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.
Me, More or Less
These lists are pretty much describe me in a nutshell.
Latest Nonfiction Book Reviews
Check out my nonfiction book reviews, featuring thoughts, summaries, and favorite quotes.
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Review and Summary: Playful
We often think adults shouldn’t play, but Playful shows why play help us grow and thrive in careers that didn’t exist a decade ago.
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Review and Summary: The Good Ancestor
Why do we prioritize quick wins over the future? The Good Ancestor explores six ways to rethink our choices and create lasting impact.
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Review: The Journals of Sylvia Plath
The Journals of Sylvia Plath is a raw and unfiltered read into her inner world and the quiet struggles of being human.
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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.
From Facts to Fiction
Nonfiction teaches me about the world, but fiction helps me feel it.
Every review comes with the quotes I saved.
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Review: The Bright Years
The Bright Years looks like a sweet love story at first, but it hides addiction, secrets, and a family falling apart underneath.
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Review: On Earth as it is Beneath
On Earth As It Is Beneath is set in a Brazilian prison built on hidden bones, where inmates are hunted each month in a brutal survival ritual.
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Review: Demon Copperhead
Demon Copperhead, forced to grow up too fast amid poverty, addiction, and a broken foster system. A rich retelling of a Dickens classic.
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Review: And Every Morning the way Home Gets Longer
A grandfather is forgetting his memory. His son and grandson are left holding onto what’s slipping away in this short, aching book by Backman.
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Review: The Answer Is No
Meet Lucas, a man happy in his own world, until a frying pan changes everything in The Answer is No, Fredrik Backman’s witty short book.
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Review: The Trouble with Happiness and Other Stories
Some people always want more from life than life will hand them. The Trouble with Happiness is about that ache, and the homes it wrecks.
Browse Nonfiction Books by Specific Genre
Have a specific book topic in mind?
You’ll likely find it in these categories!
- Biographies and Memoirs (33)
- 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 (27)
- 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 (80)
- Technology and AI (10)
- UI/UX (2)
- Women's Studies (6)
- Writing (9)
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 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
- Looking after fresh flowers asks me to slow down and be present. Here are my personal notes on keeping them beautiful and alive for longer.
Home Gardening
- There’s something grounding about growing things at home. Follow along with my notes as I watch things grow, season by season.
Life in Helsinki, Finland
- Living in Helsinki has shaped how I read, think, and move through the world. A little window into my 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