This collection of stories highlights the lives of important but sometimes lesser known personalities in the history of science, including St. Christopher the Dog-Faced. Based on conversations and correspondence with the renowned historian David Pingree, the book is supplemented with extensive quotes and additional information. The text sheds light on the academic culture and tradition of curiosity, the driving force of research, and the congenial atmosphere in academic research that sometimes seems like a thing of the past.

SETTING THE STAGE: THE ACADEMIC MILIEU: Wilbour Hall. Otto Neugebauer. Abraham J. Sachs. Gerald J. Toomer. Enter David Pingree, My Protagonist. THE LOONS AND HOW I GOT TO KNOW THEM: Simon Forman. Elias Ashmole. In Which I Meet Lord Dacre. Elias Ashmole. Thomas Allen. Siva and Parvati. Pythagoras. Priscillian. St. Christopher the Dog-Faced. St. Cuthbert. Vergilius Maro Grammaticus. Fredegund. The Fabricated Letters of Antony and Cleopatra. Elegabalus. A Few Thoughts on Mathematics and Theology. John Napier. Katharine Firth. Abu Ma'ashar and the Hurrians. Apollonius of Tyana. Charles-Benoit Hase. Abu Rayhan al-Biruni. Ringing Down the Curtain. Further Reading.