Fiction. The hero of Thomas Fuller's new book walks around while asking one big question after another--what is truth, what is beauty, what is justice--on his journey through the classical world. Along the way he comes into contact with people--a cave guide in the ancient city of Matera, a taxi cab driver in Naples, the imperious owner of a grand hotel in Rome, among others--so modern they're ancient and so ancient they're modern. When he ditches his male sidekick for a female muse, the trip takes on an entirely different dimension, as our hero edges closer and closer and closer to asking the oldest philosophical question in the world: what is the best way to live one's life, knowing there's no right answer. Tender, funny, profane, outrageous, THE CLASSICAL WORLD is a quixotic excursion for which there's no tour guide other than the self. If Heraclitus had a great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandson he'd no doubt think like Thomas Fuller.--Anonymous