THE SCIENCE SHELF NEWSLETTER


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



Issue #35, Spring, 2010



Dear Science Readers,

It's been ten weeks since the last Science Shelf newsletter, so some of you must be wondering what I have been waiting for. The answer is that I was waiting until after the Seattle Times published a review of The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing or Choice are Undermining Education by Diane Ravitch, a book that is quite critical of one of Seattle's hometown heroes, Bill Gates.

Clicking on the book cover or the link above will take you to a more detailed review than the newspaper had room for. As you will discover, Ravitch doesn't fault Mr. Gates for his generosity or his good intentions, but she takes his and his wife's foundation to task for its past and current directions in the funding of school reform efforts.

The author's argument with the Gates Foundation is only part of a much larger story. The review's opening paragraphs tell that tale:
The subtitle of Diane Ravitch's new book, The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice are Undermining Education, leaves no mystery about where the New York University and Brookings Institution education policy expert stands.

What is surprising is the route she took to her conclusion that the currently favored routes to reforming education -- measurement by standardized testing and market-based approaches to school choice -- have been counterproductive in the extreme.

A former Assistant Secretary of Education in the George H. W. Bush administration and a Clinton-appointed member of the National Assessment Governing Board (which oversees federal education testing), Ravitch sat eagerly in the White House on January 23, 2001, when newly-inaugurated President George W. Bush announced the principles that would become the foundation of the education act known as No Child Left Behind (NCLB).

As she listened to the new president lay out his plans, she was thinking about 1983's A Nation at Risk, "the all-time blockbuster of education reports," prepared by a group appointed by President Reagan's Secretary of Education, Terrel Bell. "Its conclusions were alarming, and its language was blunt to the point of being incendiary. It opened with the claim that 'the educational foundations of our society are presently being eroded by a rising tide of mediocrity.'"

Ravitch believed that NCLB's goals could provide a rising tide of a different kind: one that promoted excellence and achievement in schools throughout the United States. Then, on November 30, 2006, she realized that she had been terribly wrong.

That isn't a science book per se, but most science readers care deeply about education. And, as Ravitch notes, science education has been one of the major casuaties of NCLB.

The Latest Twist in String Theory

Some of you may recall my previous comparative review of The Trouble with Physics by Lee Smolin and Not Even Wrong by Peter Woit. Those two late 2006 titles that argued that physics had gone off track in its pursuit of string theory. They were difficult reading, but made important points about how new ideas can occasionally push a science in an unproductive direction.

After nearly four years, a young Princeton University physics professor named Steven S. Gubser has produced a response to Smolin and Woit, though he never mentions their names or their books. In The Little Book of String Theory, Gubser argues that string theory may yet prove successful as a "theory of everything."

The best thing about the book is its comfortable non-mathematical style, filled with analogies, as the review notes:
Gubser's approach is to replace mathematics with analogies. Quantum mechanical wave functions, for example, relate to one of his favorite pieces of classical music, Chopin's Fantasie-Impromptu. And to explain the concept of mathematical duality, he invokes images of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers on the dance floor. If you see only one, you can deduce the motion of the other.
The inherent complexity of the multi-dimensional universe of string theory will, at times, leave most readers grasping. But, the review ends by noting:
Overall, The Little Book of String Theory succeeds in its mission to carry readers through the tangle of ideas to the intellectual loose ends that physicists love. "Without a doubt, string theory is an unfinished canvas," Gubser concludes. "The big question is, when the results get filled in, will the resulting picture reveal the world?"


A Book I Chose Not to Review

In the last newsletter, I indicated that I was hoping to get a bite on my pitch to review What's Eating You: People and Parasites by Eugene H. Kaplan. I had such a great time with Kaplan's earlier Sensuous Seas: Tales of a Marine Biologist that I was itching to see how he handled this topic.

This time, I found Kaplan's style as engaging as before, but the subject matter --parasitic diseases-- was so bleak that I didn't feel much like laughing. I much prefer Riddled with Life: Friendly Worms, Ladybug Sex, and the Parasites That Make Us Who We Are by Marlene Zuk.

Kaplan's book doesn't deserve a negative review, but I couldn't give it a positive one. I gave up after a few chapters, but you might have a more positive reaction to the book. Clicking on its cover image will take you to its Amazon.com page, where the reader reviews may entice you to pick up where I left off. In fact, if you like it well enough to submit a review for this site by e-mail, I'll be glad to have a look.

A Major Award for a Wonderfully Thought-Provoking Book

When I posted a short review of Almost Astronauts: 13 Women Who Dared to Dream by my friend Tanya Lee Stone, I wrote, "It has received numerous rave reviews and endorsements that tell me it will certainly compete for major awards next year. (You read it here first, folks!)"

My prediction came true when the book received this year's prestigious Sibert Medal for young adult nonfiction from the American Library Association. Congratulations, Tanya!

A Look Ahead

Next up for my reviewing is a title that has been assigned but I have not yet seen. But the pun lover in me is predisposed to enjoy Here's Looking at Euclid: A Surprising Excursion Through the Astonishing World of Math by Alex Bellos. I also have an intriguing math book called The Pythagorean Theorem: The Story of Its Power and Beauty by Alfred S. Pomantier. I'm thinking about pitching a paired review. Stay tuned!

After I finish those, I will turn my attention to one of my favorite authors, astrobiologist Peter Ward, whose books will be on the reading list for a ten-hour course on Astrobiology that I will be teaching at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Pittsburgh this summer.

In an upcoming book called The Flooded Earth: Our Future in a World Without Ice Caps, Ward turns to the future of this planet if we do not rein in our greenhouse gas emissions.

A Sampling of my In-Box
As in the last two newsletters, I am happy to share a list of books that look interesting, despite the fact I have no room on my reviewing plate for them. I'll let the covers and titles speak for themselves. I'll begin with one more brain book to join last newsletter's cerebral parade.

Wisdom: From Philosphy to Neuroscience by Stephen S. Hall

Cro-Magnon: How the Ice Age Gave Birth to the First Modern Humans by Brian M. Fagan

The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York by Deborah Blum

Supernormal Stimuli: How Primal Urges Overran Their Evolutionary Purpose by Deirdre Barrett

Why Do Bees Buzz? Fascinating Answers to Questions about Bees (Animal Q&a Series, parperback) by Elizabeth Capaldi Evans and Carol A. Butler

My Dream of Stars: From Daughter of Iran to Space Pioneer by Anousheh Ansari and Homer Hickam

A Rave Review for My Latest Book

I have never before had a review of one of my books where the reviewer both understood what I was trying to accomplish and loved the book even more than I do. Then along comes Deb Fowler's effusive praises for Seven Wonders of Exploration Technology in The Feathered Quill that include these words: "This stunning book will astound the young, insatiable science students and keep them asking for more."

It's enough to make me blush, but it's too good not to tout for my Science Shelf readers.

My Usual Thanks
In past newsletters, I have offered my thanks 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. Many use the link on the Science Shelf homepage to enter Amazon.com every time they shop for books or other Amazon products (someone just bought some tools). It's their way of thanking me for these archiving these reviews and occasionally publishing reviews by other people with varying points of view.

I never know who's buying, only what they bought. Sometimes their purchases prompt me to look at the same books. Sometimes a shopping list indicates my website is a useful entry point for important topics, such as climate change.

I'll repeat an offer that I made last time as a way of thanking you for your support. If you want to order some of my books directly from me, I may be able to offer a substantial discount on a few titles where I overbought. Just send me an e-mail and I'll let you know if I have the titles you are interested in.

As I have often said, I don't expect Amazon.com commissions to cover the time I spend maintaining the archive of book reviews and sending out messages like this. But I am grateful that the number of purchases is growing slowly. The monthly income is now usually enough to buy a Chinese dinner for two without dessert or wine. That means the Science Shelf is still a labor of book- and science-love, and your of click-throughs tell me you appreciate it.

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

Fred Bortz