The Decade of the Essay
The 2020s have seen an explosion of essays. The pandemic, climate crisis, artificial intelligence, geopolitical tensions: the world needed to be understood, and essayists responded. This selection is not exhaustive — it’s a starting point.
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Call Me Cassandra — Marilynne Robinson (2021)
One of the great voices of American literature reflects on faith, democracy, and historical memory. Dense, challenging, indispensable. -
Atlas of AI — Kate Crawford (2021)
Artificial intelligence is not magic: it’s extracted minerals, underpaid workers, stolen data. Crawford dismantles the techno-utopian myth with sociological rigor. -
Four Thousand Weeks — Oliver Burkeman (2021)
A book about time management that questions the very idea of productivity. Philosophically robust, practically liberating. -
The Future is Now — Greta Thunberg et al. (2023)
Not just a climate manifesto: a collection of scientific and political voices redefining the urgency of action. -
The Dawn of Everything — Graeber and Wengrow (2021)
A radical revision of human history. The idea that hierarchy and the state are inevitable is dismantled piece by piece. Long, but every chapter is worth it. -
Being Mortal — Atul Gawande (new edition 2023)
Originally published in 2014, it discusses medicine, dignified death, and what the healthcare system fails to do. -
Chip War — Chris Miller (2022)
The geopolitical history of semiconductors. A book that explains why Taiwan is at the center of global politics and why microchips are the new strategic weapon. -
A Hacker's Mind — Bruce Schneier (2023)
It’s not just about cybersecurity: it explains how "hacker thinking" is reshaping politics, finance, and society.
How to Choose Where to Start
If you want to understand technology: Crawford or Miller. If you want to escape productivity anxiety: Burkeman. If you want to understand the world long-term: Graeber and Wengrow. If you want to cry well: Gawande.
