Hilary Thayer Hamann (born November 7, 1962, in New York City) is an American author. Her first novel, Anthropology of an American Girl, is the story of a search for authenticity told in the first-person voice of teenaged protagonist Eveline Auerbach. The semi-autobiographical literary novel contains an examination of the social and cultural pressures that prevent individuals from living meaningfully. It was self-published in 2003, and then edited and re-released in 2010 by Spiegel & Grau, an imprint of Random House, both times to critical praise. The novel has been compared to J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye.Hamann edited, co-wrote, and published a non-fiction science and art book, also to praise from critics, as well as from scientists and educators. Categories—On the Beauty of Physics (2006) was conceived as a multidisciplinary educational tool that uses art and literature to broaden the reader's understanding of challenging material. Alan Lightman, author of Einstein's Dreams, called Categories "A beautiful synthesis of science and art, pleasing to the mind and to the eye," and Dr. Helen Caldicott, founder and president of the Nuclear Policy Research Institute, said, "This wonderful book will provoke thought in lovers of science and art alike, and with knowledge comes the inspiration to preserve the beauty of life on Earth." Source: Wikipedia (en)