Written between 1940 and the late 1970s, the postwar recollections of
renowned physicist Freeman Dyson have been celebrated as an historic
portrait of modern science and its greatest players, including Robert
Oppenheimer, Richard Feynman, Stephen Hawking, and Hans Bethe.
Chronicling the stories of those who were engaged in solving some of the
most challenging quandaries of twentieth-century physics, Dyson lends
acute insight and profound observations to a life's work spent chasing
what Einstein called those "deep mysteries that Nature intends to keep
for herself." Whether reflecting on the drama of World War II, the moral
dilemmas of nuclear development, the challenges of the space program, or
the demands of raising six children, Dyson's annotated letters reveal
the voice of one "more creative than almost anyone else of his
generation" (Kip Thorne). An illuminating work in these trying times,
Maker of Patterns is an eyewitness account of the scientific
discoveries that define our modern age.