WATCH THE SKIES:

Things are looking up: Science writer Timothy Ferris turns his sights to stargazing (Heidi Benson, September 12, 2002, San Francisco Chronicle)

Say Hunter Thompson asks you to write an introduction for his new book. If you're his pal Timothy Ferris and your own book just came out, and you're juggling interviews so tightly scheduled they dovetail like mahogany dowels, it's tough to find the time. Let alone the manuscript.

Perched in his sun-drenched Telegraph Hill office one recent morning, Ferris recalls asking Thompson to hold the phone.

"I was fumbling around and a second went by and Hunter said" -- (trademark growl, dripping with disdain) -- " 'I'm beginning to understand why it takes you 10 years to finish a book.' "

In fact, Ferris has written 10 books, including the best-sellers "The Whole Shebang" and "Coming of Age in the Milky Way." Considered the best science writer of his generation, the Pulitzer nominee has won countless science awards and written and narrated the PBS documentaries "Life Beyond Earth" and "The Creation of the Universe." [...]

"I've always been wary of evangelical intentions in writing -- I used to caution Carl Sagan against it," Ferris says of his friend and mentor. "But this book does have an evangelical component. I guess my fondest dream would be that it would result in doubling the number of stargazers in this country."

Mr. Ferris is indeed a marvelous writer and, if you ever get the chance, the film The Creation of the Universe is wonderful. Posted by Orrin Judd at October 6, 2002 9:46 AM