The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2003

Brief Description: Since its inception in 1915, the Best American series has become the premier annual showcase for the country's finest short fiction and nonfiction. For each volume, a series editor reads pieces from hundred of periodicals, then selects between fifty and a hundred outstanding works. That selection is pared down to the twenty or so very best pieces by a guest editor who is widely recognized as a leading writer in his or her field. This unique system has helped make the Best American series the most respected -- and most popular -- of its kind. The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2003, edited by Richard Dawkins, is another "eloquent, accessible, and even illuminating" collection (Publishers Weekly). Here are the best and brightest writers on science and nature, writing on such wide-ranging subjects as astronomy's new stars, archaeology, the Bible, "terminal" ice, and memory faults. Natalie Angier Timothy Ferris Ian Frazier Elizabeth F. Loftus Steven Pinker Oliver Sacks Steven Weinberg Edward O. WilsonReview Quotes: "Eloquent, accessible, and even illuminating."Brief Description: Vols. for - edited by Elizabeth Kolbert. Table of Contents: Contents Foreword ix Introduction by Richard Dawkins xiii Natalie Angier. Weighing the Grandma Factor 1 from The New York Times Tim Appenzeller. At Home in the Heavens 7 from U. S. News&World Report Alan Burdick. Four Ears to the Ground 11 from Natural History Clark R. Chapman and Alan W. Harris. A Skeptical Look at September 11th 15 from Skeptical Inquirer David Ewing Duncan. DNA as Destiny 25 from Wired Timothy Ferris. Astronomy's New Stars 36 from Smithsonian Ian Frazier. Terminal Ice 48 from Outside James Gorman. Finding a Wild, Fearsome World Beneath Every Fallen Leaf 67 from The New York Times Charles Hirshberg. My Mother, the Scientist 72 from Popular Science Brendan I . Koerner. Embryo Police 79 from Wired Elizabeth Kolbert. Ice Memory 91 from The New Yorker Andrew Lawler. Treasure Under Saddam's Feet 105 from Discover Daniel Lazare. False Testament 112 from Harper's Magazine Elizabeth F. Loftus. Memory Faults and Fixes 127 from Issues in Science and Technology Charles C. Mann. Homeland Insecurity 145 from The Atlantic Monthly Bill McKibben. It's Easy Being Green 170 from Mother Jones Steve Olson. The Royal We 176 from The Atlantic Monthly Dennis Overbye. A New View of Our Universe 181 from The New York Times Steven Pinker. The Blank Slate 188 from Discover Oliver Sacks. Anybody Out There? 200 from Natural History Steve Silberman. The Fully Immersive Mind of Oliver Sacks 206 from Wired Adam Summers. Fat Heads Sink Ships 225 from Natural History Gary Taubes. What If It's All Been a Big Fat Lie? 228 from The New York Times Magazine Bruce Watson. Sounding the Alarm 248 from Smithsonian William Speed Weed. The Very Best Telescope 254 from Discover Scott Weidensaul. Raising the Dead 262 from Audubon Steven Weinberg. The Truth About Missile Defense 271 from The New York Review of Books Ted Williams. Maine's War on Coyotes 287 from Audubon Edward O. Wilson. The Bottleneck 297 from Scienti.c American Contributors' Notes 315 Other Notable Science and Nature Writing of 2002 321 Review Citations:

Booklist 10/15/2003 pg. 365 (EAN 9780618178926, Paperback)

Publishers Weekly 08/25/2003 pg. 46 (EAN 9780618178926, Paperback)

Contributor Bio:  Dawkins, Richard Richard Dawkins, voted Prospect magazine's #1 World Thinker, is the author of the blockbuster bestseller The God Delusion. He was first catapulted to fame with The Selfish Gene, which he followed with The Extended Phenotype, The Blind Watchmaker, River Out of Eden, Climbing Mount Improbable, Unweaving the Rainbow, The Ancestor's Tale, A Devil's Chaplain, The Greatest Show on Earth, and The Magic of Reality (with Dave McKean). Dawkins is a fellow of the Royal Society and the Royal Society of Literature. He was the inaugural holder of the Simonyi Chair for the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford University and is the recipient of numerous honors and awards, including the Royal Society of Literature Award, the Michael Faraday Award of the Royal Society, the Kistler Prize, the Shakespeare Prize, the Lewis Thomas Prize for Writing About Science, the Galaxy British Book Awards Author of the Year Award, and the International Cosmos Prize of Japan. Contributor Bio:  Folger, Tim TIM FOLGER is a contributing editor at "Discover" and writes about science for several magazines.