This is a collection of essays which display the author's talent for bringing literary and scientific concerns into harmony. These meditations touch upon both the ethereal and the corporeal: the dependence of a ballerina on the laws of physics; the choice every scientist makes between tinkering and theorizing; the unscientific nature of discovery; the mystery of human flight without propellers; and the impulse behind the unprompted smile.

In "Dance for Two", Alan Lightman offers readers a look into the creative compulsions shared by the scientist and the artist, and a glimpse as well into his own imagination. Alan Lightman is the author of "Einstein's Dreams".