“What distinguishes scientists, in your eyes?”—Stefan Klein

“First and foremost, curiosity.”—Roald Hoffmann, Nobel Prize–winning chemist

When Stefan Klein, an acclaimed journalist, sits down to talk with 18 of the world’s leading scientists, he finds they’re driven by, above all, curiosity. When they talk about their work, they turn to what’s next, to what they still hope to discover. And they see inspiration everywhere: From the sports car that physicist Steven Weinberg says helped him on his quest for “the theory of everything” to the jazz musicians who gave psychologist Alison Gopnik new insight into raising children, they reveal how their paradigm-changing work entwines with their lives outside the lab. We hear from extraordinary natural and social scientists, including:

• Evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins on ego and selflessness
• Primatologist Jane Goodall on chimpanzee behavior
• Neuroscientist V. S. Ramachandran on consciousness
• Geographer Jared Diamond on chance in history
• Anthropologist Sarah Hrdy on motherhood
• And cosmologist Martin Rees on how “ultimately we ourselves are stardust.”