Book excerpt: Take your Masonry seriously but don't take it solemnly', has been one of the author’s tenets throughout his many years as a Freemason. The Freemason’s Bedside Book is an accessible collection of articles, poems, letters and other bite-sized material from a respected scholar of Freemasonry which will illuminate the subject for those who do not have the time to plough through more lengthy and learned articles or research original documents in which this material is buried. Readers will find the books shows how Freemasonry has developed in the way that it has, bringing to life what people were thinking, believing and wanting in the past, and showing the human face of many of the revered figures in the history of Freemasonry, often with humor. The content varies from poems, short stories and anecdotes to historical extracts and other documents—each chosen for the quality of their writing and the entertainment of the reader as well as their insight into Freemasonry.