Well it never had trouble for me. I think I just had some great teachers. For me, the stories were always about people. Science is a human idea, and the people that do science, who collect a body of knowledge or execute the method of science are humans.

You say in the book that your concern is not so much for the deniers of evolution as it is for their children. Do you think the science stakes are higher now than when you started “Bill Nye, The Science Guy” show in 1993?

Yes, because there are more people in the world — another billion people all trying to use the world’s resources. And the threat and consequences of climate change are more serious than ever, so we need as many people engaged in how we’re going to deal with that as possible. And we have an increasingly technologically sophisticated society. We are able to feed these 7.2 billion people because of our extraordinary agricultural technology. If we have a society that’s increasingly dependent on these technologies, with a smaller and smaller fraction of that society who actually understands how any of it works, that is a formula for disaster. So, I’m just trying to change the world here.

A lot of the real action between evolution and creationism happens in the classroom, inside the schools. The scientific buffet style of your book — it takes all matters large and small when it comes to the universe and science and evolution and steps you through all of it — do you imagine a child in a creationist-friendly household managing to get his hands on the book and stealing away with it?

A man can dream! It would be great if the book is that influential. My biggest concern about creationist kids is that they’re compelled to suppress their common sense, to suppress their critical thinking skills at a time in human history when we need them more than ever. By the time you’re 18, you’ve made up your mind. It’s going to be really hard for you, as they say in the Mormon tradition, to “lose your testimony.” But if you’re 7 or 8, we got a shot.