This book has something for everyone who is interested in science.  It is a collection of essays from scientists, science writers, and science fiction authors, each choosing a particular era, scientist, or scientific achievement, under the umbrella of the Royal Society, its members, and its influence on the scientific method.

Margaret Atwood, Simon Schaffer, Ian Stewart, Steve Jones, Richard Dawkins, Neal Stephenson and many others have come up with a diverse array of ideas and reflections on and around the Royal Society since its foundation in 1660. Martin Rees offers a vision of how science may progress in the future, and editor Bill Bryson brings it all together with a witty foreword and chapter precis.

The chapters are varied in style and content, including a history of the first Royal Society meetings (when luminaries such as Wren, Boyle and Newton were members, but surprisingly little was actually known about the world - they had such a burning need to know everything, and the scientific method was born); metaphysics; engineering developments in bridge building and flight; evolution; mathematics; climate change; the arrow of time; and many others - if one chapter does not stir you, then the next, or the next, certainly will.

This book is a real celebration of science in all its glory, and a fitting tribute to the legacy of the Royal Society, published to coincide with the Society's 350th anniversary.