This collection brings together the writings of François Rabelais, chiefly his comic books about the giants Gargantua and Pantagruel. Their adventures include odd upbringings, absurd battles and a voyage in search of wisdom, all told with exuberant language, lists, jokes and learned digressions. Behind the laughter, Rabelais questions rigid education, needless war and religious hypocrisy, and argues for open-minded learning. It is the fullest way to meet one of the most inventive writers of the French Renaissance.