"Having just turned fifty years old Aira returns to a café in his hometown, Coronel Pringles, to write this book which consists of a series of short chapters meditating on and searching for the events that were significant to him during the past fifty years. Between anecdotes, and memories, the author ponders the origins of his truths, about literature meant as much for the writer as for the reader, about ignorance, knowledge, and death"--