One of America's most honored and respected essayists, Sven Birkerts, returns with a riveting new collection. In The Mir? Worm and the Mysteries of Writing, Birkerts reflects on fundamental questions every writer grapples with at one time or another: "Ah, the old questions, the good questions, the questions that seem so very basic on the surface, but then you get caught in the implications and realize that they go on and on and that you'll only go crazy trying to answer them." What does it mean to be a writer today, when so many other media compete for audiences? With the humanities seemingly everywhere in retreat, Birkerts probes the singular possibilities offered by a fixed text in a world dominated by social media. Meditating on everything from smart phones to photography, Borges to Dylan, Birkerts proves that "the right words in the right order" continue to offer readers a pathway through the labyrinth.