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killstorm's review
4.0
A good varied collection of essays.
The topics include:
Self-Reliance
Overuse of drugs in psychiatric care (a fav)
Teaching children with cancer to write
Edward Hopper
Beauty
ALS
Disappearance of a child prodigy
Bram Stoker/Walt Whitman sexuality and vampires
The real purpose of a college education (a fav)
boredom
Robinson Crusoe and rise of the novel
creation
education in a small town (fav)
alzheimer's (fav)
theoretical physics
menopause
a death of quality (fav)
feminism
humanism
drug side effects
illegal immigrant (fav)
Asian American culture and the workplace
The topics include:
Self-Reliance
Overuse of drugs in psychiatric care (a fav)
Teaching children with cancer to write
Edward Hopper
Beauty
ALS
Disappearance of a child prodigy
Bram Stoker/Walt Whitman sexuality and vampires
The real purpose of a college education (a fav)
boredom
Robinson Crusoe and rise of the novel
creation
education in a small town (fav)
alzheimer's (fav)
theoretical physics
menopause
a death of quality (fav)
feminism
humanism
drug side effects
illegal immigrant (fav)
Asian American culture and the workplace
racheladventure's review
4.0
This was a really great anthology. I read it for content but also for models for essay writing. My overarching takeaway from this collection is that the essay form can break the general creative writing rule of “show don’t tell” and the single, almost short-story like template some beginners fall into. Not all essays follow that structure. The essay was “traditionally written on topics,” and what made them (and continues to make them) distinct? Reflection (Intro: pg IX)
My Favorite Essays I Recommend from this anthology:
1. The Crazy State of Psychiatry (really made me think and question assumptions about antidepressants)
2. A Beauty (worth playing with form, an interesting in-depth look of a complex character)
3. How Doctors Die (unique, real-time tale about dangers of modern medicine keeping us alive but miserable)
4. Vanishing Act (specific interesting example to explain broad commentary on lost talent, etc. Well done)
5. Who Are You and What Are You Doing Here? (great musing on secondary education)
6. Farther Away (great insight on grief and a sneak peek into the personal life of David Foster Wallace)
7. Dr. Don (does interesting things with dialogue doing most of the heavy-lifting, worth experimenting with)
8. Getting Schooled (as an urban public school teacher, AMEN. I too worry about my kids not wanting or liking reading and what that means. Cool perspective, mostly told in flashback and comparing past and present)
9. My Father/My Husband (brilliant, best one in the series. So beautiful and sad and real)
10. Other Women (enjoyed the different perspective on feminism)
11. Outlaw (awesome, lots at stake, happening in real-time, using self as a way to explore immigration issue)
My Favorite Essays I Recommend from this anthology:
1. The Crazy State of Psychiatry (really made me think and question assumptions about antidepressants)
2. A Beauty (worth playing with form, an interesting in-depth look of a complex character)
3. How Doctors Die (unique, real-time tale about dangers of modern medicine keeping us alive but miserable)
4. Vanishing Act (specific interesting example to explain broad commentary on lost talent, etc. Well done)
5. Who Are You and What Are You Doing Here? (great musing on secondary education)
6. Farther Away (great insight on grief and a sneak peek into the personal life of David Foster Wallace)
7. Dr. Don (does interesting things with dialogue doing most of the heavy-lifting, worth experimenting with)
8. Getting Schooled (as an urban public school teacher, AMEN. I too worry about my kids not wanting or liking reading and what that means. Cool perspective, mostly told in flashback and comparing past and present)
9. My Father/My Husband (brilliant, best one in the series. So beautiful and sad and real)
10. Other Women (enjoyed the different perspective on feminism)
11. Outlaw (awesome, lots at stake, happening in real-time, using self as a way to explore immigration issue)
jackgoss's review against another edition
3.0
I wish I had the energy to review each essay, as there were some winners and some losers, and I have opinions on many. But I'm too lazy for that. I skipped a few that were not my taste.
vdarcangelo's review
4.0
David Brooks, as expected, compiled a thoughtful and engaging selection of essays.
Faves:
Miah Arnold: "You Owe Me"
Dudley Clendinen: "The Good Short Life"
("But we don't talk about how to die. We act as if facing death weren't one of life's greatest, most absorbing thrills and challenges. Believe me, it is. This is not dull.")
Mark Edmundson: "Who Are You and What Are You Doing Here?"
("In reading, I continue to look for one thing -- to be influenced, to learn something new, to be thrown off my course and onto another, better way.")
Joseph Epstein: "Duh, Bor-ing"
("One can also tell a great deal about a person by what bores him.")
Jonathan Franzen: "Farther Away"
("The allure of suicide, the last big score, may go underground, but it never entirely disappears.")
Malcolm Gladwell: "Creation Myth"
Alan Lightman: "The Accidental Universe"
Ken Murray: "How Doctors Die"
Faves:
Miah Arnold: "You Owe Me"
Dudley Clendinen: "The Good Short Life"
("But we don't talk about how to die. We act as if facing death weren't one of life's greatest, most absorbing thrills and challenges. Believe me, it is. This is not dull.")
Mark Edmundson: "Who Are You and What Are You Doing Here?"
("In reading, I continue to look for one thing -- to be influenced, to learn something new, to be thrown off my course and onto another, better way.")
Joseph Epstein: "Duh, Bor-ing"
("One can also tell a great deal about a person by what bores him.")
Jonathan Franzen: "Farther Away"
("The allure of suicide, the last big score, may go underground, but it never entirely disappears.")
Malcolm Gladwell: "Creation Myth"
Alan Lightman: "The Accidental Universe"
Ken Murray: "How Doctors Die"
lyndseyreader's review
4.0
Previously, I had read only the short stories volume of this series. This volume is a nice and interesting wrap-up of the year's best in non-fiction. I'll definitely seek out this volume in the series next year.
moneycar's review
5.0
This is an excellent selection of essays. I had to pick it up for an English class, but I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would.
twylghast's review against another edition
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
3.0
bibliokris's review
5.0
I love, love, love essays that are thoughtful and funny and timely and make me smarter. Like the ones in this annual collection. This is the only book that I either buy or ask someone to buy me each year. Awesome.
nv6acaat's review
2.0
Meh.
The essays I liked best were the ones I'd already read, having surfaced throughout the year in popular parts of the Internet (or at least the parts I see).
The essays I liked best were the ones I'd already read, having surfaced throughout the year in popular parts of the Internet (or at least the parts I see).
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