Paperback: ; Dimensions (in inches): 0.81 x 7.97 x 5.19 Publisher: Vintage Books; Reprint edition (September 1996) ISBN: 067974021X

Book Description
Are there really laws governing the universe? Or is the order we see a mere artifact of the way evolution wired the brain? And is what we call science only a set of myths in which quarks, DNA, and information fill the role once occupied by gods? 

These questions lie at the heart of George Johnson's audacious exploration of the border between science and religion, cosmic accident and timeless law. Northern New Mexico is home both to the most provocative new enterprises in quantum physics, information science, and the evolution of complexity and to the cosmologies of the Tewa Indians and the Catholic Penitentes. 

As it draws the reader into this landscape, juxtaposing the systems of belief that have taken root there, Fire in the Mind into a gripping intellectual adventure story that compels us to ask where science ends and religion begins.

Anne Fulk, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Fluid poetry. . . .This is a book to read meditatively, happily and to rejoice that such a writer exists.

Stephen Jay Gould, The New York Times
An excellent book.

Roger Lewin, Los Angeles Times Book Review
A brilliant and powerful exploration of the nature of humanity and the way we, in diversity, see our world and our place in it. A joy to read.

Paul Davies
George Johnson's masterly account provides some of the best science-writing I have come across in a long time. Fast-paced and thrilling. A must for all those seriously interested in the key ideas at the frontier of scientific discourse.

In the mountains of northern New Mexico, the Tewa pueblo of San Ildefonso and the laboratory city of Los Alamos coexist, representing two distinct, yet not entirely dissimilar world views. 

In this land of strange juxtapositions where magic and science rub elbows, Johnson introduces us to an amazing diversity of people who see the world through varied lenses, who find vastly different pictures in the night sky. 

At the core of the book is the question of the human view of the universe: are there really innate patterns in creation, and why do we honor them so highly? 

Johnson examines some of the radical theories of physics and biology emanating from Los Alamos and compares them to the intricate beliefs of the Tewa Indians, the Catholic sect of the Penitentes, and other inhabitants of the high New Mexico desert in this startling work of intellectual adventure.

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