Scratch the bone of life

We will not need books much if those around us understand us well, but they do not understand us. Even those who love us do not understand us well. They try to tell us who we are but miss many things. They claim they know what we need, but they forget to ask the right question. They cannot understand what we feel, and sometimes we are unable to tell them what we need because we ourselves do not understand what we need. And this is the door through which books enter, as they explain ourselves to us and to others as well, and make us feel less strange, less isolated, and less lonely. I discovered that the purpose of my search in books is to teach myself how to live well and how to die well. Here are reflections that approached intellectual and literary works, most of which are translated from German or English. I spent enjoyable time with their authors — as a reader and translator — emulating the style of Montaigne as he writes his essays. These reflections aim to give some meaning to life, in the way Joseph Campbell suggested, as we will read in this work. Ahmed Al-Zanati (the translator) Selections and translation: Ahmed Al-Zanati Number of pages: 224