Reader’s Guide

THE CORE PLAN OF THIS BOOK couldn’t be simpler: it is meant to be read chapter by chapter, from beginning to end. But I’ve also supplied:

• An extensive glossary, so that you don’t get tripped up by unfamiliar words or have to search for the place fifty pages back where they were introduced. It can also be mined for cocktail party nuggets. It’s even got a few jokes.

• Endnotes that elaborate on fine points, follow some important tangents, or provide references.

• Three appendices. The first two take discussions in Chapters 3 and 8, respectively, into deeper waters; the third is a first-person account of how a key discovery reported in Chapter 20 occurred.

• A web page, itsfrombits.com, where you’ll find additional pictures, links, and news related to the book.

 

You can detour to the appendices as their chapters come up, but if you prefer to get on with the story instead, you should still find it comprehensible. I considered offloading more of the material in Chapter 8, but in the end I couldn’t bring myself to do it. So in that chapter you’ll find much ado about Nothing.