 In addition to describing the places he sees and people he encounters, including translator Michael Hamburger, Sebald discusses various episodes of history and literature, including the introduction of silkworm cultivation to Europe and the writings of Thomas Browne, which attach in some way to the larger text.The book was published in English in 1998.Combining the details of a walking tour with meditations prompted by places and people encountered on that tour, "The Rings of Saturn" was called "a hybrid of a bookfiction, travel, biography, myth, and memoir".