Observation and Insight is the first of the texts that address the question of science. Like other textbooks in the series, it consists of a number of readings which are followed by exercises or “extensions”, intended to expand on ideas under discussion.

The story opens in Jalpura, an imaginary village in India, where twelve-year-old Nanda lives with her family. Over the course of eleven readings she is helped by Kalpana, who runs a nearby educational centre for women, and Ramnik, her brother-in-law who is an ecologist, to organise the insights she is gaining as she observes the world around her.

Nanda is at an age where she is starting to ask herself questions not only about physical reality but also about social reality.In this connection, she is helped to think about the kind of changes that will need to take place in her small village if it is to achieve enduring prosperity.