How do we make sense of the modern world? Science is a profoundly affecting aspect of contemporary life, and yet the gulf between experts and everyone else is ever widening. And so Colette Brooks enters to bridge the gap by playing the role of curious layperson, serving as a tour guide to some of the most important discoveries and innovations from the last five centuries. Investing her study of science with all the emotional and imaginative power of a work of fiction, readers move back and forth in time, from dark cavernous laboratories of old to the pristine facilities of the 21st century. They can laugh along with Newton, peer at the moon with Galileo, work beside the Wright Brothers, ride with the astronauts of Apollo 11, watch for UFOs in the 1950s, probe the secrets of the fruit fly, or examine suspicious packages in a Hazmat suit. Through a series of "thought experiments," Brooks also encourages the reader to interact not to simply observe that the plane was invented, but to follow the trajectory of its inspiration, conception, and completion. Readers become immersed in the twists, turns, and surprises of each imaginative leap forward. Appreciating the absurdities as much as the life-altering, Brooks brings her unique perspective to the larger cultural conversation about science, ultimately unleashing the most powerful force of all: our own wonder.