The nineteen wide-ranging,  highly imaginative and often entertaining essays are enhanced versions of the prize-winning entries to the FQXi essay competition "Trick or Truth", which attracted over 200 submissions.

The Foundational Questions Institute, FQXi, catalyzes, supports, and disseminates research on questions at the foundations of physics and cosmology, particularly new frontiers and innovative ideas integral to a deep understanding of reality, but unlikely to be supported by conventional funding sources.