About the Author

Dennis Overbye, who studied science at MIT, is also the author of Einstein in Love. He is Deputy Science Editor at the New York Times and his writings have appeared in Time, the New York Times Magazine, and many other publications.

Reviews

"For his sense of the culture of science -- the traditions, the slang, the rivalries, the unwritten rules -- Mr. Overbye makes a wonderful tour guide."--James Gleick, New York Times Book Review

"One of the great intellectual dramas of the twentieth century comes blazingly to life in this passionate, challenging, and intensely exciting book."--Wendy Smith, Newsday

"Superb...It is by mixing the personal and the cosmic in his reporting, just as the scientists mix them in their lives, that Mr. Overbye has managed to write such a good book."--The Economist

"This is one of the most ambitious popularizations of science to be attempted in recent memory. Seldem has any science journalist said so much, so well, in so few pages." --Timothy Ferris, Scientific American

"Written with such wit and verve that it is hard not to zip through in one sitting."--Martin Gardner, Washington Post

"For his sense of the culture of science -- the traditions, the slang, the rivalries, the unwritten rules -- Mr. Overbye makes a wonderful tour guide."--James Gleick, New York Times Book Review
"One of the great intellectual dramas of the twentieth century comes blazingly to life in this passionate, challenging, and intensely exciting book."--Wendy Smith, Newsday
"Superb...It is by mixing the personal and the cosmic in his reporting, just as the scientists mix them in their lives, that Mr. Overbye has managed to write such a good book."--The Economist
"This is one of the most ambitious popularizations of science to be attempted in recent memory. Seldem has any science journalist said so much, so well, in so few pages." --Timothy Ferris, Scientific American
"Written with such wit and verve that it is hard not to zip through in one sitting."--Martin Gardner, Washington Post

Unexpected discoveries, seething rivalries and inspired guesswork are all in a day's work for modern cosmologists, several of whom are profiled here. ``Overbye's personal narrative makes complex realms of conflicting theory and observation accessible to the layperson,'' said PW. Photos. (Jan.)