# Where should you start with Montaigne's Essays? Canonical: https://zestasy.com/wiki/montaigne-essays/ Section: Zestasy Wiki > Books & ideas · Updated: 2026-10-14 · Publisher: Zestasy *Zestasy Wiki: our reference answers. Checked for facts and sources; less curated than the magazine.* Start small and out of order. Read a short essay such as Of Idleness, then Of Friendship and Of Cannibals, and keep the long, late Of Experience for when his voice has won you over. Pick one good modern translation and treat the book as a companion you dip into, not a course you complete. Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) more or less invented a way of writing that we now take for granted: thinking out loud, on the page, about whatever happens to be in front of you. In 1571 he withdrew to the tower of his château, surrounded himself with a library of some 1,500 books, and spent roughly a decade writing, [according to Wikipedia's biography](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michel_de_Montaigne). His *Essais* first appeared in 1580, and he kept revising and adding to them in later editions. The word itself is the clue. *Essayer* means "to try", and Montaigne's essays are attempts, not verdicts. He mixes anecdote and autobiography with philosophy, wanders off topic, and comes back round to the big questions sideways. That is the charm, and also why starting at page one is a mistake. ## How the book is built The *Essays* are three books containing 107 chapters: 57 in the first, 37 in the second and only 13 in the third, [as the Wikipedia overview sets out](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essays_%28Montaigne%29). Editions of 1588 added Book Three, and a posthumous edition appeared in 1595. The chapters vary wildly in length, from a page or two to the sprawling *Apology for Raymond Sebond*. The practical upshot: with 57 chapters in Book One and only 13 in Book Three, the early essays tend to be shorter and the late ones much longer. Short first is the sensible order. ## A first reading list We would start with these, roughly in this order: - **Of Idleness** (Book 1). A perfect taster of how he thinks. - **Of Friendship** (Book 1). One of his best-loved pieces, and a good test of whether his voice suits you. - **Of Cannibals** (Book 1). Among his best-known essays. Go in knowing nothing. - **Of the Education of Children** (Book 1). Worth reading for anyone who has ever had opinions about school. - **That to Philosophise Is to Learn to Die** (Book 1). The title sounds grim; take it as a challenge. - **Of Experience** (Book 3). The very last essay. Save it for when you know him. Skip the *Apology for Raymond Sebond* on a first pass. It matters, but it is not where you fall for him. ## Which translation? In English there are four landmark versions: John Florio (1603), Charles Cotton (1685-86), Donald Frame (1957-58) and M. A. Screech (1991). Florio's is gorgeous Elizabethan prose and hard going today; Cotton's is the classic you will find free online. For a first read, Frame or Screech are the safe choices: clear, complete and easy to find. Choose one and stop worrying; the voice comes through in all of them. Italian readers can look for him as the *Saggi*; the same advice applies: pick a complete modern edition with light notes. ## How to read him - **Read one essay in a sitting.** Even the short ones reward a slow pace. - **Don't take notes on the argument.** Note the sentences that catch you instead, in your own words. A [commonplace book](https://zestasy.com/wiki/commonplace-book/) is the natural partner here; it suits a writer who borrowed so freely from his own reading. - **Expect digressions.** When he wanders, follow him. The detour is often the point. - **Keep it by the bed or the deckchair.** This is the classic companion book, not a project. If you want a guide, Sarah Bakewell's *How to Live* (2010) is a lively life of Montaigne organised around twenty answers to its title question. It won the National Book Critics Circle Award for biography, [per its Wikipedia entry](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_to_Live_%28biography%29), and it works brilliantly as a way in or as a companion while you read. ## FAQ ### Do I need to know about the sixteenth century first? No. A few names and wars will go over your head, but footnotes in a modern edition handle that. Montaigne is mostly writing about himself, his habits and his doubts, which have aged very little. ### Is Montaigne a philosopher? He drew on Stoic, Epicurean and Sceptic thinking, and his famous question "what do I know?" sums up his sceptical streak. But he is less a system-builder than a very honest observer. If you like Marcus Aurelius, see our page on [whether Meditations is worth reading](https://zestasy.com/books/is-meditations-worth-reading/). ### Should I read all of it? Only if you want to. Plenty of devoted readers dip in for years without finishing, and the book is built for exactly that. ### How is a Montaigne essay different from a school essay? A school essay states a thesis and defends it. Montaigne starts with a question and lets you watch him think. For more on the form he started, see [what a personal essay is](https://zestasy.com/wiki/what-is-a-personal-essay/). ## Sources - [Wikipedia: Michel de Montaigne](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michel_de_Montaigne) - [Wikipedia: Essays (Montaigne)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essays_%28Montaigne%29) - [Wikipedia: Essay](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essay) - [Wikipedia: How to Live (biography)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_to_Live_%28biography%29) ## Related - [What is a personal essay, and where should you start reading them?](https://zestasy.com/wiki/what-is-a-personal-essay/) - [Is Marcus Aurelius's Meditations worth reading today?](https://zestasy.com/books/is-meditations-worth-reading/) - [What is a commonplace book?](https://zestasy.com/wiki/commonplace-book/) - [How do you become more curious?](https://zestasy.com/wiki/becoming-more-curious/) - [What is a novella, and how is it different from a novel?](https://zestasy.com/wiki/what-is-a-novella/) - [All Books & ideas answers in the Wiki](https://zestasy.com/wiki/#books)