Who recommends it
- Dina NayeriInterview
Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke at 16. The Woman Destroyed by Simone De Beauvoir at 25.
- Lindsay AmerInterview
Hmmm, this is a tough one. I think reading Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke when I was in grad school was inspirational. I was in the middle of figuring out who I was as an artist and creator and eagerly wanted to make work that \matters\ and reading Rilke’s letters helped me slow down and learn to be…
- Erika MeitnerInterview
I find one-book questions so tricky. Reading is such an individualized practice that I even try to give all my students individual booklists in the courses I teach. But if I had to pick one, I do love Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke (the Stephen Mitchell translation is still my favorite) for its general…
- Melissa LaneInterview
Plato, for his ability to show how ethics, politics, epistemology and metaphysics connect at the root; Rawls, with whom I studied his book A Theory of Justice at university, for inducting me gradually into an understanding of what it is for a philosophical theory to have an architecture comparable to a cathedral…
- Alice PasquiniInterview
- Scott StabileInterview
At age 16, I would have gifted myself Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke, as encouragement to move forward in my life and in my creativity with as much freedom and passion as I could muster. At age 25, I would have gifted myself The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle, both as a manual for the importance of…
- Laura McKowenInterview
On Writing by Stephen King – he tells the truth about what it’s like to be a writer and offers the best practical advice I’ve found. Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott – she’s funny, humble, and honest (plus she’s in recovery and I resonate with that). And Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke – simply profound and…
- Carrie NewcomerInterview
I don’t believe I could wrap up just one. But in terms of ongoing vocational reflection as I left school I’d choose Let Your Life Speak by Parker J. Palmer. In terms of what I do as a songwriter I’d wrap up New and Selected Poems by Mary Oliver, A Part by Wendell Berry and a collection of the lyrics of Joni Mitchell…
Often recommended alongside
Bird by Bird
The Year of Magical Thinking
A Visit from the Goon Squad
Tiny Beautiful ThingsMore books by Rainer Maria Rilke our guests recommend
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases made through links on this page.