In this delightful jeu d'esprit, mixing biography and etymology, natural history and quixotic science, Hugh Aldersey-Williams delights in the rational intelligence of his hero Thomas Browne (1605–82) by paralleling his thought and allowing Browne to "visit" the moral and intellectual mazes of modern life.

"This is just the kind of celebration Thomas Browne needs and deserves: not a conventional biography but a meditation filled with intellectual curiosity, tolerance, humane observation and gentle wit. It shows Browne as a man caught in the currents of his times while musing on timeless questions—and, like Aldersey-Williams, determined to weigh up the evidence without dogmatism, and to enjoy the richness of the world."—Philip Ball