With a title drawn from the work of TH Parry Williams - a master of the 20th-century essay form, on whom Price has written extensively - the subtlety and capaciousness of these writings reveal Price a successor as much as a researcher of his extraordinary talents. With subjects ranging from phonetics to cakes, from cleaning to Karl Marx, it is Price's gift for sensitive, intelligent scrutiny that holds the volume together, her capacity to expand the meaning of the seemingly smallest mundanity.