"Beautifully nimble, solitary feats of imagination." --Seamus Heaney

"Beguiling." --Time

A superbly crafted novel about one man's quest for order and reason in a chaotic and unreasonable world

Mr. Palomar is a delightful eccentric whose chief activity is looking at things. He is seeking knowledge; 'it is only after you have come to know the surface of things that you can venture to seek what is underneath'. Whether contemplating a fine cheese, a hungry gecko, a woman sunbathing topless or a flight of migrant starlings, Mr. Palomar's observations render the world afresh.