10 essays that have influenced me (in no particular order)

I recently compiled a list of essays that have influenced how I see the world, in no particular order.

Some influenced me because they described traits I already had, and identified trends I was already identifying with (for better and for worse).

Some influenced my values - and pushed me to better define how I wanted to move through the world, and hold me accountable to it.

Some provoked me into thinking about myself in more crtical and self-aware ways.

Anyway - thought they would be good to place here, in no particular order. Maybe some day I’ll add descriptions as to why these essays have influenced me, but I also think that they’re nice to place here without context (in case they might influence you too).

1. “Organisation Means Committment” by Grace Lee Boggs

2. “You and Your Research” by Richard Hamming

3. “Romancing the Looky-Loos” by Dave Hickey

4. “The Californian Ideology” by Richard Barbrook and Andy Cameron

5. “A Rant about Technology” by Ursula Le Guin

6. “Poetry is not a Luxury” by Audre Lorde

7. “Claiming an Education” by Adrienne Rich

8. “Cities and Ambition” by Paul Graham

9. “Five things we need to know about technological change” by Neil Postman

10. “To Hell with Good Intentions” by Ivan Illich

A few more (added in August 2026)

1. “A room of one’s own” by Virginia Woolf (more of a novella than an essay!)

2. “A new politics of sexuality” by June Jordan