Jessica Hagy is always looking for connections and themes--tendrils of information that loop and twist and knot into each other. In The Humanist's Devotional she connects quotations and aphorisms to build a conversation between voices from ancient to modern times, a conversation that asserts a humanism that's bravely authentic, with a message that our world is absolutely and wonderfully fascinating. The result is a book of daily devotionals, or meditations, that are not centered on a god or religion, but on a mindset: humanism as a function of learned history and a coping mechanism for a hectic and unnerving world.