Sekar Writes
A Collection of (Mostly Nonfiction) Books Review and Personal Notes
Welcome!
Take a look around my blog, where I bring you book reviews filled with knowledges and favorite quotes. Alongside my literary explorations, I share personal stories and some side projects.
Latest Nonfiction Book Reviews
Check out my nonfiction book reviews, featuring thoughts, summaries, and favorite quotes.
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Review and Summary: The Nature Embedded Mind
The Nature Embedded Mind reminds us to reconnect with the Earth. We humans aren’t separate from nature. We are nature itself.
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Review and Summary: A Passion for Ignorance
Why do we cling to ignorance in a world overflowing with information? Renata Salecl’s A Passion for Ignorance unpacks its complexities.
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Review: Field Guide to the Haunted Forest
Field Guide to the Haunted Forest shares sincere, motivational pieces born from social media, offering warmth and gentle truths for the soul.
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Review: The Poetics of Space
I always knew I didn’t understand space but The Poetics of Space made me see just how deep that unknowing goes.
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Review: The Ministry of Truth
The Ministry of Truth is a deeply research book about the life story of George Orwell’s most famous novel, 1984.
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Review: Memories, Dreams, Reflections
Carl Jung’s Memories, Dreams, Reflections brings you directly into his mind and heart, drawing you closer to his incredible life journey.
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Review and Summary: No Straight Road Takes You There
No Straight Road Takes You There is essay collection exploring history, endurance, and why change often takes the long way around.
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Review and Summary: The Art of Spending Money
The Art of Spending Money explores how mindset shapes our relationship with wealth, happiness, and the idea of “enough.”
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Review: The Democracy of Species
The Democracy of Species is a book where nature and reflection meet, shifting the way we see the natural world and our place within it.
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Review and Summary: Bird by Bird
Writing doesn’t have to be perfect, it just has to begin. Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird reveals the messy, real truth behind writing.
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Review and Summary: Freedom is a Constant Struggle
Angela Y. Davis reveals how race, class, gender, and justice are all connected in Freedom Is a Constant Struggle.
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Review and Summary: How to Be a Living Thing
Mari Andrew’s essays connect human flaws, empathy, and lessons from animals in a thoughtful and inspiring new read.
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Review and Summary: Anointed
Can success ever be about merit alone? Anointed reveals how social status shapes trust, opportunity, and inequality.
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Review: Personal Writings
Personal Writings uncovers Albert Camus’ early essays filled with reflection and the foundation of his philosophy.
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Review and Summary: Ends of the Earth
Neil Shubin’s Ends of the Earth explores the science, beauty, and urgent changes in Earth’s polar regions.
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Review and Summary: Fawning
Is fawning just about people-pleasing? Ingrid Clayton explores the costs, strengths, and compassion behind this misunderstood response.
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Review and Summary: Hello, Cruel World
Can kids grow kind and strong in a harsh world? Hello, Cruel World shares practical ways to raise resilience without losing compassion.
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Review: The Penguin Book of Spiritual Verse
A stunning collection of 110 poems on doubt, faith, and the mysteries between. Edited by Kaveh Akbar, this anthology leaves you speechless.
Browse Nonfiction Books by Specific Genre
Have a specific book topic in mind?
You’ll likely find it in these categories!
- Biographies and Memoirs (32)
- Biology and Life Sciences (12)
- Child Development and Parenting (13)
- Climate Change (2)
- Cooking and Culinary (3)
- Critical Thinking and Research Skills (15)
- Data and Statistics (8)
- Economics (6)
- Education and Learning (10)
- Essays (26)
- Evolutionary Biology (6)
- Fitness and Human Performance (23)
- Health and Medicine (30)
- Leadership and Career (8)
- Life Transitions (11)
- Linguistics (4)
- Literature (2)
- Luck and Chance (3)
- Mathematics (2)
- Mindfulness (3)
- Nature (21)
- Neuroscience (13)
- Poetry (15)
- Politics and Society (41)
- Productivity (25)
- Psychology and Behavioral Science (49)
- Science (44)
- Self-Development (78)
- Technology and AI (10)
- UI/UX (2)
- Women's Studies (6)
- Writing (9)
From Facts to Fiction
Nonfiction teaches me about the world, but fiction helps me feel it.
Every review comes with the quotes I saved — maybe you’ll want to save them too.
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Review: Playground
Four strangers, a remote island, and an ocean full of secrets. Playground is a stunning story of nature, friendship, and life’s big questions.
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Review: The Trees
Brutal murders shake the town where Emmett Till died, and the truth cuts deeper than anyone feared. The Trees is haunting and funny.
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Review: The Deal of a Lifetime and Other Stories
A regretful father and a dying little girl meet in one hospital room. One choice could change everything, what is a single life really worth?
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Review: Arborescence
Imagines a world where humans turn into trees as the planet grows greener and emptier. A story of nature, tech, and the cost of letting go.
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Review: Heart the Lover
Heart the Lover explores how the choices we make in youth ripple through our entire lives, for better and worse.
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Review: The Details
Through malaria and fever, a woman remembers the four people who made her. The Details shows how we’re built from the ones we love.
Life in the Margins
Here’s what else you’ll find on this blog.
Reading Life
- Snapshots of my reading life: the habits, the tracking, and everything around the books.
Journaling
- Writing is how I make sense of things. A look at my journaling practice: how I do it, why I do it, and what it’s given me.
Fresh Flower Care
- There’s something grounding about tending to fresh flowers. My personal notes on keeping them beautiful and alive for longer.
Home Gardening
- Growing things at home with a lot of curiosity. A record of my small gardening experiments, wins and failures included.
Life in Helsinki, Finland
- Living in Helsinki has shaped how I read, think, and move through the world. A little window into daily life in the north.
Hi, I am Sekar!
My passion for reading (at least) one book a week fuels my love for books and drives me to share the insights with others.
Medical science by training, curious about everything else. Here I share my hobbies and the things life teaches me.
Feel free to reach out and join me in celebrating books and all the small joys that make life fuller.
Books let us know we’re not the center of the universe; the universe has many centers.
Mariahadessa Ekere Tallie