I watched a couple of those videos after reading about it here and, while they were nice, they didn't stand out as something very special to me. Maybe it's because his style feels close to the way that I like to teach, or maybe you guys had way more sucky teachers than I did (though I don't think my math teachers were particularly good).
I don't want to disrespect the effort he's going through setting up all the online content, that's clearly something very useful to those that don't have access to real people to learn with. But to hold him up as as especially awesome and unique seems to ignore the thousands of equally awesome teachers that are out there teaching like that every day.
I would say he hits the sweet spot between 'inanimate book' and 'personal teacher' pretty much dead on.
Computers and internet connections reach places on the planet where very few physics books go, and embody potentially every book ever written + all the free content available out there.
I had the same impression. Nothing can educate like a good teacher who coaches you directly. Looks like many americans (or britons) are not getting this individual attention in their schools and colleges.
Some professors are able to teach you complex things in such simple terms that it damn well blows you away. I remember being tought van der walls equation's proof using some very basic concepts and the taylor series. I can't find that simple a proof on wikipedia now, and unfortunately I have forgotten much of physics. SICP is also a good example of a good teacher making complex problems simple.
I don't want to disrespect the effort he's going through setting up all the online content, that's clearly something very useful to those that don't have access to real people to learn with. But to hold him up as as especially awesome and unique seems to ignore the thousands of equally awesome teachers that are out there teaching like that every day.