John Berger was born in London in 1926. His seminal Ways of Seeing was one of the most influential books on art in the 20th century. His many books, innovative in form and far-reaching in their historical and political insight, include To the Wedding, King, and the Booker Prize-winning novel, G. He lived and worked in a small village in the French Alps, the setting for his trilogy Into Their Labours (Pig Earth, Once in Europa and Lilac and Flag). In 2001, his collection of essays The Shape of a Pocket was published, and his Understanding a Photograph, edited by Geoff Dyer, was published in 2013. He died, aged 90, in December 2016

I only wish I could do justice in a few words to the richness that makes this book so compelling

A genuine tour de force . . .The intimate portrait of one man and his microscopic world reveals the faults and strains of a whole society

John Berger seems to me peerless; not since Lawrence has there been a writer who offers such attentiveness to the sensual world with responsiveness to the imperatives of conscience

It's one of my favourite books in the world, an ongoing inspiration as to how books should be written (and photography used)

This extraordinary book unravels the tangled branches of the everyday to reveal the brightness within. It inspires me to think more slowly, more deeply, to wear acquired knowledge lightly, to open my senses more fully to the wonders in the plain and close-at-hand

This disturbingly beautiful book will continue to haunt you long after you have set it aside

A masterpiece of witness; a three-way meditation on humanity, society and the value of healing

A masterpiece. When A Fortunate Man was published in 1967 it marked the most significant step forward in the collaboration of a writer and photographer since Let us Now Praise Famous Men by Walker Evans and James Agee. Incredibly, it still does

A book about caring that will make you care, and a book about deep healing that may heal your soul. It is also, almost 50 years on, uncannily timely