One of the preeminent contemporary literary scholars, Professor Antoine Compagnon (b. 1950) of the Collège de France, has dedicated two major studies to Michel de Montaigne, and in 2012, he produced a series of forty short broadcasts for France Inter radio exploring the main themes of the Essays—Montaigne's only work (aside from his letters), which established him as one of the founders of the modern worldview and the creator of the essay genre. A book, Summer with Montaigne, compiled from the texts of these broadcasts, was published in France a year later and became a bestseller. Carefreely strolling through the whimsical and vast landscape of the Essays, as if through his hometown, Compagnon conveys to us—his companions—the pleasure of discovering its monuments and curiosities.