A nice primer in physics for the non-scientist. This book is broken up into biographical chapters, starting with Isaac Newton and ending with Murray Gell-Mann, which makes for a good way to describe the evolution in physics since it's origins. The biographies themselves are interesting enough, and may inspire interest in more in-depth exploration into the lives of the subjects. (Many come off as pretty interesting characters, falling outside the narrow "eccentric genius" stereotype one might assume.) Since it was published in 1997, some of the material may have been superseded by recent discoveries, but it's a pretty cogent description of modern and classical physics. ( )