From a few words in which Schelling suggests, in the manner of the Gnostics, that sadness is the backdrop of nature in general and the human condition in particular, George Steiner develops ten theses about the inherent sadness the thinking human condition. As in the "exercise wisdom" of a Seneca or Marcus Aurelius, but from a perspective marked by neurophysiology and quantum physics, the author stands before the reader a battery of questions that reveal the dramatic nature of human thought. Is there something beyond thinking that would be unthinkable? Can we live without thinking at all? Does the thought is infinite? What are the relationships between thought and language, and between thought and I? Can we really think the thought? In the last of the Ten (possible) reasons Steiner addresses the question of God. "Plausibly" he says, "the homo sapiens became [...] when the question arose of God." Indeed, has not equally fascinated believers and unbelievers the question of God?