In the summer of 2020, the final summer of his life, Jory Post gave himself an assignment: He would write one essay a day, inspired by whatever caught his eye and imagination.

The seventy essays that emerged — personal and idiosyncratic, contemplative and fierce — range in subject from the writing life, extinct birds, and the origins of words to the "three 'C's" (cancer, chemo, and Covid) and his love for his wife and friends.

As he faced his last days, Jory Post measured the world around him and threw the full reach of his emotions and literary skills into these pages.