In her debut memoir, Carole Firstman traces her strained relationship with her eccentric and distant father, a gifted biology professor whose research on scorpions may have contributed to the evolutionary theories of Stephen Jay Gould. Through unexpected forms-from footnotes and diagrams to startling love letters and Saturday morning cartoons-Firstman struggles to reconnect with her estranged father and redefine herself as both a grown woman and a daughter. Part travel narrative, part cultural commentary, this genre-bending memoir contemplates the nature of parent-child relationships, the evolution of life on Earth, and origins both physical and metaphysical. Excerpts from this work have appeared as Notable Essays in several Best American Essays collections. | Origins Of The Universe And What It All Means: A Memoir by Carole Firstman, Hardcover | Indigo Chapters