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jess10adam's review
4.0
I really should read these books closer to their release date!
Being curated by Mary Roach this was destined to be good and it did not disappoint. Many good articles!
Being curated by Mary Roach this was destined to be good and it did not disappoint. Many good articles!
heathercheuka's review
3.0
This is not my typical topic for reading but venturing out after joining a book club led me to this book. Surprisingly entertaining and wildly informative.
ellenrhudy's review
4.0
Oh, this was a fun read. From now on I'm ignoring the Best American Stories collection and going straight for Science & Nature Writing. There are a few misses here, but Roach overall is a great curator. Most notably, there's a typically fantastic Atul Gawande piece on end-of-life care, "The Organ Dealer" on (yeah, duh) selling kidneys on the black market, Franzen's bit on the hunting of songbirds in Europe, Frazier's "Fish Out of Water" about the silver carp invasion of American waterways, and Oliver Sacks on recognizing (or not recognizing) faces.
And Dan Koeppel's "Taking a Fall" (click the link and read it, trust me), about surviving a fall of 35,000 feet. I am not sure I breathed the entire time I read this article, and though Koeppel ends with a reassuring note on the rarity of plane crashes and midair explosions...I am dreading a flight I have next week.
And Dan Koeppel's "Taking a Fall" (click the link and read it, trust me), about surviving a fall of 35,000 feet. I am not sure I breathed the entire time I read this article, and though Koeppel ends with a reassuring note on the rarity of plane crashes and midair explosions...I am dreading a flight I have next week.
m_chisholm's review
4.0
The 2011 edition of the Best American Science and Nature Series is constructed around the parameters of a dizzying array of disciplines. The structure of the collection pinballs around between medical deviance, rotten meat, invading coyotes, space trash, and eventually landing at Tilikum, the Killer Whale who fulfilled his eponymous destiny.
The front leaders of the collection are Jill Quinn's "Sign Here if You Exist," Atul Gawande's "Letting Go," and Tim Zimmerman's "Killer in the Pool."
Not all of this collection is in my opinion first rate journalism, but for the most part it is all very well-crafted, accessible to wide audiences, and deals with cutting edge environmental and scientific issues. The best of these stories, included in the small list above, do something that the others do not: questioning the metaphysical fabric woven around our natural neighbors, whether they are wasps, whales, or our own death experiences. Thus, for brief moments, the best of these essays become not about their disciplines but our collective human experiences. The barriers between us and the mysteries of the natural universe are blurred into a wonderfully rich haze.
Overall, another excellent edition of a fantastic series. The real challenge is to keep up with the poignant issues these articles raise while keeping a hold on some of the fear-mongering that really sells the magazines these are printed within.
The front leaders of the collection are Jill Quinn's "Sign Here if You Exist," Atul Gawande's "Letting Go," and Tim Zimmerman's "Killer in the Pool."
Not all of this collection is in my opinion first rate journalism, but for the most part it is all very well-crafted, accessible to wide audiences, and deals with cutting edge environmental and scientific issues. The best of these stories, included in the small list above, do something that the others do not: questioning the metaphysical fabric woven around our natural neighbors, whether they are wasps, whales, or our own death experiences. Thus, for brief moments, the best of these essays become not about their disciplines but our collective human experiences. The barriers between us and the mysteries of the natural universe are blurred into a wonderfully rich haze.
Overall, another excellent edition of a fantastic series. The real challenge is to keep up with the poignant issues these articles raise while keeping a hold on some of the fear-mongering that really sells the magazines these are printed within.
davidr's review
5.0
I love these annual anthologies of essays on nature and science. They are superb. The essays cover a very wide range of subjects. For example, the illicit trade in human organs, the clean-up of oil spills in the ocean, fermentation, the government's poisoning of alcohol during the Prohibition, songbird trapping in the Mediterranean area, the flying fish (silver carp) in the Illinois River, and the high rates of error in much of the published body of medical research. Oh--that's just the beginning--there is so much more.
Each essay is a gem. The great thing about this book is that you can read a chapter, put it down, and come back to it later without having to familiarize yourself again with earlier chapters. Each essay stands on its own. Some of the essays are fun, some are horrifying, but all of them are fascinating.
The most unusual essay is the one by Jill Sisson Quinn, titled, "Sign Here if You Exist". The essay swings back and forth between two subjects; wasp flies and belief in God. She wraps it up with this last sentence, "We've had it backward all along: the body is immortal--it is the soul that dies."
Another fascinating essay is by the well-known author Oliver Sacks. It is about people who have difficulty recognizing faces. Sacks himself suffered from this pathology. People with this condition can learn to compensate, by recognizing people by the sound of their voice or their clothes or smell or even by their gait. Then there are people with exactly the opposite condition; they recognize people with just a fleeting glance, even if they only saw them momentarily years before.
Mary Roach was the editor of this compilation, and she did a great job in choosing the essays.
Each essay is a gem. The great thing about this book is that you can read a chapter, put it down, and come back to it later without having to familiarize yourself again with earlier chapters. Each essay stands on its own. Some of the essays are fun, some are horrifying, but all of them are fascinating.
The most unusual essay is the one by Jill Sisson Quinn, titled, "Sign Here if You Exist". The essay swings back and forth between two subjects; wasp flies and belief in God. She wraps it up with this last sentence, "We've had it backward all along: the body is immortal--it is the soul that dies."
Another fascinating essay is by the well-known author Oliver Sacks. It is about people who have difficulty recognizing faces. Sacks himself suffered from this pathology. People with this condition can learn to compensate, by recognizing people by the sound of their voice or their clothes or smell or even by their gait. Then there are people with exactly the opposite condition; they recognize people with just a fleeting glance, even if they only saw them momentarily years before.
Mary Roach was the editor of this compilation, and she did a great job in choosing the essays.
lanikei's review
3.0
I don't read pieces about physics. Or weird pseudo-scientific musings on religion?
There were several pieces I skipped right over, but there were others I really enjoyed. It's a mixed bag with a handful of pieces that stuck with me.
I was THRILLED to read Oliver Sacks' piece about face blindness since that's a challenge (disability? disorder?) I've only recently identified as my own. Reading about the struggles Sacks has, as well some of the science behind the problem was... heartening really. I didn't feel like I was just an idiot with faces.
The piece about the reliability of medical research was... horrifying, but not a huge surprise. Anyone with a basic knowledge of research methods and statistics can make some good guesses about how horribly screwed research is. Still shocking, and interesting to learn that people are STUDYING this.
Other reviewers have pointed out some other highlights, but those two stories were the ones that I found personally relevant and awesome.
There were several pieces I skipped right over, but there were others I really enjoyed. It's a mixed bag with a handful of pieces that stuck with me.
I was THRILLED to read Oliver Sacks' piece about face blindness since that's a challenge (disability? disorder?) I've only recently identified as my own. Reading about the struggles Sacks has, as well some of the science behind the problem was... heartening really. I didn't feel like I was just an idiot with faces.
The piece about the reliability of medical research was... horrifying, but not a huge surprise. Anyone with a basic knowledge of research methods and statistics can make some good guesses about how horribly screwed research is. Still shocking, and interesting to learn that people are STUDYING this.
Other reviewers have pointed out some other highlights, but those two stories were the ones that I found personally relevant and awesome.
meags1's review against another edition
3.0
These are generally 3s for me, but this one felt particularly low 3. The 2013 edition I am reading now is worse.
robinhigdon's review against another edition
4.0
excellent science writing. easy to understand and some were every humorous. loved the book!