1. Youtube-Use an ad-block Google Chrome add-on like uBlock Origin. Stop wasting time and stop polluting your information feed.
  2. Watch at > 2X speed using an add-on like Video Speed Controller and skip forward if the part is insubstantial/ads. Make video as information-dense as text.
  3. Prioritise educational content that can’t be found elsewhere e.g. talks, interviews, lectures, documentaries. For everything else just read the text equivalent for the higher quality, higher information density and you can fact-check them. Otherwise what you think is educational is just entertainment (even at 3X speed). Exception is tacit knowledge via instructional videos e.g. cooking, sports, haircutting, clinical skills, dancing.
  4. Prioritise watching entertainment that best uses the video format e.g. visualisers, original movies, original animations, MVs, musical performances, dance performances, surgeries, historical footage, old TV/movies. Listen to songs on Spotify unless the particular version or song are only found on YouTube, listen to podcasts on your podcast app.
  5. Unsubscribe when a channel is no longer good. Culling unclogs your subscription feed.
  6. Remember that fun-disguised-as-work will eat all of your free time and trick you into wasting your life.

Channels

Drop me an email if you’ve got recommendations! Always appreciated.

  1. Science
  2. Mathematics
  3. Physics
  4. Computer Science
  5. Engineering
  6. Projects/Maker
  7. Chemistry
  8. Biology
  9. Medicine
  10. Law
  11. Educational
  12. Geopolitics
  13. Economics
  14. Business
  15. History
  16. Philosophy
  17. Linguistics
  18. Culture
  19. Documentary
  20. Japan
  21. Interview
  22. Talks
  23. Movies
  24. Anime
  25. Music
  26. Songs
  27. Cooking
  28. Food
  29. Drawing
  30. Gaming
  31. Animation
  32. Exercise
  33. Photography
  34. Videography
  35. Comedy
  36. Miscellaneous

Science

Kurzgesagt Beautiful explainers.

SmarterEveryDay An American aerospace engineer features science in high speed footage and exotic venues.

DoS - Domain of Science Dominic Walliman, experimental quantum physicist, maps out different subfields in science.

Objectivity Head Librarian at the Royal Society explains the best items from its archive to Brady Haran

Vsauce Tangential explainers on scientific, psychological, mathematical, and philosophical topics.

Veritasium Science explainers.

Steve Mould Science explainers with demos.

The Action Lab Science experiments and explainers.

This Place Explainers.

MinuteEarth Short explainers on animal zoology and ecology.

Dom Burgess Short films that explain science.

Liv Boeree Poker champion explains science.

Hamish Todd Geometry explainers and game design talks.

Mathematics

3Blue1Brown Grant Sanderson explains mathematics in geometry, physics, computer science. Every video is excellent, one of the best channels of all time.

Mathologer Monash University professor explains Maths.

Numberphile Mathematicians explain to Brady Haran.

vcubingx Maths explainers using 3blue1brown’s animation library.

Think Twice Short maths visualisations.

Zach Star Maths explainers and engineering parodies.

Welch Labs Series on maths, science, machine learning.

StatQuest with Josh Starmer A genetics researcher at UNC-Chapel Hill clearly explains Statistics, Machine Learning and Data Science.

NN Taleb’s Probability Moocs Taleb’s rants on probability.

Physics

Sixty Symbols Professors explain physics to Brady Haran.

Sabine Hossenfelder The German theoretical physicist explains physics without the hype. She is known for arguing that physics’ dogmatic aesthetic criterion has produced unfalsifiable theories like supersymmetry, and building a bigger collider is not worth it.

minutephysics Short hand-drawn explainers by physics PhD.

PBS Space Time Explainers on astrophysics.

Tibees Videos on physics, math, astronomy and the history of science.

Looking Glass Universe PhD explains Quantum Mechanics.

Computer Science

Computerphile Sister channel of Numberphile.

Art of the Problem Mini-documentaries on fields like information theory, cryptocurrencies, neural networks, and cryptography, from founding to present.

LeiosOS A computer science PhD explains algorithms.

Two Minute Papers PhD explains machine learning papers.

Arxiv Insights PhD explains machine learning papers (longer).

Yannic Kilcher PhD talks through machine learning papers.

Ben Langmead The computational biologist at Johns Hopkins University shares his Algorithms for DNA Sequencing Coursera class (ADS1) for free.

CodeParade Odd maths in game engines.

carykh Programming projects like evolution simulators.

Code Bullet Machine learning projects.

Engineering

Real Engineering Engineering explainers.

engineerguy Simple engineering explainers with demos by Bill Hammack, Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Illinois.

Practical Engineering Civil engineering explainers with demos.

Mustard Planes, trains, engineering explainers.

ElectroBOOM Electrical explainers, tutorials, and debunkers with the running joke of the host accidentally zapping himself.

Technology Connections Consumer tech explainers.

Ben Eater Tutorials on electronics, computer architecture, networking.

NetworkChuck Network engineering tutorials.

Darren Lipomi The nanoengineering professor lectures about his advice on academia.

Boston Dynamics The most advanced robots.

Projects/Maker

Applied Science Ben Krasnow makes prototypes in electromechanical systems, chemistry, and electronics. Showing his body of work on Youtube has led him to Hardware Engineer jobs at Google, Verily (Google Life Sciences), and even founding Valve’s hardware division. Every video is impressive.

GreatScott! A German guy’s electronics projects, tutorials, and explainers.

Quint BUILDs Engineering project series.

Mark Rober Cool projects from ex NASA and Apple engineer.

Stuff Made Here High effort engineering prototypes.

colinfurze British guy shows his crazy homemade vehicles and inventions.

Tom Stanton Aerospace engineering projects with 3D printed parts.

The Thought Emporium Insane biohacking projects.

TheBackyardScientist Demonstrations.

styropyro Laser and high voltage projects.

Michael Reeves Wacky comedic projects.

How To Make Everything A guy makes everything from scratch.

Adam Savage’s Tested MythBusters co-host makes props.

Hacksmith Industries Taking fictional ideas from movies, video games & comics, and making real working prototypes.

Alec Steele Blacksmith projects.

Allen Pan - Sufficiently Advanced Realising ideas in anime and wacky projects.

Chemistry

NileRed Excellent (and long) chemical projects. Every video is interesting.

NileBlue Behind-the-scenes and projects that don’t fit into NileRed.

Periodic Videos Sir Martyn Poliakoff, chemistry professor, explains every element and more chemistry to Brady Haran.

Biology

Every Cell A Universe Explainers on biological topics.

Primer Darwinian evolution simulations.

TierZoo Zoology as if it’s a video game.

Laura Deming Random thoughts on molecular biology from the longevity venture capitalist.

Medicine

Medlife Crisis Excellent explainers and video essays by a UK cardiologist.

Healthcare Triage A GP explains healthcare policy, medical research, and common health questions.

Brainbook Neurosurgery life and laymen explainers.

Chubbyemu Odd medical cases narrated by a US doctor.

Law

LegalEagle Lawsplainers, and reviews of legal movies and TV shows, all by a US lawyer.

Harvard Law School Girl faints, recovers, and gets straight back to her speech.

Educational

CGP Grey OG simple explainers.

Tom Scott Mini-documentaries on interesting places, facts, linguistics, and computer science.

Knowing Better Long explainers on history, government, psychology etc.

LEMMiNO Mini-documentaries on mysteries by a Swedish guy.

Neil Halloran Very high-production-value animated documentaries.

neo Mini-documentaries on politics, geography etc.

Jay Foreman Very British explainers.

Captain Disillusion Special effects artist debunks viral videos.

Geopolitics

RealLifeLore Explainers on countries and facts.

Geography Now Covers the history, demographics, geography, foreign relations of every country from A-Z.

CaspianReport Geopolitics explainers.

Economics

Marginal Revolution University Simple economics explainers from professors at George Mason University.

PolyMatter Explainers on economics, business, and geopolitics.

Wendover Productions Explainers on economics, travel, logistics, and geography.

The Plain Bagel Investing and personal finance explainers.

Business

Athletic Interest Sports business and economics.

Business Casual Big businesses and tycoons.

ColdFusion Stories of big tech companies.

John Coogan Startup analysis from the co-founder of Soylent and Lucy.

History

The Armchair Historian Animated war history.

OverSimplified Animated summaries of history.

The Cynical Historian Video essays on American history.

Extra Credits Short-form animated video essays every week about game design, world history, mythology, and other subjects

Philosophy

exurb1a Surreal videos on philosophy.

Jonas Čeika - CCK Philosophy Postmodernism, political ideology, pop culture commentary.

Linguistics

Xidnaf Linguistic explainers.

Langfocus A Canadian on all the languages.

NativLang Animated linguistic history.

Culture

Overly Sarcastic Productions Excellent animated summaries of literature, mythology, tropes, history.

Vox Culture explainers. Their stuff on politics is too liberal.

Cheddar Cultural and fact explainers.

Documentary

All Gas No Brakes On-foot interviews documenting weird parts of America.

Channel 5 with Andrew Callaghan Successor to All Gas No Brakes.

Goldthread Mini-documentaries on Chinese culture in China, Hong Kong, the US, and the rest of the world.

Rare Earth Son of astronaut Chris Hadfield documents stories around the world.

Great Big Story videos Short mini-documentaries on untold stories around the world.

South China Morning Post Stories from HK and China.

Japan

Life Where I’m From Mini-documentaries on life in Japan by a Canadian and his Japanese family.

Paolo fromTOKYO Guides and mini-documentaries on life in Tokyo.

WAO RYU!ONLY in JAPAN Mini-documentaries on everything in Japan.

Interview

Hoover Institution Peter Robinson interviews conservative intellectuals at Stanford’s convervative public policy and research institution

Bloomberg Markets and Finance Interviews with execs and investors.

Stanford Graduate School of Business Interviews with top execs.

Greylock CEOs interviewed at the VC firm.

First We Feast
Hot Ones is the best celebrity interview show on YouTube.

NardwuarServiette Nardwuar The Human Serviette conducts the best researched interviews of music artists.

The Browser Interviews The Browser’s Robert Cottrell interviews writers.

JRE Clips Clips from the Joe Rogan podcast.

Closer To Truth Interviews with physicists and philosophers, though mediocre questions.

Talks

Talks at Google By experts, authors, elites.

The Royal Institution Talks at the Royal Institution of Great Britain and their famous Christmas lectures.

Big Think Interviews and explainers by experts and elites.

Intelligence Squared Oxford style debate but I’m here for the talks.

OxfordUnion Talks and debates at Oxford but I’m also just here for the talks.

The John Adams Institute Guest lectures at the John Adams Institute for American Culture in the Netherlands.

Carnegie Mellon University Randy Pausch’s famous last lecture.

Y Combinator Talks by startup CEOs from the legendary seed accelerator.

SXSW The conference occasionally has good guests.

Movies

RedLetterMedia Everyone’s favourite movie review de facto podcast.

YourMovieSucksDOTorg Mostly quick movie reviews, but sometimes very long best-movie-of-the-year lists and very long reviews.

Accented Cinema Video essays on Asian movies.

Every Frame a Painting Video essays about films.

Now You See It Video essays on films.

Lessons from the Screenplay Video essays on screenwriting.

The Royal Ocean Film Society Video essays on movies.

Thomas Flight Video essays on movies and TV.

kaptainkristian Video essays on movies and pop culture.

Daniel Netzel Video essays on films.

The Pop Culture Detective Agency Video essays on gender politics in movies and TV.

The Cosmonaut Variety Hour Reviews and rants on movies and TV.

Nando v Movies Film criticism and rewrites of movies.

Just Write Video essays on screenwriting.

How It Should Have Ended Comedic animated alternative movie endings.

Like Stories of Old Video essays on themes in movies.

The Discarded Image Video essays on movies.

Patrick (H) Willems Video essays on movies. Recent uploads are too long.

Science vs Cinema An astrophysicist reviews the scientific accuracy in movies.

CineFix - IGN Movies and TV Top 10 lists, Things You Didn’t Know, What’s the Difference, and Brilliant Moments, from real cinephiles.

Wisecrack Philosophy in movies and TV.

CinemaTyler Mini-documentaries on movie productions.

The Cinema Cartography Long video essays with excerpts from all the niche movies.

Anime

Gigguk OG anime reviews, rants, parodies.

JumpTheShark Best analysis of Evangelion.

Crunchyroll The anime streaming platform has a guy do very comprehensive timelines and explainers.

Music

Adam Neely A bassist explains music theory.

Polyphonic Video essays on music artists.

misteramazing Video essays on music.

ANDREW HUANG Music production.

12tone Music theory in popular songs.

Middle 8 Video essays on pop songs.

David Bennett Piano Pianist explains musical theory in pop songs.

theneedledrop My go-to music reviewer.

fantano Track reviews, rants about the music industry, and anything that doesn’t fit on The Needle Drop.

Imaginary Ambition Comedy videos on imitating the sound of music artists.

TwoSetViolin Two Australian classical violinists parody classical musicians, review performances and memes.

Songs

NPR Music Tiny Desk Concerts have the best sound-mixing of all time.

bill wurtz History of japan is an Internet classic.

Caroline Konstnar Black-comedic short songs.

Tom Thum Beatboxer.

SethEverman Comedic recreations of pop songs and retro gaming soundtracks.

Marc Rebillet Silly songs improvised on loop machines.

Bichopalo Original short instrumentals.

Cooking

Adam Ragusea Succinct home cook recipes and food journalism.

Food Wishes OG cooking channel. Wide-ranging recipes twice a week by an American chef.

Sous Vide Everything Sous vide experiments and recipes.

GugaFoods Sous Vide Everything but with the grill.

Pailin’s Kitchen Authentic Thai recipes.

煮家男人Bob’s Your Uncle A Hong Kong home chef makes dishes from all over the world with social commentary.

Chinese Cooking Demystified Best authentic Chinese recipes by a Shenzhen couple.

麻煩哥MaFan Gor Hong Kong (Cantonese, Teochew) and Asian recipes.

Serious Eats Recipes and skills tips.

My Name Is Andong Recipes and food history from a German who lived in China.

Joshua Weissman Recreating fast food, sourdough bakery, other recipes.

Pitmaster X Barbecue recipes and experiments from the Netherlands.

Babish Culinary Universe Recreating dishes from movies and TV, recipes not as home cook friendly.

Made With Lau Classic Cantonese recipes.

ByronTalbott Fancy recipes.

Tasting History with Max Miller Guy makes ancient recipes.

HidaMari Cooking Japanese dessert pastry recipes.

Cooking tree 쿠킹트리 South Korean dessert pastry recipes.

Food

李子柒 Liziqi Excellent mini-documentaries of a rural Sichuan girl making food and handicraft from scratch.

きまぐれクックKimagure Cook Japanese guy butchers and cooks impressive seafood.

Best Ever Food Review Show Food travel show in Asia and other exotic places.

Eater Shows on food and restaurants.

Drawing

Alphonso Dunn Best pen and ink drawing tutorials from the guy who wrote Pen and Ink Drawing: A Simple Guide (5 stars, 2,634 ratings).

Kazone Art Tutorials from some of my favourite living artists like Kim Jung Gi, Terada Katsuya.

Gaming

videogamedunkey Comedic game reviews and op-eds.

Ahoy YouTube channel Mini-documentaries on gaming history and weapons.

ThatGuyGlen Mini-documentaries on development of popular indie games.

Scott The Woz Long game reviews, editorials, retrospectives.

Core-A Gaming Analysis of fighting games.

Kreal Tube Reviews of niche games with unique animation style.

Animation

Felix Colgrave Surreal fantastical animations.

vewn Original animations.

psychicpebbles Original animated shorts.

MeatCanyon Dark parodies of pop culture.

Piemations Animated parodies and original cartoons.

ExplosmEntertainment Cyanide & Happiness.

cyriak Surreal animations.

からめる Comedic short animations.

Dorkly Short dark comedy animations about games.

Flashgitz NSFW comedy animations on geek bro stuff.

Super Science Friends Cartoon series about superpowered scientists who time travel to fight Nazis.

Exercise

FitnessFAQs Clear calisthenics tutorials.

Mike Thurston Best looking bodybuilder on Youtube.

Photography

The Art of Photography Documentaries on famous photographers, op-eds, gear reviews.

Videography

Brandon Li Impressively edited city footage.

kold Impressively edited travel footage.

Timelab Pro Impressive drone footage.

melodysheep Epic CGI footage.

Comedy

Sam O’Nella Academy Comedic videos on history and obscure facts.

Sam O’Nella Vlog Comedic videos that don’t fit on Sam O’Nella Academy.

Casually Explained Observational comedy hand-drawn.

BroScienceLife Gym bro satire.

ERB Comedic raps between 2 characters from history or fiction.

Gus Johnson Comedy shorts and parodies.

ian kung Even shorter comedy shorts.

Trevor Wallace Short sketches on try-hards.

Caitlin Reilly Short sketches.

Sir Stevo Timothy Sketches as Farmer Michael.

Joel Haver Comedic rotoscoped shorts.

penguinz0 Valgar reviews and commentaries.

Internet Comment Etiquette with Erik Comedic commentary on Internet topics.

JonTronShow Comedy videos on odd games, products, and people.

NakeyJakey Rants mostly about games and the Internet.

Internet Historian Meme dramatizations of Internet events.

Miscellaneous

LockPickingLawyer Concise videos on lockpicking.

Denis Shiryaev Upscaled and resounded historical clips in 4K,60fps.

MichaelRogge Michael Rogge’s old footage.

JCS - Criminal Psychology Annotated interrogation footage, comments on forensic psychology.

Primitive Technology An Australian builds things from scratch in the wild without modern tools (tip: turn on captions).

johndiesattheend Advice from Jason “David Wong” Pargin, author and ex Editor-In-Chief at cracked dot com.