Dance for Two: EssaysFor the last twenty years, Alan Lightman has been writing essays that display his genius for bringing literary and scientific concerns into harmony. Dance for Two gathers the best of Lightman's work. Here are pieces that touch on both the ethereal and the corporeal; the dependence of a ballerina on the laws of physics, the choice of every scientist makes between tinkering and theorizing, the unscientific nature of discovery, the impulse behind an unprompted smile. Dance for Two is an intimate and fascinating look into the creative compulsions shared by the artist and the scientist. |
Contents
PAS DE DEUX | 3 |
SMILE | 12 |
STUDENTS AND TEACHERS | 29 |
TIME TRAVEL AND PAPA JOES PIPE | 39 |
TO CLEAVE AN ATOM | 58 |
A VISIT BY MR NEWTON | 73 |
A DAY IN DECEMBER | 84 |
THE ORIGIN OF THE UNIVERSE | 133 |
HOW THE CAMEL GOT HIS HUMP | 142 |
OTHER ROOMS | 151 |
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