Dear Science Readers,
If you've read some of my old reviews, you might already know this about me: I sometimes get bitten by the rhyming bug, and I can't help monkeying around with verse. And it doesn't take much to inspire the punster in me. Hence the title of this newsletter and the opening sentence. The newest review in the Science Shelf archive has neither rhymes nor puns, but it is about monkeys--and apes and humans, too. It's a mixed review because I know that most of my audience would prefer something a little lighter on the taxonomic details, but the author does well as a story-teller.
So have a look at my recently published review of The Hunt for the Dawn Monkey: Unearthing the Origins of Monkeys, Apes, and Humans by paleontologist and MacArthur "genius" grant-winner Chris Beard. And if you like what you find there, use the e-mail link to let me know.
My other newly published reviews are also now on line: a fascinating social history Astro Turf: The Private Life of Rocket Science by M. G. Lord, who wrote Forever Barbie, and Centauri Dreams: Imagining and Planning Interstellar Exploration by Paul Gilster, a challenging piece of speculative nonfiction.
February is, thankfully, a short month--at least for someone like me who hates to shovel snow, would rather not drive in it, and never got into skiing. But the month has two bright spots. I live only about 80 miles from Punxsutawney, PA, and I always enjoy the hoopla surrounding Groundhog's Day. And Valentine's Day makes even a curmudgeonly reviewer think of his long-suffering spouse.
Of course, I'm always thinking about science books. As the author of a children's weather project book, I even got to visit Punxsutawney Phil one weekend a few years ago when regional children's authors were selling books to raise money for the community library. When Phil isn't working at Gobbler's Knob, he hangs out in the window of the library in that delightful little Allegheny Mountain town.
Visitors to The Science Shelf must also be thinking about the weather quite a bit recently, as the number of visitors reading reviews of weather books has been substantial. Interest in two recent titles has been particularly high: FitzRoy: The Remarkable Story of Darwin's Captain and the Invention of the Weather Forecast by John and Mary Gribbin and Defining the Wind: The Beaufort Scale and How a 19th-Century Admiral Turned Science into Poetry by Scott Huler.
People have also been looking at my comparative review from 2001 of The Coming Storm: Extreme Weather and Our Terrrifying Future by Bob Reiss and Hurricane Watch: Forecasting the Deadliest Storms on Earth by Dr. Bob Sheets and Jack Williams. If you follow any of those links, you'll find a hot-linked list of reviews of other interesting weather titles.
As for Valentine's Day, one of last year's best books was Why We Love by Helen Fisher, and my review is still getting plenty of attention. Of course, I start that review with "Roses are red...."
This might just be a good time to turn to thoughts of love for a change. The list of five most popular Science Shelf reviews in January suggests that the divisive political season in the United States is still very much on readers minds. All five of them have political subthemes. Besides the always popular review of two 1999 biographies of Carl Sagan and the review of the hot, new Astro Turf, the other three top reviews are of fairly recent titles about very scary events from history (Hitler's Scientists)or a potentially frightening future (The End of Oil and Pandora's Baby).
One thing is clear to me from all of this. There is no shortage of good reading material about science, and new books continue to cross my desk. I'll share as many of those with you as I can, and I'm always glad to hear about your finds to share with other visitors to The Science Shelf. Please e-mail me the author and title, and I'll create a page for that book. I will either keep the recommendation anonymous, use your cyber-alias or, if you permit, your real name and/or e-mail address. Add a sentence or two or a more detailed review (up to 1000 words) and I'll consider it for publication here. See the Science Shelf guidelines page for more information.
Please feel free to send this URL (www.scienceshelf.com/news.htm) to your friends. And don't forget, you and they can join the Science Shelf's e-mail list to be alerted to the latest news at the site. Please be assured that I will not share your name or e-mail or use them for other purposes.
As always, Happy Reading!
Fred Bortz
I also write children's science books, which you can learn more about at "Dr. Fred's Place".
Thanks for your interest. Please e-mail me comments and suggestions about my reviews or this website.
Note: All materials on this site are the copyrighted property of Alfred B. Bortz. Individuals may print single copies of reviews or columns for their own use. For permission to publish or print multiple copies of any of the materials on this site, please contact the author by e-mail.
