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by: James Gleick  Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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Binding: Audio CassetteDewey Decimal Number: 808 EAN: 9780694523993 Edition: Unabridged Format: Abridged, Audiobook, Unabridged ISBN: 0694523992 Label: HarperAudio Manufacturer: HarperAudio Number Of Items: 4 Publication Date: January 15, 2000 Publisher: HarperAudio Release Date: September 05, 2000 Studio: HarperAudio Related Items:
Browse for similar items by category: Click to Display Editorial Review: Amazon.com: Avid science readers know the value of good judgment. There's just too much out there to go through it all in one lifetime, so we learn to appreciate the recommendations of those we trust. Editors James Gleick and Jesse Cohen took it upon themselves to select 19 eclectic pieces for The Best American Science Writing 2000, resulting in a delicious, engrossing volume with something for nearly every reader. Whether relying on well-known authors like Stephen Jay Gould and Oliver Sacks or surprising us with a selection from humor publication The Onion ("Revolutionary New Insoles Combine Five Forms of Pseudoscience"), they choose works that combine the best of exposition and aesthetic delight. The scope of topics is broad: physician Atul Gawande reports on medical mistakes, Douglas R. Hofstadter ruminates on natural and artificial intelligence, and Deborah Gordon gives an inside look at southwestern American ant life. Though the editors cheerfully admit that they can't define science writing with any precision, they still please the reader with this important and enjoyable volume. --Rob Lightner Product Description: Meticulously selected by bestselling author James Gleick, Harper Audio presents a steller collection of essays written by some of the most brilliant writers and thinkers of our time -- each one read by its creator. Many of these cutting-edge essays offer glimpses of our new realms of discovery and thought, exploring territory that is unfimiliar to most of us or finding the unexpected in the midst of the familiar. This diverse, stimulating, and accessible collection is required for anyone who wants to travel to that frontier. Average Rating:
 Rating:  - Misnamed or Misedited...be warned!I liked many of the pieces in this collection and detested just a few. But overall I was very disappointed since I expected essays about SCIENCE, not essays about science history, about preferring music to science, about doctors making mistakes. I'm not saying those types of essays are not interesting reading, but I am saying they're definitely not about real science. Very few of the essays would actually enhance a university science course, for instance. Furthermore, there would seem ... Read More Rating: - Interesting, but not "The Best"Although I enjoyed most of the articles, this was not exactly what I was expecting. It appears as though many of the articles came out of popular non-scientific publications (many from the N.Y. Times) and were written for a mainstream audience. Too many of them were articles of the "I'm a scientist and here's my story . . ." genre. One story was about an author's "nervous breakdown" and his decision to pursue a career in music rather than chemistry. A few were about the practice of medicine or medical ... Read More Rating: - A Very Mixed BagThe best essays were actually on the history of science. There were memoirs of very little scientific interest, some pop-observations of the field of science, some decent philosophy, some medical adventure stories. Not bad, but certainly not a general survey of good science writing spread over all the sciences, so not what I was hoping for at all. I would have to browse the 2001 edition before buying; certainly not an automatic purchase based on this edition. Rating: - amusing, but very patchy writing skillsThere were well written articles by generalists, and good pices by the people who do the research they write about. It's also hard not to enjoy Douglas Hofstadter, even if this was a somewhat weak piece of his. Mixed in are pieces like Susan McCarthy (from Salon) that use poor argumentative style (numerous ad hominem attacks, the use of Capital Letter sarcasm), poorly researched and develop no thesis of her own. Just scattershot bon mots and drive-by name dropping. some good with ... Read More Rating:  - Terrific collectionIn general, the BEST collections are the best of the best. First, the essays or books have been chosen for publication and then a few are picked for the collection. These are well written and interesting, covering several areas of science. I especially liked Stephen S. Hall's "Journey to the Center of My Mind" where he describes his experience of an M.R.I. of his brain while being assigned specific mental tasks. Fascinating stuff. And I loved "Lord of the Flies," excerpted from Jonathan Weiner's terrific ... Read More 
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