Nobody in Western civilization had ever tried to do what Montaigne set out to do. He moves from thought to thought, often digressing from an idea only to return... » 

Nobody in Western civilization had ever tried to do what Montaigne set out to do. He moves from thought to thought, often digressing from an idea only to return, having caught up with it elsewhere. In these essays, Montaigne lays out his plan for how a man might wisely live and die. «