Lunch with Caravaggio

There are certain illusions the human psyche depends on in order to maintain balance. One of the most vital of those illusions is that we can live our lives according to reason and logic, functions of the frontal lobes of our "advanced" brains. This belief remains widespread despite the evidence of history, which shows clearly that with humans, it is the tiny lizard-brain at the base of their skulls that rules.

The characters in these stories, be they a famous concert pianist or a rubber-planter in Malaysia, a naturalist searching for an extinct species or an infamous Thai prostitute, they each live under the spell of that most treasured illusion, but all that is necessary to awaken the primordial reptile within is a slight change in their circumstances.