Damion Searls Non-Fiction books in order

Q: "How many books are in the Damion Searls Non-Fiction series?"

"There are three books in the Damion Searls Non-Fiction series, published between 2003 and 2024."

Q: "What is the first book in the Damion Searls Non-Fiction series?"

"The first book in the Damion Searls Non-Fiction series is Everything You Say Is True, published in 2003."

Q: "What is The Philosophy of Translation about?"

"The Philosophy of Translation (2024) is Damion Searls's extended examination of what literary translation is and what it does to meaning. Drawing on his decades of practice translating major European writers, Searls examines how a translator's choices constitute a form of reading and a form of writing simultaneously, and what it means to bring a work into a new language. It addresses questions of equivalence, fidelity, and creativity that are central to literary translation but rarely examined at book length by a working practitioner."

Reading order

#	Title	Published	Author	Buy on Amazon
1	Everything You Say Is True	2003	Damion Searls	Buy
2	The Inkblots	2015	Damion Searls	Buy
3	The Philosophy of Translation	2024	Damion Searls	Buy

Searls’s non-fiction books are the most substantial part of his published output as a writer in his own right, distinct from his extensive work as a translator.

Everything You Say Is True (2003) was his first book, an early work that has been somewhat overshadowed by the later titles. The Inkblots (2017) is the work that established his reputation as a non-fiction writer — a biography of Hermann Rorschach that traces both the psychiatrist’s life and the strange history of the inkblot test he invented, following it through decades of clinical use, popular culture, legal controversy, and eventual decline as a diagnostic standard. The book is a model of intellectual biography in that it takes an idea as seriously as a person.

The Philosophy of Translation (2024) is his most explicitly theoretical work and the most direct statement of the ideas that have guided his translation practice. Coming after decades of translating Fosse, Walser, Rilke, and others, it carries the weight of actual experience rather than abstract argument.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many books are in the Damion Searls Non-Fiction series?

There are three books in the Damion Searls Non-Fiction series, published between 2003 and 2024.

What is the first book in the Damion Searls Non-Fiction series?

The first book in the Damion Searls Non-Fiction series is Everything You Say Is True, published in 2003.

What is The Philosophy of Translation about?

The Philosophy of Translation (2024) is Damion Searls’s extended examination of what literary translation is and what it does to meaning. Drawing on his decades of practice translating major European writers, Searls examines how a translator’s choices constitute a form of reading and a form of writing simultaneously, and what it means to bring a work into a new language. It addresses questions of equivalence, fidelity, and creativity that are central to literary translation but rarely examined at book length by a working practitioner.

Reading order#

Frequently Asked Questions

Reading order