What are your favorite essays?

"Bang the bell, I'm on the bus" (from 1972) https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/still-irresis...

> Alienation is the precise and correctly applied word for describing the major social problem in Britain today. People feel alienated by society. In some intellectual circles it is treated almost as a new phenomenon. It has, however, been with us for years. What I believe is true is that today it is more widespread, more pervasive than ever before. Let me right at the outset define what I mean by alienation. It is the cry of men who feel themselves the victims of blind economic forces beyond their control. It's the frustration of ordinary people excluded from the processes of decision-making. The feeling of despair and hopelessness that pervades people who feel with justification that they have no real say in shaping or determining their own destinies.

[...]

> Reject these attitudes. Reject the values and false morality that underlie these attitudes. A rat race is for rats. We're not rats. We're human beings. Reject the insidious pressures in society that would blunt your critical faculties to all that is happening around you, that would caution silence in the face of injustice lest you jeopardise your chances of promotion and self-advancement. This is how it starts, and before you know where you are, you're a fully paid-up member of the rat-pack. The price is too high. It entails the loss of your dignity and human spirit. Or as Christ put it, "What doth it profit a man if he gain the whole world and suffer the loss of his soul?"

Orwell: https://www.orwellfoundation.com/the-orwell-foundation/orwel...

I always felt like this would apply to a good code review.

My favorite essay is Seneca's On virtue. It's a completely philosophical paper you can find on https://paperwriter.com/term-paper-writer if you're interested. Morality and ethics is a complex theme but I believe everyone should research it and create a moral code of some sort

Not really tech related, but the most memorable for me is "Tense Present"[1] by David Foster Wallace in the April 2001 issue of Harper's Magazine. It's a beautiful exploration of language and dialect. It taught me at a young age to appreciate the way others speak and the socioeconomic implications of the way we listen to others. I'm still a SNOOT at heart, but I learned to temper it thanks to this piece and years of study in linguistics.

[1]: https://harpers.org/wp-content/uploads/HarpersMagazine-2001-...

https://a16z.com/2011/08/20/why-software-is-eating-the-world...

Peter Norvig, Teach Yourself Programming in 10 Years - https://norvig.com/21-days.html

Status as a Service: https://www.eugenewei.com/blog/2019/2/19/status-as-a-service

Discussed here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19294564

Ones I read as a teenager that have a lasting, if not nostalgic, effect:

- Blaise Pascal's "Pensées" (Thoughts)

- René Descartes' "Discours de la méthode" (Discourse on the method)

- Henri Poincaré's "L'avenir des mathématiques" (The future of mathematics)

The way they wielded words pleased me. Their hopes and doubts moved me. Their intellect shattered my brain.

I seem to remember Bertrand Russell having some good ones on philosophy, war etc. This is the one I remember most.

https://harpers.org/archive/1932/10/in-praise-of-idleness/

Hunter Thompson wrote on the most profound letters I've ever come across about when to "float" and when to "swim".

https://fs.blog/2014/05/hunter-s-thompson-to-hume-logan/

Anything by Robertson Davies.

"A Voice from the Attic", "The Merry Heart", "Happy Alchemy", and "One Half of Robertson Davies" are collections that we frequently dip into in my house. They make an excellent, soothing respite when I need to take a break from thinking about technological things.

"In Praise of Idleness" by Bertrand Russell

"On the Phenomenon of Bullshit Jobs: A Work Rant" by David Graeber

"Industrial Society and its .." just kidding

Montaigne's On the education of children.

Orwell's All art is propaganda.

An Apology for Idlers by Robert Louis Stevenson. Such great writing.

The Breakdown of Nations (Leopold Kohr).

What Is Patriotism? - Emma Goldman