Alicja meets Raymond Tallis, a neuroscientist and philosopher who doesn't believe in God and calls himself an optimistic humanist. After his retirement he became a full-time writer and poet, and he writes about art, culture, spirit and nature. Alicja is a guest in his home in Manchester and accompanies him in The Athenaeum Club, a gentleman's club in Pall Mall in London, where Darwin and Dickens were members.