The Best American Science Writing 2006


Book Description

Together these twenty-one articles on a wide range of today's most leading topics in science, from Dennis Overbye, Jonathan Weiner, and Richard Preston, among others, represent the full spectrum of scientific inquiry, proving once again that "good science writing is evidently plentiful" (American Scientist).




A Field Guide for Science Writers


Book Description

This guide offers practical tips on science writing - from investigative reporting to pitching ideas to magazine editors. Some of the best known science witers in the US share their hard earned knowledge on how they do their job.




Reading the Roots


Book Description

Reading the Roots is an unprecedented anthology of outstanding early writings about American nature--a rich, influential, yet critically underappreciated body of work. Rather than begin with Henry David Thoreau, who is often identified as the progenitor of American nature writing, editor Michael P. Branch instead surveys the long tradition that prefigures and anticipates Thoreau and his literary descendants. The selections in Reading the Roots describe a diversity of landscapes, wildlife, and natural phenomena, and their authors represent many different nationalities, cultural affiliations, religious views, and ideological perspectives. The writings gathered here also range widely in terms of subject, rhetorical form, and disciplinary approach--from promotional tracts and European narratives of contact with Native Americans to examples of scientific theology and romantic nature writing. The volume also includes a critical introduction discussing the cultural, scientific, and literary value of early American nature writing; headnotes that contextualize all authors and selections; and a substantial bibliography of primary and secondary sources in the field. Reading the Roots at last makes early American landscapes--and a range of literary responses to them--accessible to scholars, students, and general readers.




The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2004


Book Description

A collection of nature and science based essays by such authors as Scott Atran, Jennet Conant, Gregg Easterbrook, Garrett G. Fagan, Jonathan Rauch, Chet Raymo, and Robert Sapolsky.




The Stuff of Thought


Book Description

This New York Times bestseller is an exciting and fearless investigation of language from the author of Rationality, The Better Angels of Our Nature and The Sense of Style and Enlightenment Now. "Curious, inventive, fearless, naughty." --The New York Times Book Review Bestselling author Steven Pinker possesses that rare combination of scientific aptitude and verbal eloquence that enables him to provide lucid explanations of deep and powerful ideas. His previous books - including the Pulitzer Prize finalist The Blank Slate - have catapulted him into the limelight as one of today's most important popular science writers. In The Stuff of Thought, Pinker presents a fascinating look at how our words explain our nature. Considering scientific questions with examples from everyday life, The Stuff of Thought is a brilliantly crafted and highly readable work that will appeal to fans of everything from The Selfish Gene and Blink to Eats, Shoots & Leaves.




The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2008


Book Description

Bestselling author and staff writer for "The New Yorker" Groopman edits this year's volume of the finest science and nature writing. Contributors include Walter Kirn, Ron Rosenbaum, Jeffrey Toobin, and Oliver Sacks.




Louis Agassiz


Book Description

A provocative new life restoring Agassiz--America's most famous natural scientist of the 19th century, inventor of the Ice Age, stubborn anti-Darwinist--to his glorious, troubling place in science and culture.




The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2015


Book Description

This anthology of essays and articles explores topics ranging from untouched wilderness to scientific ethics—and the nature of curiosity itself. Scientists and writers are both driven by a dogged curiosity, immersing themselves in detailed observations that, over time, uncover larger stories. As Rebecca Skloot says in her introduction, all the stories in this collection are “written by and about people who take the time, and often a substantial amount of risk, to follow curiosity where it may lead, so we can all learn about it.” The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2015 includes work from both award-winning writers and up-and-coming voices in the field. From Brooke Jarvis on deep-ocean mining to Elizabeth Kolbert on New Zealand’s unconventional conservation strategies, this is a group that celebrates the growing diversity in science and nature writing alike. Altogether, the writers honored in this volume challenge us to consider the strains facing our planet and its many species, while never losing sight of the wonders we’re working to preserve for generations to come. This anthology includes essays and articles by Sheri Fink, Atul Gawande, Leslie Jamison, Sam Kean, Seth Mnookin, Matthew Power, Michael Specter and others.




The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2014


Book Description

“A stimulating compendium” on topics from antibiotics to animals, featuring Rebecca Solnit, E.O. Wilson, Nicholas Carr, Elizabeth Kolbert, and many more (Kirkus Reviews). “A consistently strong series . . . Making connections between seemingly unrelated topics can help expand thinking, as seen in the effects of automated navigation on both airplane pilot error and Inuit hunting accidents that Nicholas Carr explores in ‘The Great Forgetting.’ Sarah Stewart Johnson makes a similar connection between the loss of a 1912 Antarctic expedition and the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger in ‘O-Rings.’ . . . Essays like Virginia Hughes’s ‘23 and You’ investigates the effects of availability of individual genetic information on human interactions, while pieces like Maryn McKenna’s ‘Imagining the Post-Antibiotics Future’ and Kate Sheppard’s ‘Under Water’ remind us of unpleasant futures which we have in large part created ourselves. But Barbara Kingsolver’s ‘Where it Begins,’ a lyrical musing on connectedness, or Wilson’s optimistic, bug-loving ‘The Rebirth of Gorongosa,’ reveal that among the strange, shocking, or depressing, there is still unadulterated joy to be found.” —Publishers Weekly “Undeniably exquisite . . . meditations that reveal not only how science actually happens but also who or what propels its immutable humanity.” —Maria Popova, Brain Pickings Contributors include: Katherine Bagley • Nicholas Carr • David Dobbs • Pippa Goldschmidt • Amy Harmon • Robin Marantz Henig • Virginia Hughes • Ferris Jabr • Sarah Stewart Johnson • Barbara J. King • Barbara Kingsolver • Maggie Koerth-Baker • Elizabeth Kolbert • Joshua Lang • Maryn McKenna • Seth Mnookin • Justin Nobel • Fred Pearce • Corey S. Powell • Roy Scranton • Kate Sheppard • Bill Sherwonit • Rebecca Solnit • David Treuer • E.O. Wilson • Carl Zimmer