What is What? Could it be that noted author Mark Kurlansky has written a very short, terrifically witty, deeply thought-provoking book entirely in the form of questions? A book that draws on philosophy, religion, literature, policy - indeed, all of civilization - to ask what may well be the twenty most important questions in human history?What? supplies endless fodder for thoughtful conversation but also endless opportunity to ponder and be challenged by - and entertained by - these questions in refreshingly original ways. Or has he given us a really smart, impossibly amusing game of twenty questions?

Synopsis

Kurlansky considers the work of Confucius, Plato, Shakespeare, Descartes, Nietzsche, Freud, Hemingway, Emily Dickinson, the Talmud, Charles de Gaulle, Virginia Woolf, and others, distilling the deep questions of life to their sparkling essence.

Reviews

'This is an extraordinary little book, unputdownable, written in the most lyrical, flowing style which paints vivid pictures and, at the same time, punches into place hard facts that stop you dead in your tracks. Who would ever think that a book on cod would make a compulsive read? And yet this is precisely what Kurlansky has done.'
Sir Roy Strong, Express on Sunday (on Cod)

'History, reportage, travel writing, wisdom and recipes - entertaining and enlightening.'
Sunday Times (on Salt)

About the Author

Mark Kurlansky is the New York Times bestselling author of Cod, Salt, The Basque History of the World, 1968, The Big Oyster, and The Eastern Stars, among many other books. More books by this author Author 'Like for Like' recommendation