Lewis Carroll conceived his Alice books during a time (the 1860s) of intense intellectual upheaval, as new scientific, linguistic, educational, and mathematical ideas flourished around his Oxford home and far beyond. This book by the distinguished scholar Gillian Beer reveals the zest and freedom with which Carroll played across those ideas in Alice s "Adventures in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking-Glass." In a series of lively chapters that mirror the picaresque nature of Alice s travels, Beer brings to the surface much contextual knowledge that has been mislaid over time and places the Alice books in apposition to other works and inquiries contemporary with Carroll. The topics Beer addresses include time, games, mathematics and arguments about space, puns, "Punch," philosophical dialogue, taxonomies and classification, naming and the question of Alice s identity, growing and eating, dreaming, and issues of justice. Writing with a combination of learning and lightness, Beer reminds us that the Alice books are essentially about curiosity, its risks and pleasures, and they have an extraordinary capacity to spark curiosity in us too."