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

What Is Your Dangerous Idea? Summary

What Is Your Dangerous Idea?

Today's Leading Thinkers on the Unthinkable

by John Brockman 2006 301 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

I Remember Nothing Summary

I Remember Nothing

And Other Reflections

by Nora Ephron 2010 137 pages

Palm Sunday Summary

An Autobiographical Collage

by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. 1999 320 pages

Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim Summary

Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim

by David Sedaris

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 Jr. 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

Letters Summary

by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. 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

Letters to a Young Scientist Summary

Letters to a Young Scientist

by Edward O. Wilson 2013 256 pages

The Mind's Eye Summary

by Oliver Sacks 2010 263 pages

The Fire Next Time Summary

The Fire Next Time

by James Baldwin 1992 128 pages

by Noam Chomsky 2012 128 pages

Make Good Art Summary

Inspiration for Creative People

by Neil Gaiman 2013 80 pages

The Matrix and Philosophy Summary

The Matrix and Philosophy

Welcome to the Desert of the Real

by William Irwin 2002 320 pages

Breaking Bad and Philosophy Summary

Breaking Bad and Philosophy

Badder Living through Chemistry

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

Amor líquido Summary

Sobre a fragilidade dos laços humanos

by Zygmunt Bauman 2003 236 pages

Migrations to Solitude Summary

Migrations to Solitude

by Sue Halpern 2011 225 pages

What Should We Be Worried About? Real Scenarios That Keep Scientists Up at Night Summary

What Should We Be Worried About? Real Scenarios That Keep Scientists Up at Night

by John Brockman 2014 478 pages

Sister Outsider Summary

Sister Outsider

Essays and Speeches

by Audre Lorde 2007 192 pages

The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction Summary

The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction

by Alan Jacobs 2011 176 pages

Books About Books

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

by Robert Fulghum 2004 221 pages

The Art of Fiction Summary

The Art of Fiction

Notes on Craft for Young Writers

by John Gardner 1991 240 pages

Dancing Fish and Ammonites Summary

Dancing Fish and Ammonites

by Penelope Lively 2014 240 pages

British Literature

Scandals of Classic Hollywood Summary

Scandals of Classic Hollywood

Sex, Deviance, and Drama from the Golden Age of American Cinema

by Anne Helen Petersen 2014 320 pages

The Art of Stillness Summary

The Art of Stillness

Adventures in Going Nowhere

by Pico Iyer 2014 96 pages

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

A Short Guide to a Happy Life Summary

A Short Guide to a Happy Life

by Anna Quindlen 2000 64 pages

What Young India Wants Summary

What Young India Wants

by Chetan Bhagat 2012 208 pages

Indian Literature

The Two Cultures Summary

The Two Cultures

by C.P. Snow 2012 179 pages

This Idea Must Die Summary

This Idea Must Die

Scientific Theories That Are Blocking Progress

by John Brockman 2015 568 pages

50 Successful Harvard Application Essays, Fourth Edition Summary

50 Successful Harvard Application Essays, Fourth Edition

What Worked for Them Can Help You Get Into the College of Your Choice

by Harvard Crimson 2014

Read For School

About Writing Summary

Seven Essays, Four Letters, & Five Interviews

by Samuel R. Delany 2014 424 pages

Colonize This! Summary

Young Women of Color on Today's Feminism

by Bushra Rehman 2002 403 pages

Very Good Lives Summary

Very Good Lives

The Fringe Benefits of Failure and the Importance of Imagination

by J.K. Rowling 2015 80 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 Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 2014 52 pages

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