will attain total understanding of the origin and nature of the universe and its evolution, thus achieving a new outlook on the creation and existence. Pagels emphasizes the new astronomical discoveries gained through the use of radio telescopes and earth-orbiting satellites. Details on the newest scientific findings give the reader a picture of what the universe really looks like - the stars and their deaths as white dwarfs, neutron stars or black holes; the structure and evolution of galaxies; and quasars and their distribution in space in the form of clusters and superclusters. Heinz Pagels is that rarest of scientist/writers-one who can make comprehensible to the layman the most complex of ideas, synthesize disciplines to create more than an overview, and bridge the gap to make science read like art. This book should be in print. This is an excellent primer for understanding cosmology-the birth of the universe. Although pre-string, little quantum theory is left out. But what I liked most was the last twenty pages of his reflections. There he says that scientific truth must be third person, the sharing of collective truth and not a first person ego trip. He quotes Einstein that personal truth is a kind of optical delusion-"a kind of prison for us." Like many others Pagels found some tranquility in the noosphere of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin who asserted the big bang will eventually culminate in the Omega point, an ocean of consciousness where every drop of water remains conscious of itself. His message