A terrific little collection covering a whole load of different subjects. Subtitling it ‘occasional pieces’ really is deceptively modest. The collection’s themed on the importance of the imagination with each essay using imagination in some way. Hugely quotable and with some subtle language expressing subtle ideas, in words that needs to be read twice to appreciate or understand. ( )

Every single one of these short essays and reviews by the master writer William Golding is worth reading, though not all are equally memorable or important. However, his short biography of Copernicus is one of the most thought-provoking and insightful pieces I have ever read about the early scientist, and is worth the price of admission alone. ( )

Some absorbing essays here; most prominently "Fables" which is illuminates the philosophical background to "Lord of the Flies". Golding's experience of the condition of man was as a "morally diseased creation", and that he would use the "literary convention of boys on an island" to illustrate this. He set out to contrast this fallen state of man, with the "paper cutouts" that Ballantyne produced in his optimistic and naive "The Coral Island".
"The Hot Gates" recalls the desperate stand of the Spartans against the Persians in 480 B.C.

A collection of essays by the author of "Lord of the Flies", of varying interest. Golding evidently was a true man of letters, interested in a wide range of topics, largely historical and bookish. The most interesting essay (and potentially the most useful to a student writing a book report) was his interpretation of various events and ideas from his most famous book. ( )

I wasn't a huge fan of Golding before this book, but he's a skilled and thoughtful essayist. ( )