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Best Productivity ResourcesBy Shushant LakhyaniVerified creator

Website

HowStuffWorks

Explaining how the world works since 1998.

Visit HowStuffWorks4.5

  • Rating

    4.5 / 5

  • Pricing

    Free

  • Difficulty

    Beginner

  • Works on

    Web

Built with love by Shushant Lakhyani. Building bestproductivityresources.com

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What is HowStuffWorks?

HowStuffWorks publishes factual, unbiased articles, podcasts and videos that explain how things work across science, technology, history, culture, health, money and more.

Pros: what HowStuffWorks does well

  • Trusted, long-form explainers on a huge range of topics
  • Well-researched and accessible writing
  • Includes podcasts and video content

Cons: where it falls short

  • Ad-supported site
  • Some articles may be less frequently updated

Who HowStuffWorks is for

Curious readers, students and lifelong learners who want to understand how the world works.

Who can skip it

People looking for actionable step-by-step tutorials rather than conceptual explainers.

HowStuffWorks alternatives

Not sold on HowStuffWorks? These do a similar job, and each card says what it has in common.

All Learning resources

Google Arts & Culture

Focus: art, museums and inspiration. Shares culture with HowStuffWorks. Adds iOS and Android. Rated 4.7 (HowStuffWorks: 4.5).

WebsiteFreeWeb, iOS
4.7Visit

PubMed

Focus: medical research, papers and citations. Shares science with HowStuffWorks. Rated 4.7 (HowStuffWorks: 4.5).

WebsiteFreeWeb
4.7Visit

MIT Deep Learning Book

Focus: deep learning, book and pdf. Shares free with HowStuffWorks. A course, not a website. Rated 4.7 (HowStuffWorks: 4.5).

CourseFreeWeb
4.7Visit

Instapaper

Focus: read later, highlights and readwise reader alternative. Shares articles with HowStuffWorks. A web app, not a website. Freemium (HowStuffWorks: Free). Adds iOS, Android and Chrome. Rated 4.4 (HowStuffWorks: 4.5).

Web AppFree planWeb, iOS
4.4Visit

Wikipedia

Focus: encyclopedia, reference and research. Also in Research and Learning, like HowStuffWorks. Adds iOS and Android. Rated 4.8 (HowStuffWorks: 4.5).

WebsiteFreeWeb, iOS
4.8Visit

Free alternatives to HowStuffWorks

Want to spend nothing? These free picks cover similar ground.

BBC Bitesize

Focus: revision, gcse and school. Also in Learning and Research, like HowStuffWorks. Rated 4.7 (HowStuffWorks: 4.5).

WebsiteFreeWeb
4.7Visit

Internet Archive

Focus: digital library, wayback machine and archives. Also in Research and Learning, like HowStuffWorks. Rated 4.7 (HowStuffWorks: 4.5).

WebsiteFreeWeb
4.7Visit

The Public Domain Review

Focus: public domain, art history and images. Also in Reading and Research, like HowStuffWorks. Rated 4.7 (HowStuffWorks: 4.5).

WebsiteFreeWeb
4.7Visit

web.dev

Focus: web development, performance and accessibility. Also in Learning and Reading, like HowStuffWorks. Rated 4.7 (HowStuffWorks: 4.5).

WebsiteFreeWeb
4.7Visit

ooh.directory

Focus: blogs, directory and rss. Also in Reading and Research, like HowStuffWorks. Rated 4.6 (HowStuffWorks: 4.5).

WebsiteFreeWeb
4.6Visit

CORE

Focus: open access, research papers and academic search. Also in Research and Learning, like HowStuffWorks. Same 4.5 rating.

WebsiteFreeWeb
4.5Visit
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