Benjamin McEvoy

Essays on writing, reading, and life

10 Personal Essays Every Man Should Read

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The greatest men who ever lived were voracious readers. Alexander the Great slept with Homer’s Iliad under his pillow. Theodore Roosevelt took dozens of books on his dangerous outdoor expeditions. Benjamin Franklin devoured books every day of his life. Luckily for us, in addition to being voracious readers, the greatest men were very often prolific writers. They […]

Books I’m Reading & Loving In April 2017

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2017 is easily the busiest year of my life. I could have completely abandoned reading. But I didn’t wanna be one of those people who says they’re “too busy” to do something. We can always make time for the stuff that’s important to us. Plus I made a vow to never stray from my love […]

The Best Courses From The Teaching Company (Great Courses Plus Review)

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Netflix for nerds is here and it’s called The Great Courses Plus. This new lecture streaming service might just be the best thing I’ve ever discovered on the internet (no exaggeration). My eyes are bleary and my head is whirring with exciting information from disparate realms of academia thanks to long nights of binge-learning. But […]

How To Read Big Difficult Books (Plus Recommended Reading List)

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I’ve read my fair share of the heavyweights. From Plutarch to Proust, Conrad to Camus, and Dante to Dostoyevsky. I used to struggle with the “greats”. After a few pages, I’d close the book with a headache and poor sense of self-worth. Was I stupid? Maybe I needed to return to Dr. Seuss and retake my entire […]

10 Ways To Retain More Of What You Read

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I’ve always read a lot. I’m talking 20 books in rotation and blasting through 3 novels on a weekend. But whenever people asked me about a book I’d just read, I could rarely say more than whether I liked it or not. What a waste. An artist poured thousands of hours of dedication into a work and […]

How To See The World In A Different Way (What Makes A Writer Great)

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Great writers see the world in a different way. Most writers barely give a thought to how they are experiencing the world. They give even less thought to how they might render their experience in prose or poetry.  But great writers estrange the reader. They make the familiar unfamiliar. They are connected to reality the […]

See The World On Your Lunch Break – CANADA

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Want to learn more about the world but are short on time? Let’s take a trip to foreign lands by appreciating the best short works of art from every country around the world. We’re going to pick a country and look at… 1 song 1 poem 1 short film 1 short story 1 essay/non-fiction piece 1 piece of art […]