bkHVIDjXS7sgrgjFtzOXQ Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsXVk37bltHxD1rDPwtNM8Q

I can honestly say that I watch nearly every video that each one of these channels produces. When compliing this list I realised how much time I spend watching passionate people talk about what they love.


Oh god, not eevblog. That unlistenable whiny voice and his production values. I tried to tolerate it once but all he did was break stuff. And there's so much he got wrong that it's difficult to believe that he ever had a job.


computer science: - The Morpheus Tutorials (german) - BitBastelei - CBT Nuggets - The Coding Train - Computerphile - Neso Academy - DevTips - Professor Messer - Socratica


doug demuro if you like cars on youtube is funny and informative.


Hands down best: David Goodstein, CalTech, the 'Mechanical Universe" physics series on YouTube. https://youtube.com/watch?v=XtMmeAjQTXc


Matt Dillahunty - critical thinking

Richard Dawkins - biology

Jessica Kobeissi - photography

Ted Forbes - photography


I learned a lot of Category Theory from The Catsters.


League of legends: SoloRenektonOnly.


Lindsay Ellis for film theory


scanlime for electronics.


patrickjmt for math


Sean Tucker -- photography from a humanist perspective.


I love ElectroBOOM: https://www.google.it/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://...

He explains intetesting things in a very entertaining way.

I also have the worst: Taras Kulakov


YouTube is cool but I prefer directly learning on MITOCW. Maybe you might prefer that too.


I didn't know, either, so I looked it up so you don't have to.

MITOCW: MIT OpenCourseWare

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIT_OpenCourseWare

https://ocw.mit.edu/index.htm


Haha I kept trying to pronounce it as a word, in true internet era style.


Prof Linares for EE. Excellent content presented in a kind, clear manner.

https://m.youtube.com/user/rolinychupetin


https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-vYrOAmtrx9sBzJAf3x_xw "success in tech", lectures on design interview questions. the man really helped me to get a job at Amazon. Thanks pal!




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