In the novel, he recalls interactions and events, documented in extensive footnote references to genuine publications and archival sources, involving many of the well-known physicists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Night Thoughts, while pointedly criticized for its lack of literary merit by some reviewers, was generally praised for its attempt at forging a new approach to history and historical fiction by incorporating extensive research into the text.

[1] George Steiner called McCormmach "no novelist" pointing to how he "wisely ... avoids dialogue," commits numerous gaucheries, and how many of the dream sequences are flat.

Meanwhile, the tide of World War I is turning against Germany, as the Allies mount The Second Battle of the Somme, pushing the German Second Army back over a 34 mi (55 km) front.

)[5] A major theme of Night Thoughts is the reinforcement of Thomas Kuhn's conception of history of science as a convoluted mesh of non-linear progress effected by the biography of the scientists.

[6] The character of Viktor Jakob was based on extensive archival research and studies of personnel files of many German physicists who were contemporaries of the fictional professor, who (apparently) dies at the novel's conclusion at the age of 69, in 1918.

[5] George Steiner responded similarly, saying that while the novel was poor and the writing "no literary masterpiece", "they nevertheless constitute a very remarkable imaginative deed" for "bridging the gap between the ideals of literature and ... history of science".

[1] Philip Mirowski of Tufts University said that he "would recommend this volume to any and all historians of economic thought who are dissatisfied with the self-satisfied air and narrow theoretical scope of existing texts.

"[2] Similarly, Laurie Brown, a physicist at Northwestern University, noting that "the idea of this book as a possible new genre in science history is so appealing that I should like to recommend it to a large audience."