Learn more about personaldevelopment with this collection
How to overcome unwanted thoughts
How to manage intrusive thoughts
How to change your attitude towards intrusive thoughts
I tend to prefer courses to books. Although the best books definitely beat mediocre courses, thereâs a few reasons why a great course can leave a lasting impression.
For starters, courses tend to teach foundational topics. Most books try to be original. But much of whatâs worth knowing is actually fairly old .
119
1.55K reads
Courses tend to be more balanced. A professor teaching a basic course will try to explain most of the major viewpoints. A popular book written by the same professor might be completely one-sided as they try to make the strongest case for their views. Polemical works can be useful but they can be misleading if you mistake a contentious issue for an open-and-shut case.
I also just like watching courses. Reading is good, but so are listening & watching. If you do all three, youâll probably learn more than if you just stick to text.
Here are my picks for the best free online courses to watch.
105
159 reads
Honestly, this course is worth watching just to witness one of the best teachers of all time. Sandel teaches moral philosophy, not always known for being the most gripping topic. Yet the lectures are compelling, as students debate real-world examples that illustrate philosophical principles.
134
370 reads
What impresses me most is Sandelâs ability to teach esoteric points through Socratic dialog with his students, using their own reactions to illustrate the philosophical principles he wants to teach. Thereâs a reason this class is one of Harvardâs most popular among incoming freshman. Now you donât need to attend Harvard to take it.
111
174 reads
Walter Lewinâs physics lectures (both classical and electromagnetism) were the ones I followed during the MIT Challenge . Theyâre some of the finest classes Iâve ever taken online. Lewin manages to explain deep concepts about how the world works through exciting experiments. Heâs also really good at drawing dotted lines .
124
192 reads
Unfortunately there was a bit of a scandal on MITâs open platform which resulted in MIT removing any affiliation with Lewin for the course. Thus the lectures are harder to find online than they used to be. But since nothing ever truly gets removed from the internet, I think theyâre still worth watching if you want to learn physics.
107
136 reads
Courseraâs most popular course , this one also happens to be taught by my friend, Barbara Oakley. The course is engaging and easy to follow, using neuroscience and psychology to illustrate the principles for studying better.
151
312 reads
I have to admit, when this course first came out, I was a little nervous since my income depends a lot on my own, paid learning course . But, Iâve since come to appreciate that learning better is a pretty broad subject, so thereâs always going to be more to teach (and learn). Nonetheless, I recommend this course as a useful resource!
109
177 reads
This course started the MOOC explosion, with Ng leaving his Stanford teaching position to launch Coursera. This course has gone through multiple iterations, first as recorded lectures from an actual Stanford class, later as a simplified MOOC and now as a full-blown machine learning educational platform .
128
148 reads
Iâve linked to the original Stanford class, as I prefer to embed YouTube. The Coursera version is also a little unclear as to whether it is actually free, or whether thereâs a small fee. However, you may prefer the MOOC version here since it is more recent.
111
110 reads
Richard Feynman is my all-time intellectual hero. He does a brilliant job here of explaining quantum mechanics â without using any math. I would have thought it was impossible, but somehow Feynman manages to pull it off. (And barefoot, no less!).
120
126 reads
While I highly enjoyed Allan Adams MIT quantum physics class , the math requirements are fairly steep. The amount of people who both have the math and physics requirements, but somehow didnât study quantum mechanics in their undergraduate education, might be fairly limiting so I didnât include it here. (That said, the first lecture of the class is math-free and very well done, so I recommend it, even if you donât know calculus.)
108
63 reads
This course is the best one Iâve found on neuroscience. White gives a detailed walkthough of how the brain works. He even shows actual human brain tissue on camera, along with copious diagrams and slides.
128
140 reads
This was a course I just finished watching recently, after a reader suggested it for my effort to learn more biology .
I found the course really engaging, especially the first semester. While organic chemistry is often one of those feared courses for memorization and complexity, McBride manages to convey the fundamental ideas through the lens of scientific discovery.
118
72 reads
108
49 reads
A four-part course series on the immune system , I coincidentally started taking this one shortly before the coronavirus pandemic began.
This course builds a great foundation for these topics. The cute illustrations of various immune cells too are also a plus, as someone who likes to communicate ideas visually can appreciate.
123
88 reads
The immune system is much more interesting than I had realized, prior to taking this course. Just how can your body develop cells that can recognize and remove completely novel pathogens, without harming any of your own tissues? How do you defend against viruses that hijack your bodyâs cells or bacteria that replicate rapidly and evolve around your defenses? Why do we get allergies or suffer from autoimmune diseases?
109
48 reads
Beautifully animated and tightly scripted, this is a course specifically developed for a YouTube audience. I enjoyed this course immensely when it first came out, giving a good overview of many different historical events.
Crash Course now has many courses on different topics , so theyâre a great resource if you prefer this style to chalkboard or PowerPoint lectures.
131
77 reads
Economics is probably the subject I use most in my daily thinking. If youâre keen on learning mental models by which to see reality, economics is a really good place to start.
Cowen and Tabbarock write the popular economics blog Marginal Revolution and teach at George Mason University. Their foray into online education has produced some truly stellar video courses. Their micro and macro courses are quite good, and they manage to convey complicated ideas about the economy without veering into too much abstraction.
129
76 reads
I realized, after creating this list, how many good courses Iâve taken that couldnât fit. So hereâs a short list of some honorable mentions:
109
153 reads
122
62 reads
121
71 reads
More like this
7 ideas
How to Monetize Your Passion
lifehack.org
7 ideas
How to learn new skills online
popsci.com
15 ideas
Explore the Worldâs
Best Ideas
Save ideas for later reading, for personalized stashes, or for remembering it later.
Start
31 ideas
Start
44 ideas
# Personal Growth
Take Your Ideas
Anywhere
Just press play and we take care of the words.
No Internet access? No problem. Within the mobile app, all your ideas are available, even when offline.
Ideas for your next work project? Quotes that inspire you? Put them in the right place so you never lose them.
Start
47 ideas
Start
75 ideas
My Stashes
Join
2 Million Stashers
4.8
5,740 Reviews
App Store
4.7
72,690 Reviews
Google Play
Ashley Anthony
This app is LOADED with RELEVANT, HELPFUL, AND EDUCATIONAL material. It is creatively intellectual, yet minimal enough to not overstimulate and create a learning block. I am exceptionally impressed with this app!
â
samz905
Donât look further if you love learning new things. A refreshing concept that provides quick ideas for busy thought leaders.
â
Shankul Varada
Best app ever! You heard it right. This app has helped me get back on my quest to get things done while equipping myself with knowledge everyday.
â
Sean Green
Great interesting short snippets of informative articles. Highly recommended to anyone who loves information and lacks patience.
â
Jamyson Haug
Great for quick bits of information and interesting ideas around whatever topics you are interested in. Visually, it looks great as well.
â
Laetitia Berton
I have only been using it for a few days now, but I have found answers to questions I had never consciously formulated, or to problems I face everyday at work or at home. I wish I had found this earlier, highly recommended!
â
Giovanna Scalzone
Brilliant. It feels fresh and encouraging. So many interesting pieces of information that are just enough to absorb and apply. So happy I found this.
â
Ghazala Begum
Even five minutes a day will improve your thinking. I've come across new ideas and learnt to improve existing ways to become more motivated, confident and happier.
â
Read & Learn
20x Faster
without
deepstash
with
deepstash
with
deepstash
Access to 200,000+ ideas
â
Access to the mobile app
â
Unlimited idea saving & library
â
â
Unlimited history
â
â
Unlimited listening to ideas
â
â
Downloading & offline access
â
â
Personalized recommendations
â
â
Supercharge your mind with one idea per day
Enter your email and spend 1 minute every day to learn something new.
I agree to receive email updates