"Curiosity, appetite to discover, to see, to know. And of course, admiration. "This is the starting point of these short texts in which Michel Tournier celebrates the inexhaustible wealth of the world. The nocturnal hedgehog wandering, breast milk, the reassuring presence of the horse, hatred of trees together, low tide and its secrets share these pages with stories of a collective, real or imagined history-from Weimar to the origins of cinema - and with the memory of a gallery of historical and contemporary-writers, actors, singers, anonymous-that faces parade, among racks of criticism, irony and tenderness, for this great window from which to look out into the world and admired characters.