THE SCIENCE SHELF NEWSLETTER


News about the Science Shelf archive of book reviews, columns, and comments by Fred Bortz



Issue #27, Spring 2008 edition




Dear Science Readers,

After the previous Science Shelf newsletter, my reviewing pace slowed for a bit, but I am now about as busy with reviews as I have ever been. In addition, I have been working on a children's book and making personal appearances, which pushed this newsletter to the back burner. I hope you think it has been worth waiting for.

Unless you are a new subscriber, you probably have not seen the following insertion that I made to the last newsletter.

[Skip ahead to Science Shelf News]
Important news:

I received a review copy of the important new National Academies Press book coverScience, Evolution, and Creationism and encourage every person involved in or concerned about science education in the United States to order a copy.


The list price is $12.95, but clicking the cover or the above link takes you to the Amazon.com sales page, where the price is $10.36.

You can also download it for free from the National Academies Press web site.

Some useful links and excerpts of the news release follow.

Download .pdf brochure about the book. This brochure is a very useful overview of the issues discussed in the book.

Read online. This also has links to buy the book from the National Academies Press, but the Amazon.com discount is better (and I'd appreciate the small commission for my effort in alerting you).

Excerpts of the news release:

Scientific Evidence Supporting Evolution Continues To Grow; Nonscientific Approaches Do Not Belong In Science Classrooms

WASHINGTON -- The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) and Institute of Medicine (IOM) today released SCIENCE, EVOLUTION, AND CREATIONISM, a book designed to give the public a comprehensive and up-to-date picture of the current scientific understanding of evolution and its importance in the science classroom. Recent advances in science and medicine, along with an abundance of observations and experiments over the past 150 years, have reinforced evolution's role as the central organizing principle of modern biology, said the committee that wrote the book.

"SCIENCE, EVOLUTION, AND CREATIONISM provides the public with coherent explanations and concrete examples of the science of evolution," said NAS President Ralph Cicerone. "The study of evolution remains one of the most active, robust, and useful fields in science."

"Understanding evolution is essential to identifying and treating disease," said Harvey Fineberg, president of IOM. "For example, the SARS virus evolved from an ancestor virus that was discovered by DNA sequencing. Learning about SARS' genetic similarities and mutations has helped scientists understand how the virus evolved. This kind of knowledge can help us anticipate and contain infections that emerge in the future."

...Despite the overwhelming evidence supporting evolution, opponents have repeatedly tried to introduce nonscientific views into public school science classes through the teaching of various forms of creationism or intelligent design. In 2005, a federal judge in Dover, Pennsylvania, concluded that the teaching of intelligent design is unconstitutional because it is based on religious conviction, not science (Kitzmiller et al. v. Dover Area School District). NAS and IOM strongly maintain that only scientifically based explanations and evidence for the diversity of life should be included in public school science courses. "Teaching creationist ideas in science class confuses students about what constitutes science and what does not," the committee stated.

"As SCIENCE, EVOLUTION, AND CREATIONISM makes clear, the evidence for evolution can be fully compatible with religious faith. Science and religion are different ways of understanding the world. Needlessly placing them in opposition reduces the potential of each to contribute to a better future," the book says.




Almost everyone will be interested in the topic of my most recent review, published in the Seattle Times and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and the title Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex tells you that Mary Roach is up to her usual broad humor, just as she did for her previous titles, Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife and Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers, both of which are reviewed on the Science Shelf. (Click covers for their reviews.)

Another great scientific read is Beyond UFOs: The Search for Extraterrestrial Life and Its Astonishing Implications for Our Future by Jeffrey Bennett. My review nitpicks at one element of its approach, but not its content. My verdict is four thumbs up (assuming aliens have two thumbs on each hand).

I have just completed my review of a serious but eminently readable title at the intersection of seismology and archaeology called coverApocalypse: Earthquakes, Archaeology, and the Wrath of God by Amos Nur. Clicking the cover will take you to the review, which opens with these paragraphs:
In the middle of the fourth century AD, a series of earthquakes struck the port of Kourion on the southern coast of Cyprus. Originally built by the Greeks a millennium and a half earlier during the Late Bronze Age, the town had no doubt experienced its share of seismic events, but nothing prepared its inhabitants for the major earthquake and tsunami that struck just after dawn, most likely on July 21, AD 365.

Because of the early hour, farm animals were trapped in their stables, and most of the population was caught beneath the rubble of their collapsing homes. The few survivors, probably too overwhelmed to recover and bury the dead, abandoned Kourion forever. When archaeologists excavated the site in the 1980s, little had been disturbed.

Among the many discoveries was the heartbreaking tableau of a skeletal family. The man holds his wife protectively while she cradles their one-year-old child. The image, both poignant and instructive, graces the cover of Stanford University Earth Science and geophysics professor Amos Nur's new book, Apocalypse: Earthquakes, Archaeology, and the Wrath of God, written with the assistance of his graduate student Dawn Burgess.

The title might lead some readers--incorrectly--to expect a book full of graphic descriptions of biblical devastation. What they get instead is less spectacular but every bit as captivating. The professor delivers a fascinating mini-course full of detail, speculation, and a challenge to previous archaeological interpretations.


Upcoming reviews:

June:

coverOnly a Theory: Evolution and the Battle for America's Soul by Kenneth R. Miller (UPDATE: REVIEW TO BE ADDED HERE AFTER JUNE 15, 2008)

coverDistracted: The Erosion of Attention and the Coming Dark Age by Maggie Jackson (UPDATE: I HAVE DECIDED TO PASS ON REVIEWING THIS BOOK)

July:

cover What the Nose Knows: The Science of Scent in Everyday Life by Avery Gilbert.




Interesting books, including some beautifully illustrated ones, that I have received but will be unable to review. Not all are science-related.

coverDid Man Create God? Is Your Spiritual Brain at Peace With Your Thinking Brain (Including Intelligent Answers to Intelligent Design) by David E. Comings, M.D.

coverOff the Deep End: The Probably Insane Idea that I Could Swim My Way Through a Midlife Crisis--and Qualify for the Olympics by W. Hodding Carter.

coverFeathered Dinosaurs: The Origin of Birds by John Long and Peter Schouten (Coffee Table Book; Marvelous art!)

coverThe Jinn from Hyperspace: And Other Scribblings--Both Serious and Whimsical by Martin Gardner

coverBracing for Armageddon?: The Science and Politics of Bioterrorism in America by William R. Clark

coverReinventing the Sacred: A New View of Science, Reason, and Religion by Stuart A. Kauffman

The Oxford Book of Modern Science Writing by Richard Dawkins

coverFlower Hunters by Mary Gribbin and John Gribbin

coverTitan Unveiled: Saturn's Mysterious Moon Explored by Ralph Lorenz and Jacqueline Mitton

coverLife in Cold Blood by David Attenborough

coverThe Private Life of Spiders by Paul Hillyard (Coffee Table Book; great photos)




The "Dr. Fred Seeks Speaking Engagements" Department

I'm planning some travel to Eastern Pennsylvania and Rochester New York in the fall, and I'm looking for opportunities to present my unique school visit programs. I will gladly speak anywhere in those areas or en route from my home near Pittsburgh and waive travel expenses.




THANKS FOR SUPPORTING THE SCIENCE SHELF

Thank you to the growing number of people who are kind enough to buy some of the books that they discovered here through the Science Shelf links. They've even used the link on the Science Shelf homepage to enter and buy other books, like an unauthorized biography of Tom Cruise, and other products including, most recently, a heating pad for arthritis.

I hope those make the buyers feel better physically and emotionally--no couch jumping necessary. But I'll never know unless they tell me. Amazon's very sensible policies mean that I never find out who is buying; I just find out what they have bought, how much they paid, and how much my commission amounts to.

At the current pace, monthly commisions cover the cost of the web address, webhosting, and enough to buy me a two-topping large pizza (no anchovies, please). I'll never expect commissions to cover the time I spend maintaining the archive of book reviews and sending out messages like this. That's a labor of book- and science-love, and your feedback (in terms of increasing numbers of clicks) tells me you appreciate it.

As always, happy science reading, and thanks in advance for your support!

Fred Bortz