Rousseau begins his Confessions by claiming that he is about to embark on an enterprise never before attempted: to present a self-portrait that is in every way true to nature and that hides nothing. He begins his tale by describing his family, including his mother§s death at his birth. He ruminates on his earliest memories, which begin when he was five, a dawning of consciousness that he traces to his learning to read. He discusses his childhood in the years before his father left him and his own decision to run away to see the world at the age of sixteen. He often dwells for many pages on seemingly minor events that hold great importance for him.