Favourite YouTubers
We live in a golden age. Post TV. It seems that TV has always pandered to mass appeal (or the lowest common denominator). Now there's an alternative. We can seek out videos, which fit a particular niche, and they don't have to get millions of view to be successful (though some of the do). There are a few notable exceptions to this rule, such as David Attenborough's programmes and the long-gone Open University on BBC 2.
The following links are my "top" picks.
Makers
- Woodworking : Matthias Wandel I'm a down to earth guy, and don't really care about overly fancy stuff. Matthias is the ultimately practical. If you want "fancy" stuff, this isn't for you!
- Metalworking : This Old Tony I'm really bad at metalworking. I must admit, I go here more for the comedy than to learn! He's a genius at both!
- Programming : Brian Will. I like to hear opposing views to mine (how else do we learn and grow?), so Object-Oriented Programming is Bad caught my eye. Being an OOP guy, I was surprised to find myself agreeing with him! A must watch for OOP practitioners!
Science
This is the category that is SO much better on YouTube than on TV.
- Maths : Stand-up Maths. A light hearted look at maths. I'm nowhere near as good at maths as my friends and family think I am. But alas, 3Blue1Brown often goes over my head.
- Applied Science. Wow! The things this guy can do in his lab are amazing. I'm sure that the vast majority of his audience have never tried to recreate any of his experiments. BTW, while some of his videos are science, many are pure engineering. e.g. creating holograms on chocolate. ;-)
Others
- Futurism : Isaac Arthur. Whenever I feel depressed that humans repeatedly make the same mistakes, and are doomed to fail, I head to Isaac's channel, for an optimistic look to the future. A world of wondrous possibilities. After listening to Isaac, Elon Musk's plan to go colonise Mars, seems so small (and completely wrong - planets are rubbish compared to O'Neil Cylinders). A Dyson Swarm (aka Dyson Sphere) made up of millions of O'Neil Cylinders is the future we should aim for. Let you mind dream of a future, where Mars is useful only as a source of raw materials once we used up every asteroid, and every moon to make mega-structures!
Games
- Chess : Eric Rosen He's not to greatest chess player in the world, but I find him more entertaining *and* more informative than the true greats.
- Go : Nick Subucky Similar to Eric Rosen (not the greatest player, but a great teacher for my level). It was a toss who to pick between Nick and Haylee. But Haylee has stopped uploading. Plus I enjoy Nick's drunken games!
- Age of Empires II : The Viper The GOAT (greatest of all time). A rare case, where the very best player is also a great guy and entertaining.