The beginning of The Beginning of Infinity felt a bit like the Big Bang beginning of the Universe--first I felt hot and dense, and then there was a Bang. Deutsch, professor of physics at the University of Oxford, introduces so many new terms and ideas to learn and think about that initially it was overwhelming (not unlike the real universe.) While Deutsch (The Fabric of Reality) doesn't slow down for the reader throughout the chapters, he does allow for catch-up at end of each one with lists of terminology, summaries and bullet points.
But that speed is emblematic of the theory he's trying to advance: progress. Progress both "rapid enough to notice and stable enough to continue over many generations," the kind of progress that began with the Scientific Revolution and continues today. The longer this progress continues, the greater the need for what Deutsch calls "good explanations" that are "easy to vary while still accounting for what [they purport] to account for." In other words: something you can make changes to that remains true.
Deutsch uses not only science (physics, biology, etc.) to illuminate his theory but also philosophy, linguistics and history, to name a few. All of these disciplines together--each beginning of progress in these separate but ultimately connected fields--are what truly is the Beginning of Infinity. By the time you hit the Further Reading list in the bibliography, you're ready to continue on in Deutsch's universe. Maybe infinitely. --Megan Tarbett, librarian, WV Library Commission