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Edition: 1st Format: Bargain Price Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 352 Publication Date: September 30, 2001 Related Items:
Browse for similar items by category: Click to Display Editorial Review: Product Description: Gathered from the nation's leading publications by award-winning author Timothy Ferris, The Best American Science Writing 2001 is a dynamic, up-to-date collection of essays and articles by America's most prominent thinkers and writers, addressing the most controversial, socially relevant topics that recent developments in science pose. Among the contributors: Richard Preston examines the contentious business of decoding the human genome. Malcolm Gladwell follows investigators who aim to revolutionize birth control. Tracy Kidder profiles a modern Dr. Schweitzer. Alan Lightman laments what was lost in his transformation from astrophysicist to fiction writer. Natalie Angier makes some surprising discoveries about gender in mandrill society. Stephen Jay Gould investigates the strange contrast between the 1530 poem by a physician that gave us the name for syphilis and the poetry that can be found in the map of the pathogen's genome. Legendary physicist John Archibald Wheeler celebrates the mysteries of quantum mechanics, which still perplex a century after its discovery. And John Updike contributes a witty verse musing on a biological theme. For anyone who wants to journey to science's frontiers, understand more fully its ever-expanding role in our lives, or simply enjoy the thrill of powerful writing on fascinating topics,The Best American Science Writing 2001 is indispensable. Average Rating:
 Rating: - Polio, testosterone, and the French DiseaseEven though astronomer Timothy Ferris edited this collection of 2001 science articles, the emphasis is on biological rather than physical sciences. Some of the essays describe the way science is done, and the ways that ignorance or politics can interfere with its results. I wish this book could have chronicled the progressive triumph of science over superstition and bureaucratic weirdness. Instead, Helen Epstein's, "The Mystery of AIDS in South Africa" shows what happens when a government ... Read More Rating:  - An interesting, diverse, and readable collectionThis is the first of these collections that I have read, and it is very good. The articles are chosen from a wide spectrum of publications from the year 2000, including Scientific American, National Geographic, The New York Times, The New Yorker, Harper's, The Atlantic Monthly, etc., which means most of the essays were written in 1999 or thereabouts. There is a minor concentration on the exciting developments in genetics and microbiology, including "The Recycled Generation" by Stephen S. Hall, which ... Read More Rating: - "People don't like to face reality"If you are indeed one of those people, you'd better not read this book. Nearly every page confronts you with a new reality. In some essays you'll have your nose forcibly rubbed in it. But don't despair, even with some of the grim pictures presented here, nearly all contain some message of hope, as well. Timothy Ferris has assembled an impressive array of science writing covering topics ranging from quantum physics to the water you drink. There's something here for everyone, but read them all, new ... Read More Rating: - Of Interest Not Only To Science TeachersThis is a splendid anthology of scientific writing which should be of interest to the general public, as well as to teachers and students of science. Helen Epstein has a highly critical look at South Africa's response to its devastating AIDS epidemic in her essay "The Mystery of AIDS in South Africa". New York Times science writer Natalie Angier gives a humorous, mesmerizing look at mandrills in "In Mandrill Society, Life Is a Girl Thing". Distinguished evolutionary biologist Ernst Mayr provides a thoughtful, ... Read More Rating: - Inspiring for science teachersScience teachers will find this book to be good intellectual stimulation. After teaching the cell to seventh graders for five years, reading about the latest developments in cell research has renewed my enthusiasm for the subject. A lot more is going on out there in the research world than we might realize. This book will bring you up to date and renew your motivation regarding the importance of teaching some of the basics to a broad base of people in society. There are incredible ethical debates ahead. If ... Read More 
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