During his years in graduate school, Nathan publishes articles in some of the most prestigious scientific journals - but he does not believe that his articles are published legitimately. He's aware of problems with the work, and as he struggles to understand why his articles are being accepted, he realizes that the only reasonable explanation is that his co-author (the professor with whom he was working) is an African American. In time, he stops caring about any of the work - including the one project that has actual scientific merit. He leaves academics shortly after receiving his Ph.D. and takes an entry-level position in manufacturing. Along the way, Nathan tells about handling a high-school bullying issue, belonging to a para-military organization, and knowing the Unabomber. He also discusses his thoughts on human nature/free will, the wording of The 6th Commandment, public education, and the philosophy of science. Additionally, after the novel, there are some pages of non-fiction material that discuss two of the author's actual articles (written for the non-expert). One of the articles was published in the journal "Physical Review A" and the other in the journal "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences." For each of these two articles, a description of the work is followed by an explanation of why that article should never have been published. Speculation as to why those two articles were actually published is left up to the reader.