THE SCIENCE SHELF NEWSLETTER


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



Issue #25, Mid-December 2007 edition




Dear Science Readers,

This is an update to the previous Science Shelf newsletter, reflecting a few additions to the site and to my reading list.

I just added three new book reviews to my Science Shelf book review archive. All deal with climate change, and all are reviewed by people other than myself. I list them here with their opening paragraphs. Click the covers or linked text for the full reviews.

coverCool It: The Skeptical Environmentalist's Guide to Global Warming by Bjorn Lomborg

Headline: Once Again, Lomborg Gets it Half Right
Lead paragraph:
While a respected scholar in his field, Bjorn Lomborg is not a scientist, something that was clear from his first book. In that work, as well as in this one, Lomborg makes a critical error, one that is common to many non scientists writing about scientific issues. He tends to present all of his arguments in defense of a particular conclusion, ignoring the reality (which all scientists are familiar with) that we usually do not have enough information to be able to really know what conclusions we should draw. In the case of global warming, this is especially true.

coverWhere We Stand: A Surprising Look at the Real State of Our Planet by Seymour Garte

For people who are put off by all the talk of global warming these days, a new book, Where We Stand: A Surprising Look at the Real State of Our Planet by Seymour Garte, Ph.D., gives a balanced and in many ways positive view of the state of the planet. Garte, a professor of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh, goes over both the critical issues still facing man, as well as the often-forgotten progress and positive developments.

coverThe Long Summer: How Climate Changed Civilization by Brian Fagan

[Note: This book, from 2004, is not new, but it relates closely to one by the same author, The Little Ice Age, which was also reviewed on The Science Shelf. That review is still one of the most frequently read pages on the site.]

In The Long Summer: How Climate Changed Civilization Brian Fagan notes that major changes in European military/political activities, and in their religious affiliates, may have been at least partially mediated by long-term weather changes. He points to the movement of the boundary between the "Mediterranean Air Mass" and the "Atlantic Air Mass", and the "Continental Air Mass". Since the boundary is a place where plants from both sides of that line grow well, an agricultural society gets richer on that boundary, called the "Ecotone", than elsewhere.

Thanks to the authors of those reviews who gave me permission to add them to my site.

I also just received a review copy of a book that I will be unable to review but recommend to astronomy lovers and to people who buy books for astronomy lovers. Have a look at the new paperback coverOxford Dictionary of Astronomy by Ian Ridpath.

From here forward is my previous newsletter, written in early November 2007, with some minor corrections and the addition of books to my reading table that you might want to discover for yourself.



It's been a month and a half between updates (click here to read the previous newsletter), and I may not have another until next year. I'm getting slightly fewer book review assignments from my major newspaper clients these days. That's symptomatic of the newspaper business as a whole. Many major metropolitan newspapers are cutting back their book coverage, and some clients tell me to expect further cuts next year unless their readership complains. I'm still the science "go-to guy" for one major paper, so you can expect on the average of one new review each month from me with updates like this every 6-8 weeks, at least for the short term.

Let me share some "inside baseball" here: a request that you contact your hometown newspapers to protest the decline in book reviews, especially reviews of popular science books. Letters like that can make a big difference.

Here's what I've learned or noticed of late: One excellent client newspaper used to have science reviews once or twice a month. They bought from me as well as other good freelancers whose names I began to recognize and whose work I came to appreciate. That paper has not run a science review in many weeks. I suspect they needed to cut back their book review space and made a strategic decision to focus on fiction plus areas of nonfiction other than science.

Another client editor told me he expects to lose his book reviews next year. He has other responsibilities and book coverage has been losing the priority battle.

I would like to maintain The Science Shelf as a site where people come to discover interesting new science books, so I welcome your e-mails recommending titles to other science readers. I will post those recommendations with names, pseudonyms, or anonymously. A brief description of the books' contents or comments on why you liked them would be useful.

But enough complaining. Thanksgiving is coming, with the year-end holiday season to follow. Let's celebrate with some interesting science books that you might want to add to your gift list or wish list.

My most recent review actually made it into three newspapers, despite the cutbacks. That is a testimony to the book's topic, Machiavellianism, and its quirky title, coverEvil Genes: Why Rome Fell, Hitler Rose, Enron Failed, and My Sister Stole My Mother's Boyfriend by Barbara Oakley.

Another book that should have wide appeal is coverThe Design of Future Things by Don Norman. I have submitted my review, which will be added to the Science Shelf archive when that review appears in print.

Here are the opening paragraphs:

It's a common experience: You push on a door and it refuses to budge. Then you notice its inscribed one-word direction: "Pull."

"How stupid!" you chide yourself. And then, especially if you have read Donald A. Norman's classic coverThe Design of Everyday Things, you realize that the blame belongs not with you but with the design of the entranceway. A door, after all, should not require an instruction manual.

Now the Northwestern University Professor is back with a more informal byline, Don Norman, and an equally insightful and entertaining look ahead at the opportunities and foibles inherent in The Design of Future Things.

This book, like its predecessor, will disabuse anyone of the notion that a book about engineering has to be dull. Don Norman's delightful humor, inviting prose, and choice of topics and examples are guaranteed to make a connection with anyone who has ever driven a car, used a microwave oven, or searched for hidden treasures in a refrigerator....

The full review is now online here.

Upcoming reviews:

December:

coverA Force of Nature: The Frontier Genius of Ernest Rutherford by Richard Reeves
[Note added: This review is now available online.]

January:

coverCensoring Science: Inside the Political Attack on Dr. James Hansen and the Truth of Global Warming by Mark Bowen
[Note added: This review is now available online.]

Also in January:

coverBanana: The Fate of the Fruit That Changed the World by Dan Koeppel

[Note: I'm hoping to get an assignment for this book that the publicist describes it as a "highly readable and thrilling narrative (that) reveals the myth, mystery, and uncertain fate of the world's most humble fruit." The book gains importance because, "Thanks to a fiercely spreading blight, the banana is on a fast-track to extinction, and there's no cure in sight." There's real "ap-peel" here for a pun- and limerick-loving reviewer like me..]

Yet another January book:

coverFour Laws That Drive the Universe by Peter Atkins

[Note: I doubt I'll be reviewing this one, but here's a brief note about it. This compact book (131 pages of main text, including the index) looks like a very readable summary of thermodynamics and its importance to understanding heat, energy, science, and technology.]

February:

coverWhat Bugged the Dinosaurs: Insects, Disease, and Death in the Cretaceous by George Poinar, Jr., and Roberta Poinar (Review now available online.

April:

coverWhen Science Goes Wrong: Twelve Tales from the Dark Side of Discovery by Simon LeVay

[Note: I doubt I'll be reviewing this one, because it is a paperback original, but it certainly grabbed my attention at a glance through its contents.]



NEW IN PAPERBACK Click here for the Science Shelf review, or click below to buy the following books that challenge "String Theory."

coverThe Trouble With Physics

coverNot Even Wrong



THE SPACE ALIENS FOR HOLIDAY GIFTS DEPARTMENT

My new title for middle graders in Lerner's "Cool Science" series, coverAstrobiology has been published in classroom paperback edition for the very affordable price of $8.95. When I last checked, the paperback edition was not on either the Amazon.com website or the publisher's website. Click the cover image if you want to learn more about it or order the hardcover edition.

If the paperback alternative does not yet appear or if you want an autographed copy of either edition, e-mail me. I will gladly sign and sell to you for the retail price and not charge for shipping in the U.S.

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 products including, most recently, some skin lotion.

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. 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