Song of Two Worlds

This title features a crumbling villa on the Mediterranean, a middle-aged Muslim man and his servant, and a tragic story shrouded in mystery. Join Alan Lightman, author of Einstein's Dreams, on this unusual journey to explore questions with answers and questions without answers. In Song Of Two Worlds, we meet a man who has lost his faith in all things following a mysterious personal tragedy. After decades of living 'hung like a dried fly', emptied and haunted by his past, the narrator awakens one morning revitalized and begins a Dante-like journey to find something to believe in, first turning to the world of science and then to the world of philosophy, religion, and human life. As his personal story is slowly revealed, little by little, we confront the great questions of the cosmos and of the human heart, some questions with answers and others without.

Alan Lightman is a physicist, novelist, and essayist who, from an early age, was entranced by both science and the arts. Educated at Princeton University and at the California Institute of Technology, he has served on the faculties of Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and was the first person at MIT to hold a joint faculty position in science and in the humanities. His essays, short fiction, and reviews have appeared in many publications, including The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Smithsonian, Discover, Harper's, Nature and The New York Times. His 1993 novel, EINSTEIN'S DREAMS, was an international bestseller and has been adopted for campus-wide readings at many colleges and universities. His novel THE DIAGNOSIS was a finalist for the 2000 National Book Award in fiction. Lightman's other books include REUNION, A SENSE OF THE MYSTERIOUS, THE DISCOVERIES, and GHOST.Lightman is also the founding director of the Harpswell Foundation, which is working to empower a new generation of women leaders in Cambodia.