How the world works

Lives & memoir

True stories of single lives that open onto something larger.

Read your way in

  1. A classroom revealed a missing map — Tara Westover · EducatedA glance
  2. A memoir can show its disagreements — Tara Westover · EducatedA glance
  3. Medical knowledge did not remove uncertainty — Paul Kalanithi · When Breath Becomes AirA glance
  4. Work can organise time without defeating death — Paul Kalanithi · When Breath Becomes AirA glance
  5. Anne Frank revised her own diary — Anne Frank · The Diary of a Young GirlA glance
  6. Read the annex as a constrained space — Anne Frank · The Diary of a Young GirlA glance
  7. Apartheid reached into a birth certificate — Trevor Noah · Born a Crime: Stories from a South African ChildhoodA glance
  8. Changing language changed the encounter — Trevor Noah · Born a Crime: Stories from a South African ChildhoodA glance
  9. A library door opened into language — Maya Angelou · I Know Why the Caged Bird SingsA glance
  10. Watch who controls the fare — Maya Angelou · I Know Why the Caged Bird SingsA glance
  11. A photograph held two unfinished artists — Patti Smith · Just KidsA glance
  12. The Chelsea Hotel was also a monthly bill — Patti Smith · Just KidsA glance

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The books behind it

  • Tara Westover, 2018. Why this book: A precise memoir about education, family loyalty and the instability of remembered truth.
  • Paul Kalanithi, 2016. Why this book: Kalanithi faces mortality without turning uncertainty into a tidy lesson.
  • Anne Frank, 1947. Why this book: A young writer’s firsthand record, best read with its editorial and historical context.
  • Trevor Noah, 2016. Why this book: Noah connects a child’s remembered life to apartheid’s legal architecture with wit and care.
  • Maya Angelou, 1969. Why this book: Angelou’s crafted memoir gives language, community and self-possession their full weight.
  • Patti Smith, 2010. Why this book: Smith’s tender account of making art and a shared life in a changing New York.