The Complete Essays

In 1572 Michel de Montaigne withdrew to his estates to give his time to leisure, reading and reflection, and there he began the ever-growing pieces he called assays. Drawing on the books in his library and on his own experience, he writes about subjects as varied as cannibals and war-horses, religion and sex, politics and poetry, friendship and love. Above all he studies himself, using his own nature as a route to understanding people in general, and the essays rank among the most personal works in literature. Montaigne is credited with popularising the essay as a form. M. A. Screech translated the Penguin Classics edition and supplied its introduction and notes.

Ryan Holiday included it in his list of 42 books that make a better person, observing that looking inward offers more than enough to study. Alain de Botton recommends it in Tools of Titans.