10 videos · 6 hr 32 minThe HN canon
If you only watch ten things from this collection, make it these. Each one has been recommended by many different HN commenters over many years, across every kind of thread, not just programming ones. The list opens with short, easy pieces and works up to the longer lectures, closing with the talk HN sends people when life gets hard.
Play all on YouTube- 14:48
Hans Rosling's 200 Countries, 200 Years, 4 Minutes - The Joy of Stats - BBC
BBC · Picked by 10 · 2010–2023A four-minute start: Rosling animates two centuries of health and wealth, and HN keeps sharing it as a short antidote to cynicism.
- 29:52
Vectors | Chapter 1, Essence of linear algebra
3Blue1Brown · Picked by 17 · 2018–2026The highest-scoring video in the whole collection, and the opening chapter of the series HN credits with finally making linear algebra click.
- 314:34
Steve Jobs Stanford Commencement Speech 2005
JoshuaG · Picked by 13 · 2007–2015Fifteen minutes and three stories about connecting the dots, losing Apple and death, sent on HN for years to graduates and anyone at a career crossroads.
- 431:00
How The Economic Machine Works by Ray Dalio
Principles by Ray Dalio · Picked by 18 · 2014–2026Recommended by more HN commenters than any other video here, as the best plain-language explanation of credit, debt and economic cycles.
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32:35Detergent packs are kinda wishy-washy (Dishwashers Explained)
Technology Connections · Picked by 15 · 2021–2025Technology Connections at its best: half an hour on dishwashers that a surprising number of HN readers say changed how they run theirs.
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1:03:43How to Speak
MIT OpenCourseWare · Picked by 17 · 2020–2025Patrick Winston's MIT lecture on giving talks, which HN treats as the one lecture on presenting everyone should see, with commenters urging you to drop what you're doing and watch it.
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53:22Ruby Conf 12 - Y Not- Adventures in Functional Programming by Jim Weirich
Confreaks · Picked by 17 · 2013–2026Jim Weirich live-codes his way to the Y combinator, and HN calls it perhaps the most entertaining technical talk ever given.
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1:01:20Indistinguishable From Magic: Manufacturing Modern Computer Chips
Andor Gafotas · Picked by 19 · 2016–2024HN's favorite in-depth introduction to how chips are actually made, from lithography to clean rooms, and a reliable source of awe.
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44:19Hamming, "You and Your Research" (June 6, 1995)
securitylectures · Picked by 11 · 2012–2023Richard Hamming draws on his Bell Labs years for career advice on choosing important problems, which HN has passed around for over a decade.
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1:16:27Randy Pausch's Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams
Carnegie Mellon University · Picked by 12 · 2008–2023A fitting close: Pausch's lecture on childhood dreams, given while he was dying of cancer, which HN still recommends to anyone facing setbacks.