Featured Writers and Extracts xi
Introduction xvii
What Scientists Study
from The Mysterious Universe James Jeans 3
from Just Six Numbers Martin Rees 4
from Creation Revisited Peter Atkins 11
from The Ant and the Peacock Helena Cronin 16
from The Genetical Theory of Natural Selection R. A. Fisher 18
from Mankind Evolving Theodosius Dobzhansky 22
from Adaptation and Natural Selection G. C. Williams 27
from Life Itself Francis Crick 30
from Genome Matt Ridley 35
'Theoretical Biology in the Third Millennium' Sydney Brenner 40
from The Language of the Genes Steve Jones 48
from 'On Being the Right Size' J. B. S. Haldane 53
from The Explanation of Organic Diversity Mark Ridley 59
'The Importance of the Nervous System in the Evolution of Animal Flight' John Maynard Smith 61
from Man in the Universe Fred Hoyle 66
from On Growth and Form D'Arcy Thompson 69
fromThe Meaning of Evolution G. G. Simpson 78
from Trilobite! Richard Fortey 82
from The Mind Machine Colin Blakemore 86
from Mirrors in Mind Richard Gregory 89
'One Self: A Meditation on the Unity of Consciousness' Nicholas Humphrey 96
from The Language Instinct and How the Mind Works Steven Pinker 103
from The Rise and Fall of the Third Chimpanzee Jared Diamond 110
from The Life of the Robin David Lack 114
from Curious Naturalists Niko Tinbergen 115
from Social Evolution Robert Trivers 123
from The Open Sea Alister Hardy 127
from The Sea Around Us Rachel Carson 130
from 'How Flowers Changed the World' Loren Eiseley 138
from The Diversity of Life Edward O. Wilson 143
Who Scientists Are
from The Expanding Universe Arthur Eddington 151
from the Foreword to G. H. Hardy's A Mathematician's Apology C. P. Snow 152
from Disturbing the Universe Freeman Dyson 157
from 'War and the Nations' J. Robert Oppenheimer 161
'A Passion for Crystals' Max F. Perutz 168
'Said Ryle to Hoyle' Barbara George Gamow 172
'Cancer's a Funny Thing' J. B. S. Haldane 174
from The Identity of Man Jacob Bronowski 176
from 'Science and Literature, 'Darwin's Illness', 'The Phenomenon of Man', the postscript to 'Lucky Jim', and 'D' Arcy Thompson and Growth and Form' Peter Medawar 179
from Self-Made Man Jonathan Kingdon 188
from Origins Reconsidered Richard Leakey Roger Lewin 190
from Lucy Donald C. Johanson Maitland A. Edey 195
'Worm for a Century, and All Seasons' Stephen Jay Gould 200
from Life Cycles John Tyler Bonner 211
from Uncle Tungsten Oliver Sacks 214
'Seven Wonders' Lewis Thomas 219
from Avoid Boring People James Watson 226
from What Mad Pursuit Francis Crick 229
from The Unnatural Nature of Science Lewis Wolpert 232
from Essays of a Biologist Julian Huxley 234
'Religion and Science' Albert Einstein 235
from The Demon-Haunted World Carl Sagan 239
What Scientists Think
from The Character of Physical Law Richard Feynman 247
from What is Life? Erwin Schrodinger 249
from Darwin's Dangerous Idea and Consciousness Explained Daniel Dennett 254
from The Growth of Biological Thought Ernst Mayr 259
from 'The Tragedy of the Commons' Garrett Hardin 263
from Geometry for the Selfish Herd and Narrow Roads of Geneland W. D. Hamilton 266
from How Nature Works Per Bak 273
The Fantastic Combinations of John Conway's New Solitaire Game 'Life' Martin Gardner 276
from Mathematics for the Million Lancelot Hogben 284
from The Miraculous Jar Ian Stewart 289
from The Mathematical Theory of Communication Claude E. Shannon Warren Weaver 297
from Computing Machinery and Intelligence Alan Turing 305
from 'What is the Theory of Relativity?' Albert Einstein 314
from Mr Tompkins George Gamow 317
from The Goldilocks Enigma Paul Davies 323
from The Time and Space of Uncle Albert Russell Stannard 332
from The Elegant Universe Brian Greene 336
from A Brief History of Time Stephen Hawking 342
What Scientists Delight In
from Truth and Beauty S. Chandrasekhar 349
from A Mathematician's Apology G. H. Hardy 352
from Dreams of a Final Theory Steven Weinberg 357
from The Life of the Cosmos Lee Smolin 362
from The Emperor's New Mind Roger Penrose 367
from Godel, Escher, Bach: The Eternal Golden Braid Douglas Hofstadter 371
from Geons, Black Holes, and Quantum Foam John Archibald Wheeler Kenneth Ford 378
from The Fabric of Reality David Deutsch 381
from The Periodic Table Primo Levi 383
from Life: An Unauthorized Biography Richard Fortey 390
from The Meaning of Evolution George Gaylord Simpson 392
from Little Men and Flying Saucers Loren Eiseley 393
from Pale Blue Dot Carl Sagan 394
Acknowledgements 397
Index 401