Essays

Great minds share their sharpest observations and most compelling arguments through the intimate art of the essay, exploring everything from creativity and culture to philosophy and the peculiarities of modern life. Whether wrestling with life's biggest questions or finding profound meaning in everyday moments, these carefully crafted pieces invite readers to see the world through fresh eyes.

Essays Book Summaries

Alice in Wonderland and Philosophy Summary

Alice in Wonderland and Philosophy

Curiouser And Curiouser

by William Irwin 2009 211 pages

Literary Criticism

Letters to a Young Contrarian Summary

Letters to a Young Contrarian

by Christopher Hitchens 2001 141 pages

Philosophy Bites Summary

Philosophy Bites

by David Edmonds 2010 272 pages

Rights of Man, Common Sense and Other Political Writings Summary

Rights of Man, Common Sense and Other Political Writings

by Thomas Paine 1776 544 pages

The Silenced Majority Summary

The Silenced Majority

Stories of Uprisings, Occupations, Resistance, and Hope

by Amy Goodman 2012 342 pages

Travels with Epicurus Summary

Travels with Epicurus

A Journey to a Greek Island in Search of a Fulfilled Life

by Daniel Klein 2012 176 pages

The Essential Smart Football Summary

The Essential Smart Football

by Chris B. Brown 2012 141 pages

Modern Love Summary

True Stories of Love, Loss, and Redemption

by Daniel Jones 2007 304 pages

Bowie's Bookshelf Summary

Bowie's Bookshelf

The Hundred Books that Changed David Bowie's Life

by John O'Connell 2019 320 pages

Books About Books

Movement Matters Summary

Movement Matters

Essays on Movement Science, Movement Ecology, and the Nature of Movement

by Katy Bowman 2016 248 pages

Mad Men and Philosophy Summary

Mad Men and Philosophy

Nothing is as it Seems

by James B. South 2010 272 pages

Arguing with Zombies Summary

Arguing with Zombies

Economics, Politics, and the Fight for a Better Future

by Paul Krugman 2020 464 pages

The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity Summary

The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity

by Carlo M. Cipolla 1976 96 pages

Sex and Lies Summary

by Leïla Slimani 2017 176 pages

We Need New Stories Summary

We Need New Stories

by Nesrine Malik 2021 288 pages

The Return of the Russian Leviathan Summary

The Return of the Russian Leviathan

by Sergei Medvedev 2017 250 pages

Eloquent Rage Summary

A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower

by Brittney Cooper 2018 288 pages

On Tyranny Summary

Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century

by Timothy Snyder 2017 127 pages

Aftershocks of Disaster Summary

Aftershocks of Disaster

Puerto Rico Before and After the Storm

by Yarimar Bonilla 2019 384 pages

I Used to Be Charming Summary

I Used to Be Charming

The Rest of Eve Babitz

by Eve Babitz 2019 448 pages

On Writing Horror Summary

On Writing Horror

A Handbook by the Horror Writers Association

by Horror Writers Association 1997 272 pages

How to Be Alone Summary

How to Be Alone

If You Want To, and Even If You Don't

by Lane Moore 2018 224 pages

Hood Feminism Summary

Notes from the Women That a Movement Forgot

by Mikki Kendall 2020 267 pages

Star Wars and Philosophy Summary

Star Wars and Philosophy

More Powerful than You Can Possibly Imagine

by William Irwin 2005 227 pages

Obsessives, Pioneers, and Other Varieties of Minor Genius Summary

Obsessives, Pioneers, and Other Varieties of Minor Genius

Part One from What the Dog Saw

by Malcolm Gladwell 2009 130 pages

What the Dog Saw and Other Adventures Summary

What the Dog Saw and Other Adventures

by Malcolm Gladwell 2009 444 pages

I Can't Date Jesus Summary

I Can't Date Jesus

Love, Sex, Family, Race, and Other Reasons I've Put My Faith in Beyoncé

by Michael Arceneaux 2018 258 pages

The Ultimate Harry Potter and Philosophy Summary

The Ultimate Harry Potter and Philosophy

Hogwarts for Muggles

by William Irwin 2010 304 pages

Can We All Be Feminists? Summary

Can We All Be Feminists?

New Writing from Brit Bennett, Nicole Dennis-Benn, and 15 Others on Intersectionality, Identity, and the Way Forward for Feminism

by June Eric-Udorie 2018 288 pages

What My Mother and I Don't Talk About Summary

What My Mother and I Don't Talk About

Fifteen Writers Break the Silence

by Michele Filgate 2019 288 pages

Can't We All Disagree More Constructively? Summary

Can't We All Disagree More Constructively?

From The Righteous Mind (Kindle Single)

by Jonathan Haidt 2016 73 pages

Braiding Sweetgrass Summary

Braiding Sweetgrass

Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants

by Robin Wall Kimmerer 2013 408 pages

Cassandra Speaks Summary

Cassandra Speaks

When Women Are the Storytellers, the Human Story Changes

by Elizabeth Lesser 2020 304 pages

This Explains Everything Summary

This Explains Everything

Deep, Beautiful, and Elegant Theories of How the World Works

by John Brockman 2013 411 pages

Between Barack and a Hard Place Summary

Between Barack and a Hard Place

Racism and White Denial in the Age of Obama

by Tim Wise 2009 159 pages

What If This Were Enough? Summary

What If This Were Enough?

by Heather Havrilesky 2018 240 pages

Telling True Stories Summary

Telling True Stories

A Nonfiction Writers' Guide from the Nieman Foundation at Harvard University

by Mark Kramer 2007 317 pages

Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs Summary

Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs

A Low Culture Manifesto

by Chuck Klosterman 2003 272 pages

Book Lust Summary

Recommended Reading for Every Mood, Moment, and Reason

by Nancy Pearl 2003 287 pages

Books About Books

Batman and Philosophy Summary

Batman and Philosophy

The Dark Knight of the Soul

by Mark D. White 2008 304 pages

The Undiscovered Self/Symbols and the Interpretation of Dreams Summary

The Undiscovered Self/Symbols and the Interpretation of Dreams

by C.G. Jung 1957 168 pages

On Bullshit Summary

by Harry G. Frankfurt 2005 67 pages

My Planet Summary

Finding Humor in the Oddest Places

by Mary Roach 2013 191 pages

Seven Brief Lessons on Physics Summary

Seven Brief Lessons on Physics

by Carlo Rovelli 2014 81 pages

In Praise of Idleness and Other Essays Summary

In Praise of Idleness and Other Essays

by Bertrand Russell 1935 192 pages

The Conquest of Happiness Summary

The Conquest of Happiness

by Bertrand Russell 1930 183 pages

Dialogues and Essays Summary

Dialogues and Essays

by Seneca 304 pages

Nothing to Hide Summary

Nothing to Hide

The False Tradeoff between Privacy and Security

by Daniel J. Solove 2011 256 pages

Walden & Civil Disobedience Summary

Walden & Civil Disobedience

by Henry David Thoreau 1849 320 pages

Walden & Civil Disobedience Summary

Walden & Civil Disobedience

by Henry David Thoreau 1849 320 pages

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