Personal Essay

"Ernst ist das Leben, heiter ist die Kunst", schrieb Friedrich Schiller. Doch was ist Heiterkeit eigentlich? Und wie bekommen wir sie in unser ernstes Leben zurück? In Zeiten, in denen uns im Angesicht globaler Krisen intuitiv erst einmal anders zumute ist, macht sich Axel Hacke auf die Suche nach einem fast vergessenen Gemütszustand, nach einer Haltung dem Leben gegenüber, in der wir seltsam ungeübt geworden sind.

You are an individual - your very own set of specific characteristics and experiences and emotions. And yet, so much of what you're going through is relatable to so many others. This audiobook will show you that you are never alone. Listen to this audiobook if nobody texted you good morning. Listen to this audiobook if you're worried you'll never find the one. Listen to this audiobook if there's something for which you can't forgive yourself. Whatever you're feeling, this audiobook will help you to feel understood.

When Tochi Onyebuchi realized that his acclaimed science fiction and fantasy storytelling career had been centrally preoccupied with race, it prompted him to consider his responsibilities as a Black writer in the internet age. Excavating the internet of the late 1990s and early 2000s, Racebook explores how the writer and public intellectual Onyebuchi is today, was formed in that crucible.

What does it really mean to be a good father? What did your father tell you that has stayed with you throughout your life? Was there a lesson from him, a story, or a moment that helped to make you who you are? Is there a special memory that makes you smile when you least expect it?

Alone Together: Love, Grief, and Comfort During the Time of COVID-19 is a collection of essays, poems, and interviews to serve as a lifeline for negotiating how to connect and thrive during this stressful time of isolation as well as a historical perspective that will remain relevant for years to come.

Der Weg zu einem glücklichen und erfüllten Leben verläuft selten geradeaus. Im Gegenteil – denn überraschenderweise führen uns Ängste, Probleme und Gewohnheiten, die wir am liebsten sofort aus unserem Leben verbannen würden, zum Glück. Diese Hürden und Hindernisse bringen uns zum Denken, lassen uns kreativ nach Lösungen suchen und so an uns selbst wachsen. Durch ihre einfühlsame Art des Schreibens, ihr Wissen aus der Psychologie und ihre philosophische Weitsicht öffnet uns Brianna Wiest die Augen.

Drawing on more than 30 years of therapeutic encounters with people facing hurdles in their love lives, former chair of the British Psychoanalytic Council Susanna Abse takes us deep inside one of the most fascinating realms there is: other people's relationships. From dealing with infidelity to navigating our changing role within a single relationship over the course of a lifetime, Tell Me the Truth About Love sheds vivid light on the human heart and its struggle to both embrace life's greatest gift and protect itself from pain.

Within each chapter, you’ll find an un-airbrushed selection of advice, comment and opinion. These are intimate stories from bad sex to bad boys, from workplace inequality to the sheer joy of learning something new, that will spark hope, triumph and occasionally outrage. In Life Honestly you will find fresh perspectives on everything from age milestones to friendship, motherhood and weddings, and why you should always, always, tell someone when you like their earrings.

A few years ago, Erica Heller realized how universal the longing is for one more moment with a lost loved one. It could be a parent, a sibling, a mentor, or a friend, but who wouldn't love the opportunity to sit down, break bread, and just talk? Who wouldn't jump at the chance to ask those unasked questions, or share those unvoiced feelings?

Stealing Indiana Jones is the true story of these two boys and how they discover a monstrous secret: that George Lucas stole his ideas for both Star Wars and Indiana Jones. As they struggle to make sense of what this horrifying truth means for all of us fans, they find redemption along the way.

Netting the Sun offers a carefully crafted diversity of natural and human stories from a landscape seemingly empty and forlorn to passing casual travelers. This surprising interpretation of south central Oregon's botany, geology, wildlife, ethnography, and history reveals what a truly special place the high desert is.

Like many of us, Jason Gay didn’t see this coming: a reshaped world, on edge, often stuck at home, questioning everything, trying to navigate a digital landscape that changes how we think, parent, coach, and live. With a series of topical and interconnected personal pieces, Gay comically takes on this new state of being, looking for the optimism and joy in the face of discouragement. Gay's essays run the gamut of modern life and he approaches it all with humility, grace, and more than a few laughs.

Let It All Be Beautiful is a collection of 45 essays and energy practices designed to awaken the natural, authentic, and magnetic energy within all of us. Blending memoir, poetry, and lists with intentional practices, this book invites you to see yourself in your full glory. Whether you’re longing to feel more radiant, searching for healing, or motivated to become more mindful, this book will meet you where you are, celebrate everything you exude, and walk alongside you as you find your way home.

Reading Backwards opens with the autobiographical "My Life in the Theater," a memoir of the younger Crowley's earliest ambitions, and closes with the moving and memorable "Practicing the Arts of Peace." In between, the author offers us more than 30 carefully crafted essays, each one notable for its insight, intelligence, and typically graceful prose.

In his new collection of stories and essays, acclaimed author and humorist Matt Geiger seeks to de-familiarize us from the world, from the smallest detail to the most cosmic mythology, in order to see it all as if for the first time. Turning his philosopher's vision to his own abundant Neanderthal DNA, parenting, competitive axe throwing, old age, and much more, he sets out in search of comic profundity.

Our politics are broken; our world is melting; the next catastrophe looms. Enter James Parker, who for years now has been writing odes of appreciation on subjects from the seemingly minor ("Ode to Naps") to the unexpected ("Ode to Giving People Money") to the seemingly minor, unexpected, and hyperspecific ("Ode to Running in Movies"). Finally collecting Parker's beloved and much-lauded odes in one place, this volume demonstrates the profound power of the form.

Why do we cook? Is it just to feed ourselves and others? Or is there something more revolutionary going on? In Small Fires, Rebecca May Johnson reinvents cooking—that simple act of rolling up our sleeves, wielding a knife, spattering red hot sauce on our books—as a way of experiencing ourselves and the world. Cooking is thinking: about the liberating constraint of tying apron strings; the transformative dynamics of shared meals; the meaning of appetite and bodily pleasure; the wild subversiveness of the recipe, beyond words or control.

Becoming a father can be one of the most profoundly terrifying, exhilarating, life-changing occasions in a man’s life. Now 22 of today’s masterful writers get straight to the heart of modern fatherhood in this incomparable collection of thought-provoking essays.

Every single morning since early 2007, Princeton English professor Jeff Nunokawa has posted a brief essay in the Notes section of his Facebook page. Often just a few sentences but never more than a few paragraphs, these compelling literary and personal meditations have raised the Facebook post to an art form, gained thousands of loyal readers, and been featured in the New Yorker.

In this 10th anniversary edition, renowned political commentator Cokie Roberts once again examines the nature of women's roles. From mother to mechanic, sister to soldier, Roberts reveals how much progress has now been made and how much further we have to go. Updated and expanded to include a diverse new cast of women, including Hillary Clinton, Laura Bush, Billie Jean King, and others, this collection of essays offers tremendous insight into the opportunities and challenges that women encounter today.