A delightful selection of Priestley s essays, drawing on five decades of his writing. Priestley defined the essay as a prose masterpiece in miniature and understood that to perfect the form, the essayist had to stand naked and shivering in the very first sentence. A prodigious essayist, Priestley expressed his unique thoughts on a diverse range of subjects from the delights of smoking to the futility of con-ferences. Witty, controversial and sometimes grumpy, Priestley s essays reveal the many faces of one of Britain s most distinguished writers.
