While millions were being slaughtered on the battlefields of Europe, Bruce Frederick Cummings (W.N.P. Barbellion) was dying of multiple sclerosis. Born in 1889, he would be dead by the age of 30, yet, into those few years, he crammed a lifetime of intensity. His rage to live is revealed in his journal, which he created to analyze his emotions and painful existence. He was in love with life and far from being a catalogue of misfortune, the journal shows his courage. Started at the age of 13, the journal documents the rest of his life, including his remarkable studies in natural history. The result has been described as the work of a scientist with an artist's sensitivity.