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Part I. Science and human concern. Broca's brain; Can we know the universe? Reflections on a grain of salt; That world which beckons like a liberation; In praise of science and technology

Part II. The paradoxes. Night walkers and mystery mongers : sense and nonsense at the edge of science; White dwarfs and little green men; Venus and Dr. Velikovsky; Norman Bloom, messenger of God; Science fiction - a personal view

Part III. Our neighborhood in space. The sun's family; A planet named george; Life in the solar system; Titan, the enigmatic moon of saturn; The climates of planets; Kalliope and the Kaaba

The golden age of planetary exploration; "Will you walk a little faster?"; Via cherry tree, to Mars; Experiments in space; In defense of robots; The past and future of American Astronomy; The quest for extraterrestrial intelligence

Part IV. Ultimate questions. A Sunday sermon; Gott and the turtles; The amniotic universe.