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Though one could start exploring the masterful works of the German-Swiss poet, novelist, and painter Hermann Hesse with his later more mature novels, from the spiritual crisis and discovery of Der Steppenwolf (Steppenwolf), to the simple lyrical mysticism of Siddhartha or even (my personal favorite) the odd, futuristic and intellectual Das Glasperlenspiel (which I read under the title Magister Ludi *and* The Glass Bead Game but is often called just one or the other), I would point a reader interested in this author to Hesse's first and greenest book, Peter Camenzind. In this wonderful bildungsroman or coming of age story, glimmers of the themes that would play out in Hesse's latter work are born: the searching for place, both physical and spiritual, the desire for authenticity and a natural way of living, the confrontation with the wider world in the throes of jarring social, economic and technological progress, even the tension between the individual and nature itself. For artists, poets, writers, anyone living their lives in the realm of ideas and heart, or even just a self-aware person who, in our day, might be staring down similar great world-changing technological and sociological upheaval and artificiality with an equally jaundiced eye, Hesse has much to say, and Peter Camenzind is the place to start listening.