Author and Journalist
Joan Didion was an American writer and journalist who pioneered the New Journalism movement. She was best known for her essay collections Slouching Towards Bethlehem and The White Album, and her National Book Award winning memoir The Year of Magical Thinking.
by Joan Didion
In this National Book Award-winning memoir, Joan Didion chronicles the year following the sudden death of her husband John Gregory Dunne while their daughter lay critically ill in a nearby hospital. With her signature precision and unflinching honesty, she examines the irrational thought patterns of grief and the way the mind resists accepting death. The book has become a classic text on mourning, widely cited in both literary and psychological discussions of bereavement.
by Joan Didion
Didion's 1968 essay collection captures 1960s California with cold clarity. Includes the influential "On Keeping a Notebook," widely regarded as one of the finest essays ever written on why we write things down.
The books Joan Didion references, cites, and recommends most frequently.
by Ernest Becker
Becker argues that the terror of death drives much of human behaviour, from heroism to war. Culture, religion, and self-esteem are elaborate defences against the awareness of our mortality.
by Viktor Frankl
Frankl survived Auschwitz and concluded that meaning, not pleasure or power, sustains us through suffering. His logotherapy argues we can find purpose in any circumstance.
by Antonio Damasio
Damasio overturns the idea that reason and emotion are separate. His neuroscience research shows that feelings are essential to rational decision-making, not obstacles to it.
by Barry Schwartz
Schwartz argues that too many options don't liberate us but paralyse us. Reducing choices and embracing 'good enough' leads to greater satisfaction than endlessly optimising for the best.
Who Joan draws from, and who draws from Joan — aggregated across every book in this collection. Counts show the number of citation links, not the depth of each one.