As soon as I heard about "Consilience", I figured it would likely be a "Pick of the Month", but I delayed buying it until it became available as a paperback through a book club (I buy just about all the books that appear in this column). This, the most recent book by the renowned Harvard entomologist E. O. Wilson, was worth waiting for. It is a confirmation by a perceptive and insightful scientist that the application of reason to the physical world will create an increasingly unified view of the universe. Further, Wilson argues that the rational methods similar to those that have been so successful in the physical and biological sciences will also be applicable to social issues, humanities, and even art. In essense, he is saying that the promise of Enlightenment is finally at hand. "Consilience" is like a long luncheon conversation with a luminary of 20th-century science. You will enjoy the experience. (Wilson's scientific autobiography was a Pick in November, 1995).