The HN canon
Curated by Claude · 10 videos · 6 hr 32 min
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
11.5M views • 15 years agoBBCHans Rosling uses augmented-reality animation to show 200 countries over 200 years in four minutes, built from 120,000 data points. It tracks life expectancy and income to show the world's development.A 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
13M views • 10 years ago3Blue1BrownThe first chapter of 3Blue1Brown's Essence of Linear Algebra series, introducing vectors with animated geometric visuals. It begins a series that builds intuition for linear algebra from the basics.The 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
12.4M views • 20 years agoJoshuaGSteve Jobs's 2005 Stanford commencement address, built around three stories: connecting the dots, love and loss including being fired from Apple, and death. It is a 15-minute talk on finding work you love.Fifteen 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
134.5M views • 13 years agoPrinciples by Ray DalioRay Dalio's 30-minute animated video explains how the economy works through credit, debt, interest rates, and short- and long-term cycles. It is based on his template for understanding the economy.Recommended by more HN commenters than any other video here, as the best plain-language explanation of credit, debt and economic cycles.
- 5
32:35Detergent packs are kinda wishy-washy (Dishwashers Explained)
6M views • 5 years agoTechnology ConnectionsTechnology Connections explains how dishwashers work, why detergent pods underperform powder, and how to use the pre-wash and main-wash compartments. It argues you don't need to pre-rinse dishes.Technology 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
23.5M views • 6 years agoMIT OpenCourseWarePatrick Winston's long-running MIT lecture on public speaking teaches heuristic rules for talks. It covers how to start, use time and place, boards, props and slides, and how to inform, persuade and finish.Patrick 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
65K views • 13 years agoConfreaksJim Weirich's RubyConf 2012 talk derives the Y combinator step by step, live-coding in Ruby lambdas. It builds up an understanding of functional programming and lambda calculus from first principles.Jim 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
209K views • 14 years agoAndor GafotasA HOPE09 talk on how modern computer chips are manufactured, from 22nm transistors to ultra-clean fabs and the tricks used to pattern tiny features with light. It frames chipmaking as hacking electrical engineering and physics.HN'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)
368K views • 14 years agosecuritylecturesRichard Hamming's 1995 recording of his talk 'You and Your Research', drawn from his graduate engineering course. He discusses how great scientists pick important problems and build careers, drawing on his years at Bell Labs.Richard 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
22.4M views • 18 years agoCarnegie Mellon UniversityRandy Pausch's 2007 last lecture at Carnegie Mellon, given as he was dying of pancreatic cancer. He reflects on achieving childhood dreams, overcoming obstacles and helping others reach theirs.A fitting close: Pausch's lecture on childhood dreams, given while he was dying of cancer, which HN still recommends to anyone facing setbacks.