THE SCIENCE SHELF NEWSLETTER


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



Issue #31, Small Steps and Giant Leaps Edition, July-August 2009



NOTE: Many of the links that follow take you to the review of the book in question. Each review has a link to buy at Amazon.com if you are interested.

Dear Science Readers,

Thank you for your continued interest in my reviews. The previous ("Bookonomic Stimulus") edition of the Science Shelf newsletter produced numerous click-throughs to Amazon.com. Even in these difficult economic times, my commissions are at least holding steady if not increasing, and that justifies my taking time to keep the newsletters current. I plan to update them every two months or so--it's been 2.5 months this time--so if you subscribe, you won't be inundated with e-mails from me.

The highlight of my summer has been "lead" status of two recent reviews in three different newspapers. One review was an absolute rave--something I rarely do. Perhaps it is because Rocket Men: The Epic Story of the First Men on the Moon by Craig Nelson took me back to the most exciting scientific and technological advance in my lifetime, and likely in all of human history.

As my review notes, Rocket Men is the story of much more than one space flight. It puts the entire Apollo program in its proper Cold War historical perspective. Neil Armstrong's "small step" and humanity's "giant leap" were political events as much as scientific and technological ones.

The other review might make you rave--or it might make you feel a little bit creepy about your interest in learning more. All I can say is give into your darker side and click to read my comparative review of Cruelty: Human Evil and the Human Brain by Kathleen Taylor and The Anatomy of Evil by Michael H. Stone, M.D.

One of the reviews I highlighted in the last newsletter is producing a steady stream of click-throughs, so it is worth another mention here: Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human by Richard Wrangham. As I noted in my last update, this very readable book will change what you think about food and our origins as "the cooking apes, the creatures of the flame."

Reviews That Didn't Happen

The review business is funny sometimes. Some titles come to the fore unexpectedly, while other reviews get dropped. In the latter category are two that I mentioned last time: How Women Got Their Curves and Other Just-So Stories: Evolutionary Enigmas by David P Barash Ph.D. and Dr. Judith Eve Lipton and Unscientific America: How Scientific Illiteracy Threatens Our Future by Chris Mooney and Sheril Kirshenbaum.

The Curves book review was cancelled by the assigning editor even before I read much of the book when an anticipated speaking engagement to that editor's city never materialized. I decided not to review Unscientific America, despite the importance of the subject matter, because I found it to be a disappointing rehash of ideas that I had encountered during my academic ventures into science education in the 1980s and 1990s. Even worse, I disagreed with its prescription for fighting "scientific illiteracy," which was, essentially, every scientist a communicator to the general public.

I don't review disappointing books, but I do review controversial ones. (Click here for my favorite example of a generally negative review that probably makes some readers want to buy the book.) It turns out that Unscientific America is controversial to one subset of scientists. It has stirred up the wrath of people it describes as militant atheists, such as PZ Myers of the well-read Pharyngula blog. Oddly, that's one of the few areas where I think Mooney and Kirshenbaum make a good point--and you don't have to be "a believer" to agree with them.

Mooney and Kirshenbaum have been doing a lot of speaking to promote their book. If you have a chance to hear them in person or in the media, I recommend that you do so. Their topic is vitally important, even though I think their book misses the mark.

Special Thanks

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 books and other Amazon.com products. One of my readers tells me she loves the Kindle reader and she has bought a few Kindle editions after entering the Amazon store through my book links. (If the books above are available on Kindle, the Amazon.com links will list them as other editions.)

In fact, she has now bought the new next-generation bigger-screen Kindle, having lost her first one while traveling. I wouldn't know that she was the buyer if she didn't e-mail me to tell me about it. Amazon's very sensible privacy policies keeps buyers' personal information confidential. I learn what they have bought, how much they paid, and how much my commission amounts to; but Amazon never discloses who bought the items.

At the current pace, monthly commisions cover the cost of the web address, webhosting, and enough to buy me and my wife some Chinese take-out. I don't 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