The title of this book comes from The Tempest, one of Shakespeare's final plays. In it, the character Prospero remarks on the essence of existence by calling it a "baseless fabric." He goes on to qualify it with the phrase "We are such stuff as dreams are made upon." With this passage, Shakespeare conveys two deep insights. First, that the ground of reality lacks substantiality. That it is formed of a tapestry lacking a base and is a substance without foundation. Second, with the ...