Einstein, History, and Other Passions
by Gerald Holton
Hardcover/312pp/American Institute of Physics Press
HBS Price: $10.99

The more we come to rely on the fruits of scientific knowledge, the less we seem to understand its pursuit. In the probing essays which constitute Einstein, History, and Other Passions, Harvard professor of the history of science Gerald Holton explores the very vital and imaginative aspects of science which have been forgotten by practitioners and public alike. His excursions plunge the reader into Einstein's mind and passion, into the intersection of scientific progress and culture. "One can do no better than reading Gerald Holton for exploring the scientific mind." -Alan Lightman, MIT

Rewriting the Soul: Multiple Personality and the Sciences of Memory
by Ian Hacking
Hardcover/336pp/Princeton University Press
HBS Price: $5.99

In his introduction, philosopher Ian Hacking (author of the acclaimed philosophical work, "The Social Construction of What?"), wonders "why there is one creature, 'memory,' of which there are so many different kinds." In "Rewriting the Soul," Hacking explores the science of memory through the window of multiple personality disorder: the theory, at its root, that dissociation into personality fragments is caused by long forgotten childhood abuse. "Multiple personality," he writes, "is a paradigmatic, if tiny, memory-concept." Through his study of the disorder's historical and political context, Hacking dissects modern attempts to scientize the soul.

The Charm of Physics
by Sheldon L. Glashow
Hardcover/306pp/American Institute of Physics Press
HBS Price: $12.99

The Nobel Prize-winning physicist takes his readers from the farthest reaches of the universe to the innermost recesses of the atom - and shows how the two come back together in the end. Stops along the way include the perplexing variety of beasts in the Particle Zoo, our narrow listening post within the Universal Broadcasting System, the tangle of superstring theory, the huge colliders that serve as the particle physicist's microscope, and the so-far unsuccessful attempt to unify the laws of nature into a single Theory of Everything. It's the book for anyone who's ever wondered, "What does it all mean?"