All of a Piece

About the Book Look inside! What connects a small boy, his mouth taped shut in kindergarten for supposedly having bitten another child, with a world-renowned expert in neo-Platonism, shut out of his own teaching institute’s car park in Rome? Is there a special providence in the fall of a crane’s hook only a foot in front of a young scholar’s walk outside Trinity College, Cambridge? In All of a Piece, John Rist asks what makes a human life a single, meaningful whole, rather than a disconnected collection of episodes. Answering this question takes him and his readers on an often hilarious, and sometimes moving, international journey—one with its own, hidden, coherence. His life story, interwoven with intellectual passion and rich personal experience, is a compelling narrative offering insight and inspiration that transcend disciplinary boundaries.