Speculation is a word with at least two meanings. The first is ‘mirroring,’ from the Latin speculum (mirror). Here, speculation means a true reflection of reality that presents itself as an empirical fact,” begins Boris Groys in the first of the contributed essays compiled in Speculation, Now. Self-awareness is one of the ways in which humans differentiate themselves from other animals.

Mendelsund's intentions are to leave his readers with a greater awareness of those swirling, fleeting images that rise and fade in our mind's eye when we have blocked the world from our vision with the printed page.