MetaChat is an informal place for MeFites to touch base and post, discuss and
chatter about topics that may not belong on MetaFilter. Questions? Check the FAQ. Please note: This is important.
This sounds like a question you might have encountered at the reference desk.
I was looking at my bookshelves this morning, and, for whatever reason, 'How' books jumped out at me--How Does A Poem Mean, How Buildings Learn, How Paintings Happen... I've got to get rid of some books.
How It Is: a good or at least an important book, some would say, although it must be Beckett's bleakest work, which is saying a lot, and I couldn't finish it.