Baker is possibly at his best when writing about small things, or about details. He is good on sex too, but a box of matches is more his sort of thing. For all of life is here, in a box of matches. Or all the potential of life. Potential for what? For the study of the mind of the average mid-life male, possibly the most exotic and fascinating of all sub-species of the human. Baker's loyal readership will be delighted by this book. Some members of that privileged group will lament the lack of sex; others will celebrate its relative absence. Nobody who has read him before will be disappointed, but perhaps the luckiest people are the ones who are just about to discover for themselves the wonderful Nicholson Baker.