A man is walking through the desert unsure of how he came to be there. His only companion is the mirror in which his reflection of his older self talks to him. At times during the day, they stop to converse on the nature of life, the universe and everything. Talking their way through several topics from self-awareness to religion and considering who and what a person is.

This book is an philosophical collection of ideas wrapped in an interesting framing device to allow the introspective discussion to go ahead. The discussions follow a theme within each chapter leading the reader on from simple concepts to more abstract and thought provoking ideas for contemplation. Each little part is broken down into a discussion of questions and answers between the younger and older selves of the wanderer, the aim of each to build on the previous conversations and so on. The conversational tone of the chapters work nicely to get the point across, even if it is a little heavy handed in doing so.

For the tract, the book stands and falls by the ideas it presents. The ideas and viewpoint of the author come across fairly clearly and while some of the ideas presented are quite thought provoking, some have a very different viewpoint and didn’t chime with my experiences. I also spent the time reading with “Always look on the bright side of life” in the back of my head as the theme of the book is pretty much the same to begin with.

Overall, it’s a well constructed set of viewpoints, that you may or may not agree with. While you may not learn anything new from this book, it is a useful to reflect on in re-evaluating how you act and feel, always something worth doing once in a while.