There is never a dull phrase in Arthur Saltzman's OBLIGATIONS OF THE HARP, his fourth book of essays. The writing in these twenty-five pieces is by turns wry and satirical, sensually descriptive, playfully punning-but always nuanced and illuminating. Reference points range from Kobe Bryant to John Updike, from geology to Jewish ritual. One essay is a fanciful treatment of the history of the human cannonball; another provides a deeply humane and humorous account of preparing middle-schoolers for History Day. Varied in topic and tone, Saltzman consistently revels in and re-imagines the mysterious quirks of human behavior. The award-winning essay, "Reason Not the Need," for example, links the seemingly random care behind what we choose to save from a fire to Saltzman's personal soft-spot for cafeteria jelly packets, "with the heft and suppleness of a small toad resting squat in your palm," to the plundering of the Iraqi National Museum of Antiquities. "Hard-wired for wonder and for...

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