"For years, Samuel Emmer has monitored bacteria levels in drinking water for the small city of Guelph. He is content to focus on dangerous life-threatening single-celled organisms as his grasp on his own life recedes, and with it his with family and friends. No one is more surprised than Samuel when he is appointed to the city's Zoo Feasibility Committee. His assignment: travel to zoos around the world and gather information on the behavior of animals in their enclosures. The city of Guelph aspiring commendably, if naively, is trying to create cruelty-free habitats for its animals. It is in Tallinn, Estonia, that the dreams start for Samuel. He is in a vast wooded landscape; there is a fire burning in the distance; and it is coming his way... Weak in Comparison to Dreams, by historian and art critic James Elkins, is like no other novel you have ever read, even as its inspirations, from W.G. Sebald to Teju Cole, are clear to see. With an astounding breadth of knowledge and playful courage, Weak in Comparison to Dreams reignites our love for the ambitious novel; with experimentation that never lacks intention, and whose empathetic scope explores the deepest aspects of our individual humanity"-- Provided by publisher.