Preface

Introduction: The River of Discovery

PART ONE: MATTER ...in which the origins of the universe and of matter are explored, as well as the prospects for a theory of everything

1 Beginnings Without End

2 Simplicity Buried in Complexity

3 Everything at Once

PART TWO: LIFE ...in which the origin of life is considered as well as biological machinery, the riddle of the selfish gene, and the next human genome projects

4 The Likelihood of Life

5 Cooperation and Autonomy

6 The Genome and Its Faults

7 Nature's Family Tree

PART THREE: OUR WORLD ...in which the nature of our brain is explained, as well as our greatest invention, mathematics, and how we will avoid the catastrophes of the future

8 Thinking Machines

9 The Numbers Game

10 Avoidance of Calamity

Conclusion: What Lies Ahead

Notes

Index