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The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2004
Science buffs will find a smorgasbord of lively pieces in this anthology selected by renowned Harvard psychologist Pinker (The Blank Slate; etc.). Many readers will jump straight to Ron Rosenbaum's "Sex Week at Yale," an entertaining exposé of how academics can give their audience a headache when they yammer on about sex. Even the most science-wary readers will enjoy Peggy Orenstein's "Where Have All the Lisas Gone?" about trends in naming babies. Bird lovers (and cat haters) will laugh out loud at the Letters to the Bird Brain collected in Michael O'Connor's "Bird Watcher's General Store." And ailurophiles will be stunned by Robert Sapolsky's report ("Bugs in the Brain") on how the pathogen that causes toxoplasmosis alters its carriers' (rodents) brains so they no longer fear their number one predator (cats). Medical buffs will look for Atul Gawande's extended profile of the amazing Francis Moore, a pioneer in treatment of burns, nuclear medicine, hormone replacement therapies and organ transplants. Both Pinker's choice of subjects (linguistics, psychology) as well as sources (The American Conservative, The Cape Codder) range happily beyond the usual suspects; everyone will find something they haven't already read. The collection is recommended for intellectually omnivorous readers in this and all other universes.
Introduction / Steven Pinker --
Genesis of suicide terrorism / Scott Atran --
The battle for your brain / Ronald Bailey --
Fearing the worst should anyone produce a cloned baby / Philip M. Boffey --
The bittersweet science / Austin Bunn --
The new celebrity / Jennet Conant --
The mythical threat of genetic determinism / Daniel C. Dennett --
We're all gonna die! / Gregg Easterbrook --
Far-out television / Garrett G. Fagan --
A war on obesity, not the obese / Jeffrey M. Friedman --
Desperate measures / Atul Gawande --
The stuff of genes / Horace Freeland Judson --
The bloody crossroads of grammar and politics / Geoffrey Nunberg --
Ask the bird folks / Mike O'Connor --
Where have all the lisas gone? / Peggy Orenstein --
The design of your life / Virginia Postrel --
Caring for your introvert / Jonathan Rauch --
All the old sciences have starring roles / Chet Raymo --
Sex week at Yale / Ron Rosenbaum --
The cousin marriage conundrum / Steve Sailer --
Bugs in the brain / Robert Sapolsky --
Through the eye of an octopus / Eric Scigliano --
Captivated / Meredith F. Small --
Parallel universes / Max Tegmark --
In click languages, an echo of the tongues of the ancients / Nicholas Wade --
A prolific Genghis Khan, it seems, helped people the world / Nicholas Wade
Introduction / Steven Pinker --
Genesis of suicide terrorism / Scott Atran --
The battle for your brain / Ronald Bailey --
Fearing the worst should anyone produce a cloned baby / Philip M. Boffey --
The bittersweet science / Austin Bunn --
The new celebrity / Jennet Conant --
The mythical threat of genetic determinism / Daniel C. Dennett --
We're all gonna die! / Gregg Easterbrook --
Far-out television / Garrett G. Fagan --
A war on obesity, not the obese / Jeffrey M. Friedman --
Desperate measures / Atul Gawande --
The stuff of genes / Horace Freeland Judson --
The bloody crossroads of grammar and politics / Geoffrey Nunberg --
Ask the bird folks / Mike O'Connor --
Where have all the lisas gone? / Peggy Orenstein --
The design of your life / Virginia Postrel --
Caring for your introvert / Jonathan Rauch --
All the old sciences have starring roles / Chet Raymo --
Sex week at Yale / Ron Rosenbaum --
The cousin marriage conundrum / Steve Sailer --
Bugs in the brain / Robert Sapolsky --
Through the eye of an octopus / Eric Scigliano --
Captivated / Meredith F. Small --
Parallel universes / Max Tegmark --
In click languages, an echo of the tongues of the ancients / Nicholas Wade --
A prolific Genghis Khan, it seems, helped people the world / Nicholas Wade
240 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2004
About the author
Steven Pinker
78 books10.8k followersSteven Arthur Pinker is a prominent Canadian-American experimental psychologist, cognitive scientist, and author of popular science. Pinker is known for his wide-ranging explorations of human nature and its relevance to language, history, morality, politics, and everyday life. He conducts research on language and cognition, writes for publications such as the New York Times, Time, and The New Republic, and is the author of numerous books, including The Language Instinct, How the Mind Works, Words and Rules, The Blank Slate, The Stuff of Thought, The Better Angels of Our Nature, The Sense of Style, and most recently, Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress.
He was born in Canada and graduated from Montreal's Dawson College in 1973. He received a bachelor's degree in experimental psychology from McGill University in 1976, and then went on to earn his doctorate in the same discipline at Harvard in 1979. He did research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for a year, then became an assistant professor at Harvard and then Stanford University. From 1982 until 2003, Pinker taught at the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at MIT, and eventually became the director of the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience. (Except for a one-year sabbatical at the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1995-6.) As of 2008, he is the Johnstone Family Professor of Psychology at Harvard.
Pinker was named one of Time Magazine's 100 most influential people in the world in 2004 and one of Prospect and Foreign Policy's 100 top public intellectuals in 2005. He has also received honorary doctorates from the universities of Newcastle, Surrey, Tel Aviv, McGill, and the University of Tromsø, Norway. He was twice a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, in 1998 and in 2003. In January 2005, Pinker defended Lawrence Summers, President of Harvard University, whose comments about the gender gap in mathematics and science angered much of the faculty. On May 13th 2006, Pinker received the American Humanist Association's Humanist of the Year award for his contributions to public understanding of human evolution.
In 2007, he was invited on The Colbert Report and asked under pressure to sum up how the brain works in five words – Pinker answered "Brain cells fire in patterns."
Pinker was born into the English-speaking Jewish community of Montreal. He has said, "I was never religious in the theological sense... I never outgrew my conversion to atheism at 13, but at various times was a serious cultural Jew." As a teenager, he says he considered himself an anarchist until he witnessed civil unrest following a police strike in 1969. His father, a trained lawyer, first worked as a traveling salesman, while his mother was first a home-maker then a guidance counselor and high-school vice-principal. He has two younger siblings. His brother is a policy analyst for the Canadian government. His sister, Susan Pinker, is a columnist for the Wall Street Journal and the author of The Sexual Paradox and The Village Effect.
Pinker married Nancy Etcoff in 1980 and they divorced 1992; he married Ilavenil Subbiah in 1995 and they too divorced. He is married to the novelist and philosopher Rebecca Goldstein, the author of 10 books and winner of the National Medal of the Humanities. He has no children.
His next book will take off from his research on "common knowledge" (knowing that everyone knows something). Its tentative title is: Don't Go There: Common Knowledge and the Science of Civility, Hypocrisy, Outrage, and Taboo.
He was born in Canada and graduated from Montreal's Dawson College in 1973. He received a bachelor's degree in experimental psychology from McGill University in 1976, and then went on to earn his doctorate in the same discipline at Harvard in 1979. He did research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for a year, then became an assistant professor at Harvard and then Stanford University. From 1982 until 2003, Pinker taught at the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at MIT, and eventually became the director of the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience. (Except for a one-year sabbatical at the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1995-6.) As of 2008, he is the Johnstone Family Professor of Psychology at Harvard.
Pinker was named one of Time Magazine's 100 most influential people in the world in 2004 and one of Prospect and Foreign Policy's 100 top public intellectuals in 2005. He has also received honorary doctorates from the universities of Newcastle, Surrey, Tel Aviv, McGill, and the University of Tromsø, Norway. He was twice a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, in 1998 and in 2003. In January 2005, Pinker defended Lawrence Summers, President of Harvard University, whose comments about the gender gap in mathematics and science angered much of the faculty. On May 13th 2006, Pinker received the American Humanist Association's Humanist of the Year award for his contributions to public understanding of human evolution.
In 2007, he was invited on The Colbert Report and asked under pressure to sum up how the brain works in five words – Pinker answered "Brain cells fire in patterns."
Pinker was born into the English-speaking Jewish community of Montreal. He has said, "I was never religious in the theological sense... I never outgrew my conversion to atheism at 13, but at various times was a serious cultural Jew." As a teenager, he says he considered himself an anarchist until he witnessed civil unrest following a police strike in 1969. His father, a trained lawyer, first worked as a traveling salesman, while his mother was first a home-maker then a guidance counselor and high-school vice-principal. He has two younger siblings. His brother is a policy analyst for the Canadian government. His sister, Susan Pinker, is a columnist for the Wall Street Journal and the author of The Sexual Paradox and The Village Effect.
Pinker married Nancy Etcoff in 1980 and they divorced 1992; he married Ilavenil Subbiah in 1995 and they too divorced. He is married to the novelist and philosopher Rebecca Goldstein, the author of 10 books and winner of the National Medal of the Humanities. He has no children.
His next book will take off from his research on "common knowledge" (knowing that everyone knows something). Its tentative title is: Don't Go There: Common Knowledge and the Science of Civility, Hypocrisy, Outrage, and Taboo.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
June 11, 2017
I love this series. This particular book was heavily human-centric. But most of the articles were so fascinating, I hardly noticed the lack of animals and nature. One article on octopuses, the one about birds was pretty lame, parasites, a cringe-worthy article about zoos (arg!) and a couple of physics articles.
The ones that stood out for me: Bittersweet Science about the history of diabetes, rather sad. And Far-Out Television about shows on Discovery, TLC, the History Channel about pseudo-archaeology... funny but probably the precursor of the fake news we have to deal with these days.
The ones that stood out for me: Bittersweet Science about the history of diabetes, rather sad. And Far-Out Television about shows on Discovery, TLC, the History Channel about pseudo-archaeology... funny but probably the precursor of the fake news we have to deal with these days.
October 17, 2011
Broad and deep, this collection is funny, urbane and downright interesting. The Steven Pinker touch never hurts!
November 24, 2021
Lots of good science articles as usual in this series
August 1, 2014
This is a good, somewhat (obviously) dated collection of science and nature writing, biased somewhat toward neuroscience/anthropology/psychology, which makes sense given the editor of this volume is Stephen Pinker, the brainy, sometimes confusing neuro-psychologist.
I really liked Pinker's introduction and found it witty and concise. Otherwise, what follows are some notes, reflections and ramblings on selected works from the work of selections, and my rating.
"Genesis of Suicide Terrorism" - Scott Atran (Science)
An interesting article which argues that, contrary to conventional wisdom, most suicide bombers (as of 2003) are literate, educated,
20-something males no poorer than the average population they reside in. It also argues that reducing poverty and increasing levels of education are not effective ways to combat suicide bombing. Also of note, it discusses how suicide bombers are recruited and kept in isolated cells of individuals with a charismatic leader who convinces them to die for each other and a greater good, and how these leaders and the groups they work for benefit from each incredibly cheap suicide
attack (about $150 for a Palestinian bombing, including the most expensive item, transport, pg 10) and the subsequent retaliations and
crack down (which serve to draw more people to their cause).
- The article offers few solutions, many questions, and doesn't emphasize the fact that the 'education' many of these young men receive
is little more than reading the Koran repeatedly, thus it doesn't tackle the sticky issues of certain Muslim religious cultures and
the controversial values they espouse.
"Battle for Your Brain" - Ronald Bailey (Reason)
An interesting, Libertarian-biased look at upcoming mental enhancement drugs and their proponents and opponents from a pro-drug, bio-ethical standpoint -- specifically in that the author attempts to refute all bio-ethical opposition to such drugs. The author is laissez-faire and encourages the development of such drugs, but seems to be ignorant to the need for regulation or the fact that any actually 'good' drug: a drug that provides a considerable social, economic or lifestyle
advantage in this case, will be disproportionately available to the rich and thus hand them yet another leg-up on us, the lowly, squalid rabble.
"Bittersweet Science" - Austin Bunn (The New York Times Magazine)
A brief history of diabetes and the discovery of insulin.
"The New Celebrity" - Jennet Conant (Seed)
Portrays the co-discoverer of DNA, James Watson, as a controversial, opinionated science superstar.
- Nice quote by James Watson: "The fact is most scientists act as though they are stupid because they are wedded to some approach they can't change, meaning they are moving sideways or backwards."
"The Mythical Threat of Genetic Determinism" - Daniel C. Dennett (The Chronicle of Higher Education)
Seems to posit chance/luck as the third deterministic force -- the others being genetic/biological and social/environmental. Also a fan piece for Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs and Steel.
"We're All Gonna Die!" - Gregg Easterbrook (Wired)
Debunks most, and supports a few doomsday scenarios. Apparently we shouldn't fear chemical weapons, as they are ineffective and cause the same or less damage as conventional weapons, but super-volcanoes (such as the one under Yellowstone) or giant asteroids could wipe us out at any moment. If I hadn't already read Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything, I would have been a bit scared and depressed, though it still makes you think...
"Far Out Television" - Garrett G. Fagan (Archaeology)
Discusses deceptive pseudo-archaeology television shows as shown on TLC which push unproven viewpoints and so forth versus true archaeology and archaeological shows.
"A War on Obesity, Not the Obese" - Jeffrey M. Friedman Science)
The author brings to light an argument that leptin (a hunger-blocking chemical) resistant people have hunter-gatherer genes, which were ideal in times of famine but not during agricultural abundance and beyond. He helps explain why so many Native people living western lifestyles are obese and makes an interesting case, though I don't think you can
discount other obesity factors in the final analysis.
"Desperate Measures" - Atul Gawande (The New Yorker)
A fascinating article on the life of 'famous' surgeon Francis Moore, who is known for innovative burn treatments, transplants and various medical innovations, as well as a brash, cold, risk-taking younger life wherein many of his patients died to satisfy his desires. This is contrasted with the later-life Moore, with Moore becoming a cautious
conservative preaching against un-tested treatments, who never gave up his need for control and who shot himself in the head at age 88 with his wife in another room.
True Rating: 3.8 Stars
November 3, 2012
Slowly but surely I'm catching up on all the volumes I've missed in this series. This entry is a little on the lean side, which is also reflected in the shortness of a lot of the article collected here. I liked that almost every article was a relatively quick read but after quickly finishing the book I felt a little sad that it was over so soon. A small quibble to be sure since the articles are still as informative and entertaining as always.
And as always, I'll point out the articles that I found most interesting. A lot of the ones I don't point out are just as interesting but the topics they cover are of the usual suspects variety inherent to these anthologies.
Genesis of Suicide Terrorism by Scott Atran
The Cousin Marriage Conundrum by Steve Sailer
These two articles cover very different topics but they share a similar theme: the difficulty of defining seemingly simple concepts and how those concepts can be perceived in vastly different ways by different cultures.
We're All Gonna Die! by Gregg Easterbrook
Funny yet realistic listing of the top ten ways the earth faces possible annihilation.
Far Out Television by Garrett G. Fagan
Interesting look at how legitimate archaeology is being pushed aside by pseudoarchaeology in popular television programs for the sake of entertainment. Even more interesting is the fact that this article is nearly 10 years old and the number of these programs (and the channels to accommodate them) have exploded.
Desperate Measures by Atul Gawande
Explores how common lifesaving medical procedures used today are rooted in an experimentally bold past that is no longer possible.
The Bloody Crossroads of Grammar by Geoffrey Nunberg
Showcases how proscriptive grammar can lead the self-righteous to attack not only perfectly understandable sentences but also to further their own political agendas.
Ask the Bird Folks by Mike O'Connor
This has to be the funniest article not just of this volume but of any in the entire series. These are pickings from the author's ongoing column answering questions about birds, and his answers are just as hilarious as they are informative. I especially like his answer to that old canard about rice being bad for pigeons.
Where Have All the Lisas Gone? by Peggy Orenstein
This is a really interesting look at the strange cultural phenomenon of how baby names fall in and out of popularity.
Through the Eye of an Octopus by Eric Scigliano
Octopuses (not octupi, as much as we'd like it to be that) are really very smart animals. Personally, I think they're a little creepy because of their beaks...
Parallel Universes by Max Tegmark
Inevitably there's a physics article in these anthologies, and just as inevitably these articles fly way WAY over my head. They confuse, frustrate, and irritate me to no end but I never skip them because I can at least say I gave it a try. This one isn't as impenetrable as most but it still manages to boggle the mind. Suffice it to say: Other worlds aren't just possible, they're probable.
In Click Languages, an Echo of the Tongues of the Ancients by Nicholas Wade
This taps right into my interest in language and language history. I know nothing about click languages so this was really interesting and informative. Also has quite the 'punny' final sentence.
And as always, I'll point out the articles that I found most interesting. A lot of the ones I don't point out are just as interesting but the topics they cover are of the usual suspects variety inherent to these anthologies.
Genesis of Suicide Terrorism by Scott Atran
The Cousin Marriage Conundrum by Steve Sailer
These two articles cover very different topics but they share a similar theme: the difficulty of defining seemingly simple concepts and how those concepts can be perceived in vastly different ways by different cultures.
We're All Gonna Die! by Gregg Easterbrook
Funny yet realistic listing of the top ten ways the earth faces possible annihilation.
Far Out Television by Garrett G. Fagan
Interesting look at how legitimate archaeology is being pushed aside by pseudoarchaeology in popular television programs for the sake of entertainment. Even more interesting is the fact that this article is nearly 10 years old and the number of these programs (and the channels to accommodate them) have exploded.
Desperate Measures by Atul Gawande
Explores how common lifesaving medical procedures used today are rooted in an experimentally bold past that is no longer possible.
The Bloody Crossroads of Grammar by Geoffrey Nunberg
Showcases how proscriptive grammar can lead the self-righteous to attack not only perfectly understandable sentences but also to further their own political agendas.
Ask the Bird Folks by Mike O'Connor
This has to be the funniest article not just of this volume but of any in the entire series. These are pickings from the author's ongoing column answering questions about birds, and his answers are just as hilarious as they are informative. I especially like his answer to that old canard about rice being bad for pigeons.
Where Have All the Lisas Gone? by Peggy Orenstein
This is a really interesting look at the strange cultural phenomenon of how baby names fall in and out of popularity.
Through the Eye of an Octopus by Eric Scigliano
Octopuses (not octupi, as much as we'd like it to be that) are really very smart animals. Personally, I think they're a little creepy because of their beaks...
Parallel Universes by Max Tegmark
Inevitably there's a physics article in these anthologies, and just as inevitably these articles fly way WAY over my head. They confuse, frustrate, and irritate me to no end but I never skip them because I can at least say I gave it a try. This one isn't as impenetrable as most but it still manages to boggle the mind. Suffice it to say: Other worlds aren't just possible, they're probable.
In Click Languages, an Echo of the Tongues of the Ancients by Nicholas Wade
This taps right into my interest in language and language history. I know nothing about click languages so this was really interesting and informative. Also has quite the 'punny' final sentence.
September 15, 2008
Another gem. The article in this one are shorter and there are more of them, which is all good. Highlights:
"Caring for your Introvert" - a four-page article that everyone in the world should read. Not the most deeply scientific piece ever, it's openly derisive of extroverts and oversimplifies the issues quite a bit. But it is funny and insightful, and I feel like it should be required reading in school. "I am an introvert. You are a wonderful person and I like you. But now please shush."
"We're All Going to Die!" - an amusing escapade that examines all the common over-hyped disaster stories that are common in our times. It's a great primer for all the basics, covering everything from the exotic (nanomachine grey goo and universe-destroying black holes) to the almost-mundane (killer asteroids and chemical/biological weapons). Good as a gift for your sensationalist friends.
"The Cousin Marriage Conundrum" - a serious piece examining the socio-political implications of the very high rate of cousin marriages in many countries in the Middle East and North Africa. "Cousin marriage averages not much more than 1 percent in most European countries, and under 10 percent in the rest of the world outside that Morocco-to-southern-India corridor." No sweeping statistics are given, but the rate is implied to be at least 50% in countries like Iraq and Pakistan. This has huge implications on society overall since a person's primary loyalty is not to the country or even a religion, but to the extended family clan to which he or she belongs. Very interesting article, although I wish there was more substantive data presented along with the great arguments.
"Far-Out Television" - if you've ever watched a program on TV about the mysteries of the ancient builders of the pyramids which implies that some forces unknown to us were used to build them, and links all the real and mythical ancient sites in the world by one unifying mystery that we are still trying to uncover to allow us access to the great powers of the ancients which build the spaceship landing strips in the Andes and possessed great powe... Read this article. Interesting account of what the science archeology is about and what it has in common with the TV programs that are created for entertainment.
"Bugs in the Brain" - another light-hearted and somewhat tongue-in-cheek article that argues for the absurdity of the argument that states that evolution is a progression - from least-evolved single-cell organisms and viruses towards most-evolved mammals and, of course, humans. By examining the ability of tiny creatures, bacteria and viruses to manipulate and in a way control complex mammals this argument is made powerfully while also exploring very interesting interactions - like the rabies virus and the common cold.
Overall, though, this collecton wasn't _quite_ as high-quality as some of the others from this series, as a number of articles didn't resonate with me so well.
"Caring for your Introvert" - a four-page article that everyone in the world should read. Not the most deeply scientific piece ever, it's openly derisive of extroverts and oversimplifies the issues quite a bit. But it is funny and insightful, and I feel like it should be required reading in school. "I am an introvert. You are a wonderful person and I like you. But now please shush."
"We're All Going to Die!" - an amusing escapade that examines all the common over-hyped disaster stories that are common in our times. It's a great primer for all the basics, covering everything from the exotic (nanomachine grey goo and universe-destroying black holes) to the almost-mundane (killer asteroids and chemical/biological weapons). Good as a gift for your sensationalist friends.
"The Cousin Marriage Conundrum" - a serious piece examining the socio-political implications of the very high rate of cousin marriages in many countries in the Middle East and North Africa. "Cousin marriage averages not much more than 1 percent in most European countries, and under 10 percent in the rest of the world outside that Morocco-to-southern-India corridor." No sweeping statistics are given, but the rate is implied to be at least 50% in countries like Iraq and Pakistan. This has huge implications on society overall since a person's primary loyalty is not to the country or even a religion, but to the extended family clan to which he or she belongs. Very interesting article, although I wish there was more substantive data presented along with the great arguments.
"Far-Out Television" - if you've ever watched a program on TV about the mysteries of the ancient builders of the pyramids which implies that some forces unknown to us were used to build them, and links all the real and mythical ancient sites in the world by one unifying mystery that we are still trying to uncover to allow us access to the great powers of the ancients which build the spaceship landing strips in the Andes and possessed great powe... Read this article. Interesting account of what the science archeology is about and what it has in common with the TV programs that are created for entertainment.
"Bugs in the Brain" - another light-hearted and somewhat tongue-in-cheek article that argues for the absurdity of the argument that states that evolution is a progression - from least-evolved single-cell organisms and viruses towards most-evolved mammals and, of course, humans. By examining the ability of tiny creatures, bacteria and viruses to manipulate and in a way control complex mammals this argument is made powerfully while also exploring very interesting interactions - like the rabies virus and the common cold.
Overall, though, this collecton wasn't _quite_ as high-quality as some of the others from this series, as a number of articles didn't resonate with me so well.
December 29, 2016
Like any anthology, this was a mixed bag of pieces I enjoyed and pieces...well, not so much.
I enjoyed the essay "Far-Out Television," about pseudoarchaeological TV programs. The author explained why "good television" is not always (nearly never) the same as "reliable archaeology."
"Ask the Bird Folks" was a really funny, factual question and answer format piece about (you guess it) birds.
I found the essay about the rise and fall in popularity of baby names ("Where Have All the Lisas Gone?) very interesting. I didn't even know people studied the phenomenon, but yes, they do.
"Caring for Your Introvert" was a humorous essay which included this great quote: "I'm an introvert. You are a wonderful person and I like you. But now please shush."
I learned a lot about octopuses (They are smart! The plural is octopuses!) by reading the essay "Through the Eye of an Octopus."
Finally, on the "not so much" side, I barely understood a singe word of "Parallel Universes."
I enjoyed the essay "Far-Out Television," about pseudoarchaeological TV programs. The author explained why "good television" is not always (nearly never) the same as "reliable archaeology."
"Ask the Bird Folks" was a really funny, factual question and answer format piece about (you guess it) birds.
I found the essay about the rise and fall in popularity of baby names ("Where Have All the Lisas Gone?) very interesting. I didn't even know people studied the phenomenon, but yes, they do.
"Caring for Your Introvert" was a humorous essay which included this great quote: "I'm an introvert. You are a wonderful person and I like you. But now please shush."
I learned a lot about octopuses (They are smart! The plural is octopuses!) by reading the essay "Through the Eye of an Octopus."
Finally, on the "not so much" side, I barely understood a singe word of "Parallel Universes."
May 27, 2008
An old book of my dad's I had lying around. Like the majority of the Best American series, it's a hit-and-miss kind of thing. Some articles made me go 'wow', some ellicited a 'duh', and more than a few brought out a 'so what?' I wanted more of the articles to be like 'Parallel Universes' [Wow!] and less of them like 'The Design of Your Life' [So what?].
September 3, 2011
I'll probably buy a bunch more of these now. The piece on Dr. Francis Moore, a ground-breaking surgeon, was incredible; the one on cousin marriage in the Middle East reminded me of a conversation I've had; and the ones that shot down worries about genetics research and psychiatric drugs were the best.
February 8, 2016
This is a great collection of popular science essays edited/collected by Steven Pinker. Highlights include: 'The New Celebrity' about James Watson, 'Desperate Measures' about Francis Moore, and 'All the Old Sciences Have Starring Roles' by Chet Raymo.
September 5, 2007
Contains an awesome essay titled "Where Have All the Lisas Gone?"
September 10, 2009
Like any book of essays, some are good and some are not so good.
February 9, 2012
top three essays: caring for you introvert, desperate measures, and through the eye of an octopus....i had a great review all written and it erased it:(
April 24, 2012
I'm going to read all of these. Tegmark's article in this one is the best
April 24, 2016
Includes a chapter by Steve Sailor and the high percentage of Iraqis and other middle easterners who marry their first cousins.
September 4, 2016
After reading the 2013 edition, this one seemed a bit lacking; most of the articles are so short that they hardly get into much of the science at all.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews