Fiction you can easily understand is barely worth reading – much like physics texts. Cosmicomics is an eccentric collection of short stories by Italian author Italo Calvino. They explore the beginnings of the earth, the development of space, form, signs, up to dinosaurs and other living things in a way that will never make logical sense; therein lies the beauty. The names of the characters entirely unpronounceable. The entity guiding this trek through time and space is 'old Qfwfq'. He (for lack of a better pronoun) materializes as a particle, an idea, a dinosaur, and at the last, a mollusk. The descriptions are unfathomable, yet paint your imagination better than Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings in 'The Yearling'. My favorite story is the last – 'The Spiral'. It’s an expressive look at the development of sight intertwined with the idea of perception. If you’re attracted to things that alter your perception with a glimpse into unrealities that somehow still fit in the realm of existence that you’ve come to be comfortable with, you’ll love this collection too.