Scientists have never seemed so fallible - or even so dangerous. But today, more than ever before, an understanding of modern science is essential for anyone seeking to define the nature of man and his place in the universe. Since Galileo looked through his telescope in 1609 and set eyes upon the moon, mankind's gaze has been drawn, by science and its disciplines, out beyond our narrow world to the infinite spaces of the cosmos. Bryan Appleyard charts the progression of scientific knowledge, from Copernicus and Descartes to Einstein and Hawking, and its devastating impact on mankind's belief in his dominant role in the universe.