Introduction -- I. Science and human concern. Broca's brain ; Can we know the universe? Reflections on a grain of salt ; The world which beckons like a liberation ; In praise of science and technology -- II. The paradoxers. 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 -- 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 ; Kallipe and the Kaaba ; The golden age of planetary exploration -- IV. The future. "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 -- V. Ultimate questions. A Sunday sermon ; Gott and the turtles ; The amniotic universe -- References -- Index.