Ah, summer break. Beach days, road trips with friends…and if you live in Florida like I do, afternoons thwarted by thunderstorms at least four days a week. So, what to do with that abundant free time indoors?
Fall down a YouTube rabbit hole, of course! One of my favorite ways to spend a stormy afternoon is by watching some interesting video essays on random subject matter. It’s free, it’s interesting, and it’s an entertaining way to better yourself! After all, just because school is out, doesn’t mean you can’t be learning something.
So, here are five YouTube channels to keep your brain working this summer!
1. The Nerdwriter
This is my favorite YouTube channel of all time, hands down. Film student and all around knowledgeable human Evan Puschak releases weekly ten-ish minute video essays analyzing topics like film, music, visual art, and even sociopolitical and historical concepts. He unpacks a lot of dense context in every video and does it in an extremely well-structured way that shows how much research he put in, but he cuts his videos together in such a way that you barely even notice that you’re watching educational content. It’s not a chore, it’s just interesting.
Here is his video about Rihanna’s “Work” in the context of musical genres across time. And if that isn’t your jam, I still highly recommend perusing his channel here. You’re going to find something you like, I promise.
2. CrashCourse
You probably know John Green as the award-winning author of books like “The Fault in Our Stars” and “Turtles All The Way Down,” but what you may not know is that he and his brother Hank cofounded this educational opus together years before he was a successful author. John, Hank, and several other hosts have put together playlists of lessons on history, biology, chemistry, psychology, computer science, literature, government, mythology, and more. There is something for everyone on this channel!
You can peruse the different subject matter here.
Here is John Green talking about the French Revolution.
3. Lessons From The Screenplay
If you love movies, or you’re a writer of any kind, you will love this one. Michael Tucker uses the screenplays of popular movies as a jumping off point to analyze subject matter like plot, character, act structure, subplots, theme, and aesthetics in film. If you write, you will get a lot out of this channel. Or, you just learn some fun factoids about your favorite films!
Here is his excellent analysis of the obsessive hero story structure as told through “Black Swan” and Whiplash.” You can find the rest of his amazing work here.
4. SciShow
Science lovers, this one’s for you. Remember how we mentioned the Green brothers earlier? This channel is Hank’s independent project, focused completely on science education. They cover everything from the serious to the silly, like this hysterical explanation of the science of the cinnamon challenge. Even if you don’t particularly enjoy science (I normally don’t either, no shame in it), I promise, you’ll enjoy this one.
You can view the entire channel contents here.
5. PhilosophyTube
This channel was founded by Olly, an English philosophy student, because he was upset at the UK hiking up tuition fees, and he thought that what he was learning should be accessible publicly. He teaches us philosophy directly off of his university syllabus: not summaries, not compendiums, but real discussion on really important points. It is as good as it sounds. Religion, ethics, the meaning of life…it’s all here. And it is glorious.
Here is Olly’s full channel.
Here is his video on the ethics of collateral damage.
6. TED
This channel is essentially a lecture series, with people from all walks of life discussing their areas of expertise. You can find a talk about almost anything on this page, from arts and sciences to the sociopolitical, ranging from comedic to academic in nature. (Plus, if you like shorter videos with animation, you can hop over to their subchannel TedEd for simple clips on equally interesting subject matter.)
You can check out their channel here. Enjoy Tracee Ellis Ross discussing the female experience below.
I hope you enjoy unpacking the mysteries of your favorite subject matter in these channels. Happy summer!
