The fantastic reality that is modern physics is open for your exploration, guided by one of its primary architects and interpreters, Nobel Prize winner Frank Wilczek.

Some jokes, some poems, and extracts from wife Betsy Devine's sparkling chronicle of what it's like to live through a Nobel Prize provide easy entertainment. There's also some history, some philosophy, some exposition of frontier science, and some frontier science, for your lasting edification.

49 pieces, including many from Wilczek's award-winning Reference Frame columns in Physics Today, and some never before published, are gathered by style and subject into a dozen chapters, each with a revealing, witty introduction.

Profound ideas, presented with style: What could be better? Enjoy.

Frank Wilczek has received many prizes for his work in physics, including the Nobel Prize of 2004 for work he did as a graduate student at Princeton University, when he was only 21 years old. He is known, among other things, for the discovery of asymptotic freedom, the development of quantum chromodynamics, axions, and the discovery and exploitation of new forms of quantum statistics (anyons).

Frank is also known for his ability to communicate successfully with a wide range of audiences. Much in demand for public lectures, he has been anthologized in the Norton Anthology of Light Verse and twice in Best American Science Writing (2003, 2005). Together with his wife Betsy Devine, he wrote a beautiful book, Longing for the Harmonies.

Frank is currently the Herman Feshbach professor of physics at MIT. Betsy Devine, who blogs at �Funny Ha-Ha or Funny Peculiar�, rejoices at being the fourth �Betsy� in Google.

Contents:

• Constructing This World, and Others
• Musing on Mechanics
• Making Light of Mass
• QCD Exposed
• Breathless at the Heights
• At Sea in the Depths
• Once and Future History
• Methods of Our Madness
• Inspired, Irritated, Inspired
• Big Ideas
• Grand Occasions
• Breaking into Verse
• Another Dimension

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Readership: Students, scientists and lay people.

"Reading Fantastic Realities is almost as much fun as hanging around Frank Wilczek — a feast of continual surprise and insight from a mischievous physics mensch who always has a twinkle in his eye, sees everything new, and never (ever) says what you expect: Whatever you thought you ever knew about physics (or receiving a Nobel prize) suddenly gets a WHOLE lot more interesting."

K C Cole Award-winning author and science journalist, and currently Professor of Journalism at the Annenberg School of Communications University of Southern California

"Frank Wilczek's Fantastic Realities is a gem, offering sophisticated aficionados as well as professional scientists a wealth of subtle insights gleaned from the author's relentless engagement with workings of nature. Wilczek is rightly hailed as one of the most accomplished physicists of our age. With this collection, he proves himself one of its most penetrating scientific interpreters as well."

Brian Greene Professor of Physics and Mathematics at Columbia University and bestselling author of The Elegant Universe and The Fabric of the Cosmos

"Frank Wilczek is one of the most creative, knowledgeable, and deeply intelligent people I�ve ever known. Interacting with him has been a transformative experience for me. This collection of essays opens to all readers the opportunity to experience Frank's playful yet profound approach to reality. I heartily recommend it to anyone who wants to gain a better understanding of the world, and to have some fun in the process."

Lawrence M Krauss Ambrose Swasey Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Case Western Reserve University, and bestselling author of The Physics of Star Trek

"With humor and a deft touch, Dr Wilczek illuminates physics both past and present. I really love this book."

Joshua Roebke Seed Magazine

"It's a great read by one of the best in the business for anyone interested in physics and should be accessible to people with a wide variety of backgrounds. The writing is exceptionally well-informed, elegant, lucid, and thought-provoking."

Peter Woit "Not Even Wrong" blog

"This is a wonderfully thought provoking book. Frank Wilczek is that rarest of breeds, a lucid physicist. Working in Feynman's tradition, i.e. raising the communication of physics into the literary canon. As an avid reader of these pieces, I have wished they were collected in one place. Now they have. Because of this? Wilczek will significantly influence the understanding of physics among the educated lay in this post modern age, and on, into the future. I strongly recommend this book."

Peter Goreau Poet and Host of Spanning the Chasm on WGDR (Vermont)

"Fantastic Realities is a remarkable and engaging book, and will provide illuminating insights, whether you are an intelligent layperson seeking to improve your knowledge of the physical universe or a practicing physicist on the forefront of research. In short, this is an impressive collection of essays, and reading Fantastic Realities will help you cultivate a deeper understanding of the universe at its most fundamental level."

Jed E Rose Duke University

"Wilczek's writing is deeply intellectual. The essays are centred around QFT but range far more widely. They display a sensitive appreciation of subtle features of the culture of modern physical science ... it is fascinating to see Wilczek circling round the same set of ideas. There is much concentrated wisdom here, and he has a deft touch with words."

Nature

"Overall, this is a mind-bending book that you will want to come back to and reread; you will certainly have to, if you want to understand it properly."