{"product_id":"9781602351158","title":"Obligations of the Harp","description":"\u003cbr\u003eLiterary Nonfiction. The twenty-five essays in OBLIGATIONS OF THE HARP are by turns wry and satirical, sensually descriptive, playfully punning--but always nuanced and illuminating. Reference points range from Kobe Bryant to John Updike, from geology to Jewish ritual. One essay is a fanciful treatment of the history of the human cannonball; another provides a deeply humane and humorous account of preparing middle-schoolers for History Day. Varied in topic and tone, Saltzman consistently revels in and re-imagines the mysterious quirks of human behavior. The award-winning essay, \"Reason Not the Need,\" for example, links the seemingly random care behind what we choose to save from a fire to Saltzman's personal soft-spot for cafeteria jelly packets, \"with the heft and suppleness of a small toad resting squat in your palm,\" to the plundering of the Iraqi National Museum of Antiquities. \"Hard-wired for wonder and for worry,\" Saltzman is a truly original mind alive to the artful accidents and patterns of the social, natural, and human worlds.","brand":"Parlor Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47031343546608,"sku":"9781602351158","price":24.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781602351158_p0.jpg?v=1763825655","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781602351158","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}