I am grateful to Jan Bressler, the very first reader of The Great Symmetry. Her simple act of reading the entire first draft, in addition to her encouragement about the value inside, provided me with energy to help power the rest of the journey through the endless revisions to completion.

Alan Canon, Elizabeth Apgar Triano, Frank James, and Susan Hansen provided many and detailed review comments and edits.

Noble Smith has provided review comments, encouragement, and unbelievably helpful guidance on navigating the publication process.

Thank you for thoughtful review comments from early readers Ian Baren, Michael Brooks, Marley MaGee, and Mike Newsome.

Peter and Ann Bosted graciously provided permission to use several cave images. For some of the very best cave photos in the world, check out www.cavepics.com

Many images courtesy of photographer Paul Anderson.

Author image by David Bass.

The awesome space art is courtesy of Bruce White.

Other images courtesy of Howard Garrett, Jeff Bartlett, and Susan Hansen.

The community of environmental and climate activists in the Pacific Northwest, and also on the Daily Kos web site, helped me to find my writing voice, which hopefully shows up clearly in The Great Symmetry.

Sara and Katie Jane Wells put up with me staying up past midnight for months at a time and otherwise not doing all those other things that I can’t wait to get back to.