“An exhilarating voyage of learning. Not a sparrow takes wing, not an idea rises, not a quark quivers that does not inspire Murray Gell-Mann. He has made his life an adventuresome quest along the frontiers of knowledge.” —Bill Moyers

“A stimulating, provocative, and uncommon cut across compartments of human knowledge that are usually hermetically sealed. It is always a pleasure to see a first-class mind grappling with the greatest mysteries, and at the same time resisting mysticism.” —Carl Sagan

“A grand tour of one of the most powerful and richly structured adaptive systems of our time: the mind of Murray Gell-Mann. The tour is very much worth taking.” —Science

“A most important book.” —The Washington Post

“A book about how the wonderful diversity of the universe can arise out of a set of fairly simple basic laws. It is written by an expert in both the fundamental laws and the complex structures they can produce.” —Stephen W. Hawking