# Anyone used brilliant.com or similar paid learning platforms? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 16, 2021, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-used-brilliant-com-or-similar-paid-learning-platforms/946620 "2021-07-16T07:34:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2021, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-used-brilliant-com-or-similar-paid-learning-platforms/946620/1 "2021-07-16T07:34:16Z")
A lot of the podcasts and YouTube channels I listen to / watch feature ads for [brilliant.com](http://brilliant.com) After so many ads, I bothered to think to myself “Oh yeah, I _would_ like to learn more about group theory / astronomy / deep learning etc”. However, my reservation is that I already have “pop sci” knowledge of all these topics. I could happily sub in for Neil degrasse Tyson because I’ve heard all those superficial explanations\*; I’ve _literally_ read the book and bought the t shirt. I need something that goes deeper, essentially undergraduate primer level. Can brilliant help me? Or any other platform. \* This is not a criticism of NDT. He’s usually asked questions in an “assume no prior knowledge” context. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2021, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-used-brilliant-com-or-similar-paid-learning-platforms/946620/2 "2021-07-16T16:32:48Z")
I think you mean [brilliant.org](http://brilliant.org)? ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2021, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-used-brilliant-com-or-similar-paid-learning-platforms/946620/3 "2021-07-16T16:36:16Z")
Ah right you are. And now I’m googling for the correct thing, it does really look like it’s yet another platform giving a surface-level introduction to cool topics. So, does anyone have any experience of a platform that goes a bit deeper? ---
**Author:** ![Acierocolotl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acierocolotl/32/6241_2.png) [@Acierocolotl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acierocolotl)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2021, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-used-brilliant-com-or-similar-paid-learning-platforms/946620/4 "2021-07-16T17:40:50Z")
I went through a “Skillshare” course on learning how to develop computer code for the Unity engine, and came out the other side not really much the wise for it. The instructor was not what I’d call a good programmer, and the lessons often had himself correcting himself, which implies a lack of planning as well. I’m told some Skillshare sessions can be better than others, but that one was pretty poor and soured me on the experience. ---
**Author:** ![Attila\_the\_Nun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Attila\_the\_Nun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attila_the_Nun)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2021, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-used-brilliant-com-or-similar-paid-learning-platforms/946620/5 "2021-07-21T21:43:41Z")
You might already know about it, but I would recommend the Great Courses plus (now called Wondrium). They have a lot of courses that are introductory undergraduate level. Neil deGrasse Tyson has actually done a couple of courses for them. It is just videos though, so I am not sure if it is what you’re looking for. Some of the courses do have things to work on, like the introductory machine learning course uses Google Colab for people to practice running the code. But it isn’t interactive in the same way Brilliant is. I guess I use different platforms for different subjects. For computer and business topics, my main recommendation would be the O’Reilly platform, I primarily use it for books, but there are videos, as well as an interactive coding thing. It is somewhat expensive though: $50/month or $500/year. They used to run sales, which brought the price down to $200/year or so, but I haven’t seen one for a while. I have also been using DataCamp lately, in part because they had an offer of $180/year a few months ago. They focus on data science and related subjects. (I am currently doing a quantitative finance course through them.) I have tried [Brilliant.org](http://Brilliant.org), which was fine, but a lot of the coverage is relatively basic. Also, at the time I tried it, a lot of the courses were unfinished, so the material on several subjects only took an hour or two to go through. There are also things like Coursera and EdX, but I imagine you already know about them. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2021, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-used-brilliant-com-or-similar-paid-learning-platforms/946620/6 "2021-07-22T22:37:14Z")
> [@Attila\_the\_Nun](#): > > I would recommend the Great Courses plus (now called Wondrium). They have a lot of courses that are introductory undergraduate level Great, thanks for the recommendation! > [@Attila\_the\_Nun](#): > > There are also things like Coursera and EdX, but I imagine you already know about them. Ah yes of course and on looking these are University-affiliated courses. So I guess my only consideration now is bang for buck… ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2021, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-used-brilliant-com-or-similar-paid-learning-platforms/946620/7 "2021-07-23T15:12:22Z")
There are also colleges/universities that put lectures (and sometimes related material) up online, either on their own websites or on YouTube. Often these are recordings of actual classes, so they’re not as slick or concise as something specifically made for home viewing.