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

On Bullshit Summary

by Harry G. Frankfurt 2005 67 pages

I'm a Stranger Here Myself Summary

I'm a Stranger Here Myself

Notes on Returning to America After Twenty Years Away

by Bill Bryson 1999 304 pages

A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again Summary

A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again

Essays and Arguments

by David Foster Wallace 1998 368 pages

A Man Without a Country Summary

A Man Without a Country

by Kurt Vonnegut 2007 160 pages

How to Live Summary

Or A Life of Montaigne in One Question and Twenty Attempts at an Answer

by Sarah Bakewell 2010 400 pages

Zen in the Art of Writing Summary

Zen in the Art of Writing

Essays on Creativity

by Ray Bradbury 1994 176 pages

BIRD BY BIRD Summary

Some Instructions on Writing and Life

by Anne Lamott 1994 256 pages

Personality, Character, and Intelligence Summary

Personality, Character, and Intelligence

Part Three from What the Dog Saw

by Malcolm Gladwell 2009 109 pages

Personal Development

Wouldn't Take Nothing for My Journey Now Summary

Wouldn't Take Nothing for My Journey Now

by Maya Angelou 2011 162 pages

Kurt Vonnegut Summary

by Kurt Vonnegut 2012 464 pages

Big Questions from Little People Summary

Big Questions from Little People

And Simple Answers from Great Minds

by Gemma Elwin Harris 2012 336 pages

Dr. Seuss and Philosophy Summary

Dr. Seuss and Philosophy

Oh, the Thinks You Can Think!

by Jacob M. Held 2011 288 pages

The Conquest of Happiness Summary

The Conquest of Happiness

by Bertrand Russell 1996 192 pages

Occupy (Occupied Media Pamphlet Series, 1) Summary

Occupy (Occupied Media Pamphlet Series, 1)

by Noam Chomsky 2012 128 pages

Make Good Art Summary

by Neil Gaiman 2013 80 pages

The Matrix and Philosophy Summary

The Matrix and Philosophy

Welcome to the Desert of the Real (Popular Culture and Philosophy, 3)

by William Irwin 2002 320 pages

Breaking Bad and Philosophy Summary

Breaking Bad and Philosophy

Badder Living through Chemistry (Popular Culture and Philosophy)

by Robert Arp 2012 288 pages

The Architecture of Happiness Summary

The Architecture of Happiness

by Alain de Botton 2007 280 pages

How Proust Can Change Your Life Summary

How Proust Can Change Your Life

by Alain De Botton 1998 208 pages

Migrations to Solitude Summary

Migrations to Solitude

by Sue Halpern 2011 225 pages

Sister Outsider Summary

Sister Outsider

Essays and Speeches

by Audre Lorde 2007 192 pages

The Consolations of Philosophy Summary

The Consolations of Philosophy

by Alain De Botton 2001 272 pages

All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten Summary

All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten

Uncommon Thoughts

by Robert Fulghum 2004 221 pages

Dancing Fish and Ammonites Summary

Dancing Fish and Ammonites

by Penelope Lively 2014 240 pages

British Literature

Our Culture, What's Left of It Summary

Our Culture, What's Left of It

The Mandarins and the Masses

by Theodore Dalrymple 2007 356 pages

Spoilt Rotten Summary

The Toxic Cult of Sentimentality

by Theodore Dalrymple 2011 256 pages

This Is Water Summary

Some Thoughts, Delivered on a Significant Occasion, about Living a Compassionate Life

by David Foster Wallace 2009 137 pages

What Young India Wants Summary

What Young India Wants

Selected Non-Fiction

by Chetan Bhagat 2012 208 pages

Indian Literature

About Writing Summary

7 Essays, 4 Letters, 5 Interviews

by Samuel R. Delany 2014 424 pages

Colonize This! Summary

Young Women of Color on Today's Feminism (Live Girls)

by Bushra Rehman Daisy Hernandez 2002 403 pages

Every Time I Find the Meaning of Life, They Change It Summary

Every Time I Find the Meaning of Life, They Change It

Wisdom of the Great Philosophers on How to Live

by Daniel Klein 2015 224 pages

We Should All Be Feminists Summary

We Should All Be Feminists

by Ngozi Adichie Chima 2014 52 pages

The Writing Life Summary

The Writing Life

by Annie Dillard 1989 111 pages

The Naive and the Sentimental Novelist (Vintage International) Summary

The Naive and the Sentimental Novelist (Vintage International)

by Orhan Pamuk 2011 209 pages

Turkish Literature

Tiny Beautiful Things Summary

Tiny Beautiful Things

Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar

by Cheryl Strayed 2012 368 pages

The Inner History of Devices Summary

The Inner History of Devices

by Sherry Turkle 2008 224 pages

Pleasure of Finding Things Out Summary

Pleasure of Finding Things Out

The Best Short Works of Richard P. Feynman (Helix Books)

by Richard P. Feynman 2005 288 pages

The Boy Who Could Change the World Summary

The Boy Who Could Change the World

The Writings of Aaron Swartz

by Aaron Swartz

Old Age Summary

A Beginner's Guide

by Michael Kinsley 2016 144 pages

Rethinking Capitalism P Summary

Rethinking Capitalism P

by Mariana Mazzucato Michael Jacobs 2016 224 pages

Ethics In The Real World Summary

Ethics In The Real World

by Peter Singer 2016 336 pages

Conquering the College Admissions Essay in 10 Steps, Second Edition Summary

Conquering the College Admissions Essay in 10 Steps, Second Edition

by Alan Gelb 2013 223 pages

Men Explain Things to Me Summary

Men Explain Things to Me

by Rebecca Solnit 2014 103 pages

Every Song Ever Summary

Every Song Ever

Twenty Ways to Listen in an Age of Musical Plenty

by Ben Ratliff 2016 272 pages

The Creative Writing Coursebook Summary

The Creative Writing Coursebook

Forty Authors Share Advice and Exercises for Fiction and Poetry

by Julia Bell 2016 449 pages

Chicken Soup for the Soul - 101 More Stories to Open the Heart and Rekindle The Spirit Summary

Chicken Soup for the Soul - 101 More Stories to Open the Heart and Rekindle The Spirit

by Mark Victor Hansen Jack Canfield 1995 352 pages

The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work (Vintage International) Summary

The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work (Vintage International)

by Alain De Botton 2010 326 pages

The Cancer Journals Summary

The Cancer Journals

Special Edition

by Audre Lorde 2006 104 pages

Resilience (HBR Emotional Intelligence Series) Summary

Resilience (HBR Emotional Intelligence Series)

by Harvard Business Review 2017 144 pages

We're Going to Need More Wine Summary

We're Going to Need More Wine

Stories That Are Funny, Complicated, and True

by Gabrielle Union 2017 272 pages

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