A collection of essays by Peter Watts, creator of False Blindness and the Rifters trilogy, Hugo Award winner and one of the most unusual and talented science fiction writers of our time. Here, scientific theories coexist with piercing memoirs, reviews of films and books with unexpected and provocative futurological forecasts, tough social commentary with advanced hypotheses from the world of biology and physics, and incredible sincerity with black humor. One day, Peter Watts was almost eaten by a bacteria. He grew up in a family of devout Baptists who hated gifts. Once a schizophrenic almost burned down his house. Watts writes with ease about the peculiarities of human thinking and consciousness, climate change, the language of dolphins, the imminent end of the world, Star Trek, Solaris, Prometheus and the work of Philip K. Dick. Watts' range of interests is enormous, and his views are always paradoxical.