This work presents a case for engagement between the sciences and the humanities - focusing particularly on literature- and an empirical, non-theory-based approach thereto.

Jay A. Labinger is the Administrator of the Beckman Institute at the California Institute of Technology. Trained as an organometallic chemist, he has published 200+ technical papers and patents, and 20+ non-technical essays, along with books on the history of chemistry and sociology of science. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

1. Introduction

2. A Brief History of Literature and Science

3. The Science Wars

4. Models of Engagement

5. Encoding an Infinite Message: Richard Powers's The Gold Bug Variations

6. Is That a Coded Message? It May Not Be So Simple!

7. Found in Translation

8. Entropy as Time's (Double-Headed) Arrow in Tom Stoppard's Arcadia

9. Chirality and Life

10. Making New Life

11. The End of Irony and/or the End of Science?

12. Conclusion

Appendix 1: Some Details of the Chemistry

Appendix 2: Suggestions for Further Reading