Bifurcation Events - Paperbackby Caroline Ailanthus (Author) There are moments that divide life into before and after. Death can do it. Any disaster can. But so can miracles. So can love. Andy, a scientist, calls these moments bifurcation events, a technical term that may or may not apply literally. He's seen his share, most dramatically in the complete collapse of the civilization of his youth and the beginnings of another. His story, or part of it, was told in the novel,