Halle -- Ancient roots -- Kabbalah -- Galileo and Bolzano -- Berlin -- Squaring the circle -- The student -- The birth of set theory -- The first circle -- "I see it, but I don't believe it" -- Virulent opposition -- The transfinite numbers -- The continuum hypothesis -- Shakespeare and mental illness -- The axiom of choice -- Russell's paradox -- Marienbad -- The Viennese café -- The night of June 14-15, 1937 -- Leibniz, relativity, and the U.S. Constitution -- Cohen's proof and the future of set theory -- The infinite brightness of the chaluk.