I spend a lot of my time walking from one place to another, and have found this time to be incredbly valuable for listening and learning. So in the spirit of the Season, I’ve curated a list of my 12 favourites, ranked in alphabetical order. This list covers everything from linguistics and etmology to astro and quantum physics, including a fair dose of folklore, mythology and narrative theory, and even a fair coverage of reseach into ancient relgious texts.

These YouTubers have not only been invaluable to me as a source of knowledge, but they have often reshaped my thinking, and proven highly entertaining too. If you want to master storytelling, you need to understand not just the role it plays today, but the role it has played in shaping history, and how storytelling has engaged the human psyche over the centuries.

And if you want to know how I managed to link the non-cannonical Gospels to the Star Wars Expanded Univese and 50 Shades of Grey, you might find some the answer in one or two of these videos ….

Language, Thought & Persuasion: How stories get encoded into words

languagejones: Dr Taylor Jones has a PhD in linguistics and is not afraid to use it – at high speed, and across a massive number of topics relating to how we speak (his dissertation on the Gen-Alpha ‘6-7’ brain-rot phenomenon is eye-opening). He explores the complexities in slang and dialects and is not afraid to call out spreaders of false information, or explain how language is used to shape opinion. His most recent exploration of how language shapes engagement on YouTube should be essential viewing (for both manipulators and the manipulated).

RobWords: A fun channel for anyone who has wondered why a dog is called a dog (sadly, no one really knows the answer to that one). Rob Watts delves into the history, etymology, quirks, idioms and word origins of the English language in a way that is quick to curry favour with word enthusiasts (and I recommend you look up the origin of ‘curry favour’). If his channel doesn’t expand your vocabulary, it will at least give you a stronger sense of why you might choose the words you use.

Myth, Meaning & Belief: The oldest stories

Crecganford: An unparalleled authority on mythology and history, with a focus on Indo-European mythic traditions. It takes a scholarly approach to mythology and is brilliant in its exploration of how stories transfer from one culture to another, and the motifs they take with them. One of his latest videos, on whether or not Neanderthals were storytellers, brings rare context to the idea that at one time there was more than one species of human on the planet and raises the question of whether humanity’s abilities as storytellers played some role in our rise to hominid supremacy. Grab a cup of tea and settle in for some amazing explorations of ancient lore from the earliest days of human storytelling.

Esoterica: Dr Justin Sledge has created a wealth of content exploring the esoteric in history, philosophy, and religion. His explorations of everything from mysticism and the Kabbalah through to the occult and witchcraft are both thoughtful and thought-provoking and provide rare insights into the origins of many of the narratives that influence our lives today.

Dan McClellan: Dan is a scholar of the Bible and religion, and while that might initially seem to be an odd choice for me, his examination of ancient texts provides an excellent perspective from which to understand some of the oldest stories still told today—their origins and their influence. Most importantly, he brings a highly critical perspective to both the texts and how they are interpreted, and he is exceptional in his use of scholarship to dismantle many of the dogmatic perspectives that exist within religious communities today. In doing so, he provides a host of examples of how reason and evidence can be wielded to support arguments against even the most fervent believers. And when you begin to understand that the behaviours of those writing ancient texts were not so dissimilar to those of many storytellers today, his channel becomes mandatory viewing.

Fiction as a mirror: Stories we invent to understand the world we live in

Feral Historian: This creator manages to find the political, social, and economic theming in even the most seemingly banal of science fiction worldbuilding, and his ability to relate fictional constructs to the real-world ideas that birthed them is enlightening. By teasing out the narratives and their underpinning philosophies, Matt offers up something both for those who want to understand fictional worldbuilding, and how fictional worldbuilding can reflect and even influence the world that birthed it.

Money, power, and systems: Stories of why the world is the way it is

Patrick Bolye: The king of the deadpan takedown, Patrick covers everything from rogue trading and crypto-bros to the Epstein Files and the financing of Saudi megaprojects (his videos on NEOM and the Epstein birthday book are really worth a watch). Sceptical without ever being mean-spirited, critical but with an insider’s knowledge of how things happen the way they do, Patrick is my number one source when trying to make sense (or quantify the insanity) of global financial markets.

EconomicsExplained: This Australian economics education channel is a brilliant resource for understanding the economies of different countries and how they work (or why they don’t), while also looking into issues such as the impact of taxation and monetary policy. A great example of data-driven storytelling, the channel offers something for both the casually-curious and seasoned geopolitical hacks.

How Money Works: US-based former investment banker Darin Soat is terrific at explaining the complexities within the financial system and at articulating problems that most are willing to ignore. His exposition of the fragility of the Australian economy ruffled a number of feathers but was no different to the type of analysis he brings to a wide range of economies and topics.

Wall Street Millennial: My favourite channel for regaining a sense of sanity after diving too deep into the goings-on of the innovation investment market. Another YouTuber who isn’t afraid to call ‘bullshit’ on the utterances of Sam Altman, Elon Musk and others, and who brings a critical eye to business deals often long before other sources start to look into them.

The Universe and Reality Itself: Stories that are bigger than any of us

Sabine Hossenfelder (Science News): German physicist Sabine Hossenfelder is a voice of reason in the increasingly crazy world of academic research, providing in-depth analysis of the latest news, and not being afraid to call bullshit on specific papers and press releases, or on the fundamental flaws in the academic research community. Her news spreads across a wide range of topics from climate change and energy through to particle physics and the nature of the universe.

Anton Petrov (Wonderful Person): A tireless science communicator who strives to make the complex clear in fields such as astrophysics, mathematics, and quantum physics. Anton’s short videos are easy to digest and will keep you up to date with what’s happening both close to home and in the furthest reaches of the visible universe (literally).