In this potent book, three eminent scientists—an astrophysicist, an organic chemist, and an anthropologist—ponder and discuss some of the basic questions that have obsessed humankind through the ages, and offer thoughtful, enlightening answers in terms the layperson can easily understand. Until now, most of these questions were addressed by religion and philosophy. But science has reached a point where it, too, can voice an opinion. Beginning with the Big Bang roughly fifteen