Crown Shyness

In a forest, the branches of the trees do not touch. They stop a hand's breadth apart; no one forbade it — they taught themselves not to touch. This is called crown shyness.

This book was written inside that hand's breadth.

Not being able to touch is not only failing to reach another person — it is failing to reach yourself, the time that has passed, the world.

An inquiry into distance, reaching from mythology to physics, from a kitchen table to the emptiness of space.