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"Parker is articulate and provocative, seeing the poetry in the ordinary and the wonderful in the world." -- Kirkus Reviews (starred review) . "Parker offers some loose advice for living (give money to panhandlers whole-heartedly, because doing so means participating in 'the same divine economy that big-banged you into being') , but is at his best when poring over life's strange resonances ... pays vivid homage to the beauty of the mundane." -- Publishers Weekly (starred review) . From the vertiginously talented James Parker, a collection of uproarious odes that show how to find gratitude in unexpected places.Our politics are broken; our world is melting; the next catastrophe looms. Enter James Parker, who for years now has been writing odes of appreciation on subjects from the seemingly minor ("Ode to Naps") to the unexpected ("Ode to Giving People Money") to the seemingly minor, unexpected, and hyperspecific ("Ode to Running in Movies") .