Those who read or listen to our stories see everything as though through a lens. This lens is the secret of narration & it is ground anew in every story ground between the temporal & the timeless.. . In our brief mortal lives we are grinders of these lenses. When John Berger wrote this apparently unclassifiable book it was to become a sensation translated into nine languages & indelible from the minds of those who read it. This stunning work is a shoebox filled with delicate love letters containing poetry & thoughts on mortality art love & absence capturing moments in time that hover above Bergers surprising landscapes. From his lyrical description of the works of Caravaggio & profound explorations of death & immigration to the sight of some lilac at dusk in the mountains this is a beautiful & most intimate response to the world around us.