Essays That Became Books

One of the best ways to find good things to read is to look for the essays that were so good that they eventually became books.

Skip the books, read the essays.

— David Perell (@david_perell) January 22, 2021

Inspired by David Perell’s tweet, I compiled a list of books that began as essays. If you know of one that’s not on the list, let me know and I’ll add it.

• The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel (Essay | Book)

• Shop Class as Soulcraft by Matthew Crawford (Essay | Book)

• The Coddling of the American Mind by Jon Haidt and Greg Lukianoff (Essay | Book)

• Crashing Through by Robert Kurson (Essay | Book)

• Bullshit Jobs by David Graeber (Essay | Book)

• Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer (Essay | Book)

• Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer (Essay | Book)

• Being Mortal by Atul Gawande (Essay 1 | Essay 2 | Book)

• The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande (Essay | Book)

• Lost in the Meritocracy by Walter Kirn (Essay | Book)

• The Blind Side by Michael Lewis (Essay | Book)

• Brave Girl Eating by Harriet Brown (Essay | Book)

• The Uninhabitable Earth by David Wallace-Wells (Essay | Book)

• The End of History and the Last Man by Francis Fukuyama (Essay | Book)

• Zero to One by Peter Thiel and Blake Masters (Essays | Book)

• The Idealist by Justin Peters (Essay | Book)

• Bottle of Lies by Katherine Eban (Essay | Book)

• Beautiful Boy: A Father’s Journey Through His Son’s Addiction by David Sheff (Essay | Book)

• Bowling Alone by Robert Putnam (Essay | Book)

• Maid by Stephanie Land (Essay | Book)

• Fed Up by Gemma Hartley (Essay | Book)

• The Top Five Regrets of the Dying by Bronnie Ware (Essay | Book)

• How Will You Measure Your Life by Clayton Christensen (Essay | Book)

• Tribe by Sebastian Junger (Essay | Book)

• The Gift of Failure by Jessica Lahey (Essay | Book)

• The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan (Essay | Book)

• The Minimalist Entrepreneur by Sahil Lavingia (Essay | Book)