Blends the scientific issues, the commercial and legal factors, and the personalities involved into a sure-footed narrative that never fails to hold the reader's interest...it is difficult to imagine a more carefully documented and sensibly reasoned account of the way in which ideas on impact theory evolved...of considerable, and probably lasting, value. Nature ""This meticulously prepared and lucidly written work will surely prove the definitive account of one of the most stimulating intellectual confrontations in the whole history of the earth and planetary sciences. I can recommend it without reservation."" William A. S. Sarjeant,Geoscience Canada ""An important book by an extraordinary author, of interest to anyone fascinated by the ways in which unorthodox science becomes part of conventional wisdom."" Earth Sciences History