In these beguiling essays on what lies beyond the fringes of Philippine recorded history—whether pointing out the laughing carabao on the margins of a centuries-old map, or combing for shards of Ming porcelain on a coral beach—Ocampo reminds us that the endless gathering and joining and breaking apart of apparently ''useless'' bits is, after all, what makes us what we are, and connects us with others in their own quest for identity.