Amazing YouTube Channels That Will Make You Smarter (Updated in 2022)
Educational YouTube channels are the best. Here is the list of my personal favorites. Feel free to add more!
YouTube is a great teacher. No, really, ask any programmer who was able to finish a project only because of some Indian guy on YouTube. I still fondly remember and follow mycodeschool and CS Dojo (and a few other great channels) because these guys are just awesome. Honestly, I’m not sure what I would do if all programming videos on YouTube would disappear. Cry probably?
But even if you are not a developer, there is a lot to learn on YouTube. Choose any topic and you’ll get a lot of high-quality content with detailed explanations, animations, graphics, and music. Gosh, I can’t imagine how long it takes to research all of it and create these beautiful videos.
Personally, I love content that is both educational and fun. I can watch YouTube while eating or waiting in line without feeling that I waste my time. I’m learning and I’m having fun. What can be better than that?
Kurzgesagt — In a Nutshell
Every little video they release is a true masterpiece. Even if you are not interested in space, chemistry, phycology, philosophy, and other cool topics they cover (and these are like the coolest topics ever), at least give this short video a try. It’s based on the short story The Egg by Andy Weir and it’s absolutely brilliant (both the video with its cute graphics and the story itself).
Brad’s Art School
This channel covers only one topic — drawing — but it covers it well. These videos— also cute and colorful — are perfect for those days when you have nothing to do and want to do something fun and useful. Brad mostly covers digital drawing on iPad so if you have an Apple Pen, maybe it’s time to finally use it.
Nick Keomahavong
Are you interested in self-development? Well, here is a monk’s perspective on it.
After Skool
Two million subscribers and still growing…but to be honest, this channel deserves even more than that. Below is one of my favorite videos from this channel but in my opinion, all of them are equally good. Most of the videos are based on spiritual or self-development books you are too busy to read so why not watch a 10-minute animated video instead?
TedEd
TED is an absolute classic when it comes to quality educational videos. TedEd is even better because these videos are shorter, they are animated, and you can watch some of them with your kids for some educational fun. It’s hard to choose only one of their videos to embed but today, this topic attracted me the most (maybe I should stop writing and go take a nap instead). A perfect nap.
Veritasium
This guy is so smart that you will feel stupid every time you watch his videos. Guaranteed. But don’t worry, it’s perfectly normal. He also shares puzzles, brainteasers, and challenges. Most of them are hard, some of them are impossible to solve, but all of them will make you think!
Numberphile and Computerphile
I know, both of these channels sound too geeky. But they were created not only for programmers! They cover a wide array of cool (and yes, most of the time geeky topics) like How Password Managers Work or The Problem with Time & Timezones. My favorite are videos about fractals and here is one of them:
I was watching it religiously while working on one of my school projects when we had to create fractals using C. My fractals are far from perfect but just look at this beauty that I’ve found online:
Big Think
For quick actionable, educational content, check out this channel with over 4 million subscribers. Each video here is around 5 minutes long and features an expert on a particular topic. Most of the experts are also writers who promote their books, so this is also a great place to find a new bestseller to read.
Do you watch any educational YouTube channels that you absolutely love and want to share with the world? Please add them in the comments below!
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