"Elegantly contemplative.…[O]ffers a powerfully human sense of the struggle it takes for new ideas to dislodge old ones." —Janet Maslin, New York Times Book Review

Dramas both personal and cosmic unfold around five pivotal moments in the history of knowledge in this collection from the "genius enchantress" (Karen Russell) author of Ship Fever, winner of the National Book Award.

A young boy comes of age amid an explosion of homespun investigations. A widowed science writer tries to reconcile the influence of emotion on scientific theory. A famous biologist finds himself outpaced by his students, even as he seeks to teach them. As the characters in this "elegant, thought-provoking" (Connie Ogle, Miami Herald) collection witness the world transform around them through groundbreaking discoveries—the flight of an early aeroplane, Darwin’s theory of evolution, developments in genetics and X-ray technology—they grapple with the thrill and loss that accompanies scientific progress, and the personal passions and impersonal politics that shape all human knowledge. Throughout these deftly plotted stories, Andrea Barrett weaves subtle connections among the tales within this collection and characters in her earlier works.