I have known Joseph Epstein for almost 40 years, but until I read his autobiography, I was unaware that he is not only one of the great essayists in English literature but also an amateur juggler. That makes sense, because no one juggles words better than he: They fall in surprising ways and make you wonder how he manages to do the apparently impossible with such unflappable ease. When I first began to read his essays, and later his stories, I told myself that I would give two fingers to be able to write that well.