Put on your 4D glasses, stand on your mental head.

These 87 essays and assorted writings came into being over the past thirty years. A glance at the Contents will show that they have been collected under some fifteen different headings, among which are Liverpool, God, the primacy of the physical and the United States of America. The aim, when Hancock's single finger hovered over the keyboard, was simply to hit the right letters and never - despite his thirty-two years in the profession - never to teach. At all times he has tried to see the underside of things, to become aware of aspects of experience that habit or optimism, or both at the same time, sometimes blind us to. In choosing which of his stock of 197 essays to include, Hancock, together with his mentor and adviser, John Dixon, were driven by the desire to achieve some degree of variety in both style and subject matter.