The author, a professor of physics, tells the story of the development of scientific thinking in various cultures. He says that scientific thinking is a relatively new phenomenon in human history, though it has ancient antecedents. He also calls scientific thinking "unnatural" in the sense that it must be taught and learned in each generation, and that the results are cumulative over time. Thus scientific knowledge appears as "heresy" to much of human tradition, and there is nothing common about "common sense."

The author builds a healthy respect for how much scientific views depend on the collective efforts of the past. He is not a relativist: scientific knowledge is a certain type of consensus painstakingly built around informed opinion about a reality that is outside of human beings.

From the layperson's standpoint the book is clearly written and argued, uses appropriate and illuminating examples, and is not overly technical. It is a helpful resource in the science-religion debates. ( )