Photoscapes and the Egg is an intimate book to be savoured and kept nearby, perhaps on a coffee table because of its sheer beauty. Inside its robin egg blue cloth cover are improvised photos of objects, nature, and art, each matched with a photo of an egg inside a cosmic circle — eggs with personalities from the calm ethereal to the hot aggressive. In full, there are more than 100 stunning colour photos, all taken with an iPhone.

The match of phenomena and eggs alludes to the dance of the material world with the invisible “birthing source” represented by the egg. Accompanying text and poems bring stories to the dance.

The juxtapositions evoke surprise, insight, emotions, hope, and refreshment. They make wry jokes and touch on realities beyond the obvious. This book contains unabashed gentleness and spiritual toughness without pretence.

Photoscapes and the Egg sprang from the mind of Patricia Z. Smith, a 79-year-old photographer and writer with extensive life experience and a pull since childhood to meld the physical with the esoteric. The design by Louis Brody is modern and serene. The book is a gift to the reader and her or his friends. It is a resource for these times and our future.