In this exuberant and wildly funny novel, Primo levi celebrates the joys
of work and the art of storytelling. The magic is worked through the
mesmerizing tales told by Libertini Faussone, a construction worker, and
by the narrator, a writer-chemist, who share stories of their
adventures. Faussone is a life-loving, self-educated philospher who has
built bridges and towers in India, Africa, Alaska, and Russia. His
passion for work and travel shines through his stories-- of a monkey who
wanted to be a man, of a magnificent machine that caught stardust, and
of a first love, a girl who drove a bulldozer. The writer-chemist,
himself a rigger of words and molocules, listens, patient and amused,
and responds with his own fascinating stories and reflections on the
similar joys of labor both physical and intellectual.