‘Engaging, witty, thoughtful, clever, casual, ebullient, erudite and thoroughly modern’ Spectator
‘A dazzling talent – hilarious, winning and deft’ Malcolm Gladwell
In Mid-Air is a collection of short essays by the acclaimed writer and speaker, Adam Gopnik. Known for his ability to perceive ‘the whole world in a grain of sand’, he uses this format to take a dizzying range of subjects and intricately explore their meaning to our lives – as people, as citizens and as families.
From how he works so that his daughter can have holes in her clothes, to why appropriation is more empowering than oppressing; from French sex to binge-watching TV, from the secret of a happy marriage to why we should mention the war - each topic is illuminated by his erudition and wit.
As in their original form on the radio, Gopnik’s essays – each one a pleasure garden of wry confessions, self-deprecating asides, wordplay and striking insights – feel like the most intimate of conversations between writer and reader; yet at the same time they capture a public forum of pithy debate and tender persuasion. Above all, In Mid-Air initiates a sense of wonder in the ordinary that yearns to be shared.
