The fingerprint is the place where personal identity is determined, as unique and enigmatic as its concentric circles. The history of the fingerprint is a dreamy parade of magicians, detectives, geniuses, charlatans, scientists, hand readers, artists and bureaucrats.

In On Fingerprints, Geertjan de Vugt unravels the societal, philosophical, art historical and existential themes concerning fingerprints and thus finds himself on the border between fiction and non-fiction. It is true that mankind is driven by the desire to be different, but there is also an opposite force at play. Is it possible for someone to completely disappear? Does the ultimate disappearing act still exist? On Fingerprints is a swirling search through history with astonishing finds, a rich, erudite and playful book about the obsession with visibility and invisibility.