Essential Essays about Life
Great writing about life in the modern world
Attitude by Margaret Atwood - You may not be able to alter reality, but you can alter your attitude towards it, and this, paradoxically, alters reality
The Capital T Truth by David Foster Wallace - The whole trick is keeping the truth up front in daily consciousness
How to Live on Twenty-Four Hours a Day by Arnold Bennett - You wake up in the morning, and lo! your purse is magically filled with twenty-four hours of the unmanufactured tissue of the universe of your life!
This Is the Life Annie Dillard - You enjoy work and will love your grandchildren, and somewhere in there you die
The Force That Drives the Flower by Annie Dillard - What is it about fecundity that so appalls? Is it that with nature’s bounty goes a crushing waste that threatens our own cheap lives?
Why Go Out? by Sheila Heti - At home, you can wear your pyjamas. When you’re out, you could be snubbed, or disappointed. The scotch is not cheap.
Delight by Ross Gay - Nourishing need, adult braces, and kissing a very small dog one million times
Scars by David Owen - A life in injuries
The Same River Twice by David Quammen - You cannot step twice into the same river, for other waters are continually flowing on. To most people it comes across as a nice resonant metaphor, a bit of philosophic poetry. To me it is that and more.
How Life Really Works by Philip Ball - Just as I uncovered a new way to understand life, I got news about my own
Does Life Have a Purpose? by Michael Ruse - Nobody expects atoms and molecules to have purposes, so why do we still think of living things in this way?
You Can Be a Materialist and Find Meaning in the Universe by Jessica Tracy - My hard-nosed materialism led me to an existential crisis, but then I realised the difference between science and scientism
The Futile Pursuit of Happiness by Jon Gertner - When it comes to predicting exactly how you will feel in the future, you are most likely wrong
The Radical Implications of Luck in Life by David Roberts - Acknowledging the role of luck is the secular equivalent of religious awakening
The Power of Feedback Loops by Thomas Goetz - Provide people with information about their actions in real time, then give them a chance to change those actions, pushing them toward better behaviors
Take the Easy Route by Jeff Wise - Change is hard. Everybody knows that.
Buy Experiences, Not Things by James Hamblin - New research builds on the vogue mantra of behavioral economics
Failure to Cope “Under Capitalism” by Clare Coffey - We have generational trauma. We are living through a global pandemic. We are literally neurodivergent and a minor. We are riddled with climate grief. We are, for one reason or another, unable to cope.
How Life Became an Endless, Terrible Competition by Daniel Markovits - Meritocracy prizes achievement above all else, making everyone—even the rich—miserable. Maybe there’s a way out.
Why Does It Feel Like Everyone Has More Money Than You? by Jen Doll - Financial help from parents comes in many forms, and it’s the basis of so many success stories. So why do millennials act like it doesn’t exist? Jen Doll examines the myth—and tyranny—of the “self-made” success story.
When Are You Really an Adult? by Julie Beck - In an age when the line between childhood and adulthood is blurrier than ever, what is it that makes people grown up?
Why Modern Life Feels Rather Undead by Chuck Klosterman - Zombies are like the Internet and the media and every conversation we don’t want to have
The Real Roots of Midlife Crisis by Jonathan Rauch - What a growing body of research reveals about the biology of human happiness — and how to navigate the middle age slump
The Day I Got Old by Caitlin Flanagan - It just suddenly happened, and there isn’t a sports car in the world I can buy to make it otherwise
My Taste Is Basic. So What? by Samantha Irby - How three simple words can stop judgmental friends in their tracks
In Praise of Being Washed by Zach Baron - Has a life of ambition and striving gotten the best of you? Do you sometimes wish you could give up a little—stop chasing so many pointless goals you probably won’t hit anyway?
Phoning It In by Stanley Bing - She gave me this long and involved story about a huge slight that was inflicted on her operation by some other entity someplace, and I was looking out the window and thinking, whoa, look at that BMW Z8
No One Cares! by Arthur C. Brooks - Our fears about what other people think of us are overblown
Click through to our full list of 100 Great Articles and Essays about Life!


Thank you! Another fantastic collection and so pertinent to these bleak times. Look forward to wading through these. At 72, I feel like I know a lot about life but can always learn more.
Yes 💯 Another great collection. Thank you kindly