Pasting in comments from a personal thread where friends discussed the book. Forgive the informal language:

The guy (a physicist) basically interviews people he finds interesting. Some of it is pure crap, other interviews are dated (interviews took place between 2002 and 2009, and there have been changes to theories regarding the multiverse, for example). However others, especially those that pertain to parenting and primates, are interesting and somewhat timeless.

The interviews range from astrophysicists to holistic medicine proponents to primatologists. The interviewer (and most subjects) are German, which is very entertaining to me, as all of the stereotypes are made out to be true :).

The quote below (along with some others from the same interview on motherhood and parenting) really made me think. I had not considered how birth control allows women to attain status/power/ wealth before having kids.

"With the availability of safe and reliable birth control, women can vote with their ovaries, opting for improved status or subsistence while delaying childbirth or avoiding it altogether, or delaying until they find themselves in a more supportive situation. Which is enormous progress: In the past, women who were at the end of their rope abandoned their children—as in the tale of Hansel and Gretel. Such behavior was much more frequent than most people realize. In Tuscany, for example, between 1500 and 1700, at least 12 percent of all children were left at orphanages."

Overall, this is an interesting collection of interviews with people who clearly love their work. If you like what are basically Vanity Fair-style interviews with some very smart (and in some cases very out there) people, pick this up. Richard Dawkins' interview is REALLY dated, however. His statements came the closest to actually pissing me off, and he even notes in the interview that he should have phrased some things differently when The Selfish Gene was first published.

Interesting collection of interviews with a wide range of scientists. Minus two stars for recurrent misogyny. Overall worth a read though.

I enjoyed this book's essays because I knew few of the scientists being interviewed. They are all of course known within the science world, and seem to be giant contributors in various areas of science. Of course I knew Jane Goodall and a handful of others, but had not read any of this type of interview of them, so really enjoyed hearing them speak on such topics as Christakis on the power of cooperation, and Gopnikk on babies' inherent attributes. Probably the thing I'll recall the most though is the fact that all humans throughout history have looked at the same sky. The time it takes for the light to reach us is so great that it exceeds man's time on this earth, so.... That seems to me a truly awesome thought that binds us all and places the cosmic solidarity of mankind in perspective. I picked and chose the essays I read, having read about 3/4 of them over time, savoring them each, as this is not my typical kind of reading content. Thanks author Klein as your introductions gave us something personal and made a connection, and the interviews I felt were truly enlightening. I'd bump this to a 3.5/5.0

Super interesting essays. If you like science, this has a great variety.

Parroting what other reviewers mentioned, the final “interview” with Leonardo DaVinci is weird and does not contribute positively to the book. Some of the interviews are more interesting than others, as can be expected with interviewing so many different people with wildly different fields of study. The acknowledgment of “this book struggles with gender and racial diversity” was initially welcome until the author then continued to defend their work by referencing a lack of these older professionals. There very well may be a lack of women professionals or professionals of color, but that doesn’t mean that don’t exist, and refusing to even attempt to find a more diverse group of interviewees further perpetuates stereotypes about who is and isn’t welcome in STEM.

I really liked this until the last chapter. It’s a great book where the reader is introduced to a variety of scientists who are interviewed by the author. It’s a good introduction to their ideas and work. Unfortunately the last chapter is the author pretending to interview Leonardo Da Vinci in a very hammy manor. The author adores him and has written another book about him, but after a bunch of well put together interviews this pretend interview dragged the entire book down for me, it wasn’t enlightening or entertaining, just annoying and embarrassing.

There are Nobel Prize winners aplenty interviewed here, so it's a pleasant surprise to find a common thread of humility running throughout - scientific discoveries are collaborative; there's still so much we don't know; I'm just a normal person - these are the kinds of things geniuses say. Stefan Klein's ability to draw out their histories and personal stories provided human context that's lacking in most other science writing.

A collection of interviews with scientists which have contributed to what we understand about the world today. This is an interesting read and I have learnt many facts I had no idea and frankly would’ve never thought about before reading this. The interviews are varied and brings to light many different fields of research/study. I enjoyed most of the interviews, though some I did not enjoy as much but still think this is an overall good read. Surprisingly I really liked the imagined “interview” with DaVinci at the end of the book.