309 p. ; 25 cm

In this astonishing and profound work, an irreverent sleuth traces the riddle of existence from the ancient world to modern times.--Amazon.com

Includes bibliographical references (p. 283-294) and index

A quick proof that there must be something rather than nothing, for modern people who lead busy lives -- Confronting the mystery -- Interlude : Could our world have been created by a hacker? -- Philosophical tour d'horizon -- Interlude : The arithmetic of nothingness -- A brief history of nothing -- The Great Rejectionist -- Finite or infinite? -- Interlude : Night thoughts at the Café de Flore -- The inductive theist of North Oxford -- Interlude : The supreme brute fact -- The Magus of the Multiverse -- Interlude : The end of explanation -- The ultimate free lunch? -- Interlude : Nausea -- Waiting for the final theory -- Interlude : A word on many worlds -- Platonic reflections -- Interlude : It from bit -- "The ethical requiredness of there being something" -- Interlude : An Hegelian in Paris -- The last word from All Souls -- Epistolary interlude : The proof -- The world as a bit of light verse -- The self : do I really exist? -- Return to nothingness -- Over the Seine