Whether he is talking about his old life as a theoretical astrophysicist or his newer life as a novelist, Alan Lightman invariably brings the discussion around to the notion of creativity. What Lightman realized as he moved from physics to fiction is that creativity has its own life, its own value, regardless of its source.
When he was immersed in research on radiation processes related to black holes, he had intense moments of discovery that all good scientists know. When he was writing Einstein’s Dreams, an unusual work of fiction, he had intense moments of realization that all good novelists know.
“The creative moment feels exactly the same in both science and fiction writing,” Lightman said. “For me, when you are in the zone, when you are in that magical place where you lose all sense of your body and all sense of your ego, and you’re just in...
