The Unchained Elephant and Other Essays

An elephant is finally released from chains, and a scientist wonders how prejudice turned an animal into a supposed lunatic. A tram ticket becomes an argument about dignity. Weeds, childhood shadows, funeral speeches, and new dentures reveal unexpected questions about the ways people think and live.

Terada Torahiko brings the patience of a physicist and the wit of an essayist to these ten works. His observations of language, tools, scientific education, and Nobel laureates ask how knowledge grows and how society can help or hinder discovery.

Other pieces move into memory and grief. A child follows the changing shadow of a rickshaw puller; a man, relieved after family troubles, finds sorrow returning through a little drawing on a paper screen. Traditional court music creates an atmosphere unlike the restless modern world.