A Tranquil Star, stories published after the death of Primo Levi

Noah bought me "A Tranquil Star," by Primo Levi for a xmas gift. Primo wrote the infamous "Survival at Auschwitz" where he methodically and rationally explained how he survived a concentration camp. If course, concentration camps are crazy, but Primo saw the reasoning behind survival. (His bunk mate died but he didn't tell anyone, the dead body next to the wall kept out some wind, and he took his dead friends rations, until a count was made by the guards). Tranquil Star is great, unpublished stories published after his death. He writes about so many different topics, many of them scientific based, but some very whimsical (yet profoundly serious). One story tells of the capture of a resistance fighter, named Marinese. As he is being taken away in a truck by the fascists, he sees a grenade on the belt of his guard. He thinks about grabbing the grenade with his handcuffed hands and pulling the pin.....Primo Levi actually experienced this, imagined pulling the pin, butr didn't - will Marinese pull the pin? Or just pipe dream about doing it? Incredible short story. Another story, "Bear Meat," is about confronting death, and how it changes a man. In another short story, characters from Levi's novels and stories all end up in a park together, but are they real, or just figments of imagination? Another story presents his brief military experience, interrupted by his stay at Auschwitz, and when he return from the death camp, he was still eligible for service to Italy (new government, same conscription laws) - the country that sent him to a certain death now wants him to serve his conscription obligation - extremely absurd but presented, as only Levi can do, rationally.The story a Tranquil Star tells us how tranquil a star looks from earth, but is really about to experience a super nova - what do we understand from what we see? My favorite was Buffet Dinner, told from the perspective of a Kangaroo, invited to a dinner party. It was a great indictment of the shallow, bitter, mean lives we live, and perhaps we would be happier as Kangaroos? Or maybe Dolphins? Or my favorite animal, the Cheetah? Thanks for the book Noah - it was truly great reading it.