Paths

Six of the shortest essays in the library, ordered from shortest to longest. You'll practice plain, conversational prose and build the habit of retyping word for word before you take on longer pieces.

Direct, practical essays by Shreyas Doshi, Paul Graham and Patrick McKenzie, shortest first. You'll practice short sentences, concrete examples and arguments that get to the point, ending with Graham's long essay on doing great work.

Essays that start from the writer's own life: Tracy Chou on running and on working in tech, Morgan Housel on risk, Roxane Gay on likability and Ellen Pao on Silicon Valley. You'll practice a first-person voice and the move from a story to an argument.

How technology changes the way we remember, work and pay attention, from L. M. Sacasas and Ted Chiang to Cal Newport and Eugene Wei. You'll practice explanatory writing that turns a big idea into a clear argument.

Simon Sarris, Morgan Housel, Matt Levine, Rita McGrath and Jerry Neumann on money, risk, strategy and planning under uncertainty. You'll practice explaining numbers and abstract ideas in plain English.

Essays about the craft, from Julie Zhuo and Paul Graham back to Addison and Stevenson, who taught himself by imitating writers he admired. It ends with Poe's step-by-step account of how he says he wrote "The Raven".

Eight public-domain essays by Emerson, Twain, Hazlitt, Addison, Lamb, Montaigne, Stevenson and Poe, free to type in full without an account. You'll practice long sentences, older punctuation and the voices the modern essay grew from.