The 5 best YouTube videos I watched in 2023

In no particular order

The Linguistics Iceberg Explained

by Duncan Clarke, July 28, 2023

My friend Duncan, a rising star in the world of YouTube literary nonfiction, made this. A wry and sardonic offering of whimsical facts about the oddities of human language, illustrated with elegant visuals. You can tell Duncan puts a lot of effort into understanding what he describes.

The American Football House

by Whang!, June 25, 2023

I had no pre-existing knowledge of the subject of this video, yet found it deeply heartwarming. It’s a simple, but well-told story about people caring about an ordinary thing infused with cultural significance. Oddly meditative, I watched it several times.

Journeys to Hell

by Solar Sands, October 27, 2023

There is a gothic quality to the videos of Solar Sands I find almost hypnotic, particularly his very distinctive manner of aloof narration. This video, his most ambitious to date, employs his wealth of cultural knowledge to bring the viewer on a truly unnerving tour of the concept of endless suffering.

Saudi Arabia’s Catastrophic “Everything” Problem

by RealLifeLore, July 22, 2023

Joseph Pisenti, the creator of RealLifeLore, is the most impressive person I met in 2023. This video about the geopolitics of Saudi Arabia offers such a clear, concise, and — most importantly — informed summary of the situation, it could be a presidential briefing. That may be Joseph’s job someday.

God's Alternative Medicine | Christian Science

by Knowing Better,

Knowing Better is a good friend who consistently inspires me with his earnest passion for telling honest stories. Deeply researched (as always), he offers a clear historical narrative of one of the lesser known sects of esoteric American Christianity.

And lastly, I thought I would just mention the video of my own that I think was my best of the year:

The Canada-India crisis explained by a Canadian

by J.J. McCullough, October 1, 2023

The videos I’m proudest of are usually the ones I’ve been noodling over the longest. I’ve been wanting to make a video about the Sikh influence on Canadian politics for years, and the drama surrounding the assassination of Hardeep Singh Nijjar offered a pretext. I feel this is about as honest a summary of the situation as you are likely to find.