This is a book that I keep next to my bed, and when I take trips it goes in my suitcase. I’ve given this book away several times and plan to give it away more, but I always buy a new one. Sometimes it’s like looking into the mirror of western civilization, others it’s like looking at our cultural family tree, but most of the time it’s a book that consoles me and offers new perspectives no matter what I’m dealing with in life.

On my shelf this book is next to the Bible, the Tao Te Ching, and Stephen King.

It’s also a book I’ve read passages aloud to my younger siblings during a day in the park — that was no easy task — but they were held captive by the introspection this book helps to trigger.