“...The ability of our culture to survive in the coming crucial decades may depend on whether each of us strives to gain a more comprehensive oversight of events than what is dictated by our immediate personal and professional interests... A significant component of such solutions must be based on better education in the natural sciences... It is essential for the philologist to be taught science, and it is equally the duty of the scientist to write about science in simple and comprehensible language.

Scientists must abandon a mindset that makes even reading the title of a publication incomprehensible to the layperson. The world does not understand science and it is easy to feel threatened by what one cannot comprehend. People generally see science as a kind of black magic performed by individuals dressed in white lab coats.

I believe that distrust of science also stems from the overemphasis on the final scientific product, when we teach scientific results by isolating them from the multifaceted structure of scientific understanding. To address this misunderstanding, improved education is required, especially at the introductory level. Science is not exclusively the property of scientists; it is a shared human experience, a heritage that concerns every thinking individual on the planet.

Science is more than intensive work and published findings. It is primarily a world of ideas. Learn to appreciate this world of ideas, for it contains much beauty and grace, philosophical insight, and social contribution.

[Excerpt from the text on the back cover of the edition]