The 67 essays in Truth and Fantasy explore diverse themes from different perspectives based on the author's and narrator's experiences. The essays are neither comprehensive nor meant to argue forcefully for any single viewpoint, rather, they are meant to stimulate and inspire additional thoughts and ideas.
Beginning essays include musings on random thoughts on the power of silence and neutral and indifference. Subsequent essays emerge from a lifelong career in biology research and touch on whether the ability to evolve is an evolutionary trait. Other essays argue that the nature of intelligence and aesthetics can be traced throughout the animal kingdom, including even so-called "mindless" invertebrates. Challenging subjects are covered in essays about the foundations and meaning of creativity, considering even the role of boredom and imperfections as sources of creativity. Other essays deal with ambition and the relative significance of the buried streams of time between the specific, visible, highlighted episodes in life. The essays include reflections relating competitive tennis to general issues of life. Personal essays express gratitude for 50 years of marriage, the miracle of having children and grandchildren, the positive nature of kindness, the despondence of losing a treasured wedding ring, and relief when it's found. The essays cover art: how it's valued, the significance of authenticity, the importance of ambiguity, and the experiences of amassing a world-class collection of Inuit sculptures. Then, comparing science and writing, essays include immersion in writing memoirs, fiction, and personal essays after a career in science and speculate on storytelling similarities between science and writing. Essays describe uplifting experiences and broadening horizons by traveling to exotic places - Israel, Iceland, Greenland, Portugal, and West Africa - and the nostalgia of returning after 40 years to the science laboratories in Puget Sound as a writer instead of a science student. Finally, essays maintain that aging need not dampen ambition and creative efforts but do not ignore the inevitability of death and its value in defining the marvel and privilege of life.
