Explore Essays and memoir
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Anatomy of a Cheeseburger
Jeremy Rifkin
‘Ray Kroc, one of the founders of the McDonald's hamburger chain, changed American eating habits as effectively as Henry Ford changed the way Americans travel.’
Another Patagonia
Louis Rogers
‘From the sloth skin onwards, In Patagonia is built around scraps and surfaces.’
Louis Rogers on travelling in Bruce Chatwin’s footsteps.
Ants of Accra
Nii Ayikwei Parkes
‘Ants became an obsession with her – she darted with them as they changed paths, watched them find their way around obstacles placed in their way.’
Any Idiot Can Write a Book
Nell Stevens
A production company is looking for contestants to participate in a new TV show, modelled on The Apprentice. They are seeking unpublished writers who have completed a novel.
Arrival Gates
Rebecca Solnit
‘It was like trying to go back to before the earthquake, to before knowledge.’
Bad Land
Jonathan Raban
‘What the bottom line always comes to is the old two a.m. cry: We can’t go on living like this.’
Bad Luck, Britain
Fredrik Sjöberg
‘It was a wonderful day of high summer in the Stockholm archipelago.’
Be Careful with that Fan
Andre Perry
‘I was stuck in Texas for a month. The days passed like slow-motion films.
Best Book of 1868: Dostoevsky’s The Idiot
Laurie Sheck
‘The beauty of The Idiot lies in its opposition to closed systems.’
Best Book of 1901: The Octopus
Rob Magnuson Smith
Rob Magnuson Smith on why Frank Norris' The Octopus is the best book of 1901.