Philip Ward, born 1938 in Harrow, England, was founder and Publisher of the "Private Library". ‘A Lizard and Other Distractions’ possess the unexpected unity of a graph plotted on the haphazard path of a barometric needle. Philip Ward is already known as an inventive playwright (in A Musical Breakfast from the Brewhouse Press) and as a sensitive lyric poet (in Seldom Rains and At the Best of Times from the Oleander Press). Although some of these stories have appeared in Transatlantic Review, The Quest, Labris, Quixote and elsewhere, this is their first publication in book form. Philip Ward's persona glides like a lizard from that of a German doctor on Patmos to a Russian schoolboy's. The disruption of logic is demonstrated . with impeccable logic. A story is set in the period after history. There are autobiographical sketches of wit and originality about stones, World War II, and divorce, linked by a strong underlying current of myth. This is a collection that will enhance the reputation of the Director of the Libyan Research Library, whose recent books include the Touring Libya trilogy (Faber and Faber) and 'Spanish Literary Appreciation ( University of London Press).