Nineteen brilliantly led conversations with a sterling roster of natural and social scientists, shedding new light on their ideas, discoveries--and lives. How does Jane Goodall's relationship with her dog Rusty inform her thinking about our relationship to other species? Which time and place would Jared Diamond most prefer to live in, in light of his work on the role of chance in history? What does driving a sports car have to do with Steven Weinberg's quest for the "theory of everything"? Physicist and journalist Stefan Klein's intimate conversations with nineteen of the world's best-known scientists (including three Nobel Laureates) let us listen in as they talk about their paradigm-changing work--and how it is deeply rooted in their daily lives. * Cosmologist Martin Rees on the beginning and end of the world * Evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins on egoism and selflessness * Neuroscientist V. S. Ramachandran on consciousness * Molecular biologist Elizabeth Blackburn on aging * Philosopher Peter Singer on morality * Physician and social scientist Nicholas Christakis on human relationships * Biochemist Craig Venter on the human genome * Chemist and poet Roald Hoffmann on beauty.