This book first took shape a few years ago and slumbered for some time before it was reanimated to assume its present form. During this period, it changed roof twice, from Gonville and Caius College in Cambridge to the European College of Liberal Arts in Berlin, before moving on. I owe to the former – with its almost uninhabitable liberties – the environment that allowed it to take shape. I owe to the latter – with its daring adventures across disciplines and spirit of serious play – the environment that gave me the resources to enrich it, and made its slumber fertile. I owe to the readers of this work for Cambridge University Press, anonymous and eponymous, the generosity that made reanimation and enrichment possible.