Naturally, being a science guy and all, Mr. Nye wanted to test that hypothesis. He analyzed the data — the publication last fall of “Undeniable: Evolution and the Science of Creation” (St. Martin’s Press), the best seller he wrote while living in the city — and drew a conclusion: Yes, he can make it here all right. “The last year has been just cool,” said Mr. Nye, whose “Science Guy” educational series ran on PBS in the 1990s and collected 18 Emmys. “The opportunities that keep coming up for me have been fantastic.”

He chose his base of operations only after many consultations with friends and much observation. “Not that you couldn’t be happy in any number of places, but this is pretty nice,” Mr. Nye said. “It’s nice that it’s in a modern building. There are a lot of places on the Upper West Side where everything is broken. I love the Upper West Side, but when you’re trying to write a book, trying to take off your vagabond shoes, it’s just easier when all the plumbing works.”

Fortunately, his apartment has pipes a guy can depend on. It also has a serviceable kitchen, a good thing because Mr. Nye likes to cook; he made a spinach pizza from scratch in anticipation of a reporter’s visit. It’s soundproof, an important consideration since he’s hard at work on another book, this one about global warming. And downstairs there’s a gym where he works out and gets worked up daily.

“People take the weights from the gym,” Mr. Nye said incredulously. “They’re 20-pound things. They take them to their apartments and don’t bring them back. These are my neighbors. I’m sure I’ve been on the elevator with some of them. I want to say: ‘What goes through your mind? Do you think you’re the only person who uses the weights?’ ”

Won’t they feel remorseful when they aren’t invited to the science guy’s apartment for pizza or the other house specialty, salmon, and a chance to play with some of Mr. Nye’s favorite toys? The list is long and includes the copper and aluminum Eddy current tubes that he always has on hand to teach visitors about magnetism, the square plates or blocks for melting ice for a tutorial on thermal conductivity, and a miniature Stirling engine for a chalk talk about using heat to drive a piston.