"Calling it a cover-up would be far too dramatic. But for more than half a century- even in the midst of some of the greatest schientific achievements in history - physicists have been quietly aware of a dark cloud looming on a distant horizon."

The problem was the incompatibility of quantum mechanics (explaining the very small) and General Relativity (explaining the very large). This energetic start to the book gives the reader an idea of how awkward, almost embarrassing it must have been for scientists to advance both frameworks of thought with the fear that all one's work will we futile: that neither theory will ever explain all of the universe. This sets the context for the introduction of string theory, which did unify the two former theories.