In more than one respect, the exploring of the Solar System and homesteading other worlds constitutes the beginning, much more than the end, of history.

[One's] inability to invalidate your hypothesis is not at all the same thing as proving it true.

What's the harm of a little mystification? It sure beats boring statistical analyses.

Books tap the wisdom of our species -- the greatest minds, the best teachers -- from all over the world and from all our history. And they're patient.

Our species needs, and deserves, a citizenry with minds wide awake and a basic understanding of how the world works.

The universe is a pretty big place. If it's just us, seems like an awful waste of space.

Scientists can routinely predict a solar eclipse, to the minute, a millennium in advance. You can go to the witch doctor to lift the spell that causes your pernicious anaemia, or you can take Vitamin B12. If you want to save your child from polio, you can pray or you can inoculate. If you're interested in the sex of your unborn child, you can consult plumb-bob danglers all you want . . . but they'll be right, on average, only one time in two. If you want real accuracy . . . try amniocentesis and sonograms. Try science.