Interesting YouTube Channels Hacker News Readers Enjoy
Because YouTube isn’t all just Zoella and PewDiePie…
While YouTube recommends channels and videos to watch, its choices can be a mixed bag. We still keep hearing about great channels we’d have subscribed to ages ago if only we knew about them.
After seeing a thread play out on Hacker News about which YouTube channels folks were enjoying, we thought it’d be fun to bring together some of them, as well as others we’ve seen recommended on Hacker News over the years, in case you’re looking for some new channels to enjoy.
CrashCourse
Subscribers: 5,736,981
Want to learn about philosophy, games and physics but only have 15 minutes to spare? No problem, CrashCourse have got it covered whether it’s about how computers do arithmetic or how logic gates work.
Bisqwit
Subscribers: 23,903
Joel Yliluoma is a speedrunner and developer who produces videos about anything that interests him in the world of programming from creating a DOOM-style engine in C or a NES emulator in C++11 through to creating music in a single line of C and cracking old videogame passwords. This channel is a must for anyone who really loves the art of programming.
Retro Game Mechanics Explained
Subscribers: 7,741
Calling out to all Nintendo fans! This channel explores the world of Super Mario. Although there’s not many videos on this channel there’s a great Super Nintendo Entertainment System features series. The first episode explains the use of graphics and palettes.
Computerphile
Subscribers: 780,472
This is a perennial favorite, and a channel that puts a huge amount of effort into its productions. Covering everything there is to know about computers including the basic operations inside the CPU and how PHP sites are vulnerable to hackers.
Numberphile
Subscribers: 2,011,684
The more popular sister account of Computerphile, Numberphile covers everything, you guessed it, to do with numbers and math, including how to purchase 43 Chicken McNuggets to puzzles.
Photonic Induction
Subscribers: 308,317
Love electricity? Want to see a British electrical engineer do crazy stuff like get a 20kW bulb running in his living room or vacuum up a fire? This is your chap.
Wendover Productions
Subscribers: 537,031
Asking the question of ‘Why is’ and answering with ‘how’ because we all love knowing the ins-and-outs of how things work. From the Economics of airline class to How Maritime Law Works.
Engineering Explained
Subscribers: 1,175,263
How do cars work? It’s a simple question without a simple answer.
Because we’ve all wanted to know the major differences between gasoline and petrol, and if it is better to warm your car up before driving, right?
TechMoan
Subscribers: 445,321
Consumer Tech — from a Tech Consumer
Reviews of the latest gadgets and looking back on classic devices like the Vinyl/cds and Movies on Vinyl.
Primitive Technologies
Subscribers: 4,059,519
If you want to a break from the latest technologies and want to sit in silence and learn how to build a tiled roof hut or create a spear thrower.
Veritasium
Subscribers: 4,027,695
Veritasium features a variety of videos including a walk around Chernobyl and asks the important question: Can silence actually drive you insane?
Tom Scott
Subscribers: 775,736
Looking for bite sized videos of information? Like how green screen worked before computers or why British plugs are the best? Fellow Brit Tom Scott has the answers.
Physics Girl
Subscribers: 606,804
“Physics videos for every atom and eve.”
Quick, high-level videos which don’t go into a huge amount of detail but cover things like the techniques behind looking at the smallest particles in existence in an easily accessible way.
StandUpMaths
Subscribers: 256,652
This mathematical comedian may have a smaller amount of subscribers but doesn’t lack in video variety which include a comedy routine about spreadsheets and a tutorial on how to cheat a rubik’s cube.
Plus I think we can all agree we’d love to know how to win a game of Monopoly.
If all that doesn’t tick your subscription boxes, here are a few more suggestions from the HN thread:
- Casey Neistat — high quality vlogs
- Two Minute Papers — science including computer graphics
- Lesson From a Screenplay — techniques used in films.
- 3blue1Brown — maths!
- Matthias Wandel — woodwork, engineering
- Today I Found Out — Learn something new everyday!
- Deep Sky Videos — astronomy and space, etc.
- Sixty Symbols — physics oriented
