This book has benefited greatly from the good counsel of friends and colleagues.
I am indebted to Professor Bipin Chandra who got me started on this project. He encouraged me to take on the project on scientific temper, out of which has emerged this book.
My thanks go out to my good friend Alan Sokal who has inspired me to put up a good fight in defence of a well-reasoned, principled, and open atheism.
My colleagues Barry Kosmin and Ariela Keyser at the Institute of Study of Secularism in Society and Culture at Trinity College, Harford, Connecticut, provided excellent company and stimulating conversations.
Rukun Advani of Permanent Black stepped in at just the right moment to pull me up when I was down and out. I could always count on intellectual and moral support of my good friend Achin Vanaik.
Chiki Sarkar of Random House has been simply amazing: I’ve yet to meet someone so young and yet so wise. Her suggestions have added a lot of clarity to the content and the style of the book.
It is a source of great joy to me that I am completing this book in New Delhi. I am extremely grateful to Professor Aditya Mukherjee for inviting me as a fellow of the Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Advanced Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. I couldn’t have asked for a place more conducive for writing. Many thanks to the gracious staff of the Institute for making my stay here so pleasant and comfortable.
My friends in the fourth dimension of the Internet were good conversation partners. Special thanks go to Ophelia Benson (Butterflies and Wheels at butterfliesandwheels.com), Ralph Dumain (Autodidact Project), Caspar Melville and Laurie Taylor (New Humanist), and Ajita Kamal (nirmukta.com).
My friends and comrades from India kept me informed and provided a home away from home on my many visits to India. I am especially grateful to my good friends Asad Zaidi, Nalini Taneja, S. Anand, and Puran Mongia in Delhi; Lallan, Daljit Ami and their associates in the Critique group in Punjab University, Chandigarh; Parthasarathi Mondal, Kanchana Mahadevan, M.C. Arunan, and T. Jayaraman in Mumbai; Vidyanand Nanjundiah and Sundar Sarukkai in Bangalore; and Harjinder Singh in Hyderabad.
As always, my life partner Ravi Rajamani and our daughter Jaya have been there, steady like a rock. This book is for them.