The Deeper Meaning of the Everyday

On one level, this is the book’s primary thematic and narrative purpose - to dissect the function and value of everyday experiences. It manifests, one way or another, in every essay in the collection, as the author considers the mechanical functions of objects like toilet bowls and buttons, biological functions of the human body like vomit and blood, and the survival-oriented functions of animals like flies, badgers, and jellyfish. In short, the author writes of how things work, what need or instinct contributes to their existence or to the way they behave, or are purposed, in relation to human beings.

On another level, the book’s consideration of the deeper meaning of the everyday also explores not only literal qualities of how things function, but also psycho-emotional, symbolic, and at times spiritual qualities associated with those functions. When the author considers the...