The Best American Science & Nature Writing 2000

Rating:
Summary: great collection
Review: Of all the annual 'best of' anthologies, Houghton Mifflin's Best American Science and Nature Writing has to be the best. I know it has only been out a few years, but in every anthology, 90% of the essays are phenomenal. In the 2000 edition I thought only Wendell Berry's and Wendy Johnson's essays didn't belong (I'm not sure that you could qualify Johnson's piece as science or nature writing). Otherwise you have great pieces by Natalie Angier, Richard Conniff, Paul de Palma, Helen Epstein, Anne Fadiman, Atul Gawande, Brian Hayes, Edward Hoagland, Judith Hooper, Ken Lamberton, Peter Matthiessen, Cullen Murphy, Richard Preston, Oliver Sacks, Hampton Sides, Craig B. Stanford, and Gary Taubes (most of them I had never heard of). And they range over all aspects of science, nature, and technology. Great collection.

Rating:
Summary: great collection
Review: Of all the annual `best of' anthologies, Houghton Mifflin's Best American Science and Nature Writing has to be the best. I know it has only been out a few years, but in every anthology, 90% of the essays are phenomenal. In the 2000 edition I thought only Wendell Berry's and Wendy Johnson's essays didn't belong (I'm not sure that you could qualify Johnson's piece as science or nature writing). Otherwise you have great pieces by Natalie Angier, Richard Conniff, Paul de Palma, Helen Epstein, Anne Fadiman, Atul Gawande, Brian Hayes, Edward Hoagland, Judith Hooper, Ken Lamberton, Peter Matthiessen, Cullen Murphy, Richard Preston, Oliver Sacks, Hampton Sides, Craig B. Stanford, and Gary Taubes (most of them I had never heard of). And they range over all aspects of science, nature, and technology. Great collection.

Rating:
Summary: powerful writing
Review: There are some powerful essays in this book, which would make a great gift for anyone who likes good writing or who loves the natural world. The best natural history essay that I read this year was free because it was posted on Amazon. It was the sample chapter for Diana Muir's Bullough's Pond.

Rating:
Summary: excellent reading
Review: This is a fine read. Many great short articles and several longer ones. The book is written largely for the layman. If you have general science knowledge and are reasonably current with world events, you can enjoy this book. Two articles in particular are "must read" status: "African Wild Dogs," and "The Demon in the Freeze," which is a chilling account of the current status and history of smallpox. Hey, it costs 10 bucks...buy it.

Rating:
Summary: Editorials not Science
Review: This is a deeply flawed and disappointing collection of polemics revealing the editor's "watermelon" politics, (green on the outside, red in the middle).

Rating:
Summary: excellent reading
Review: This is a fine read. Many great short articles and several longer ones. The book is written largely for the layman. If you have general science knowledge and are reasonably current with world events, you can enjoy this book. Two articles in particular are "must read" status: "African Wild Dogs," and "The Demon in the Freeze," which is a chilling account of the current status and history of smallpox. Hey, it costs 10 bucks...buy it.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting and diverse articles
Review: This is a good book! I just mailed a copy to a friend. One article is about whether or not computers really do increase productivity or whether computer users spend lots of time figuring out software rather than doing real work. Reminds one of Edward Tufte's Visual Explanations about how so many web sites are filled with 'screenjunk' rather than content. Another article discusses cancer clusters and why most people do not realize how random sequences really work, which leads them to jump to the wrong conclusions. One article is about Paul Ewald's work concerning infectious diseases. This lead me to read his current book Plague Time. Very thought provoking. An especially frightening article concerns smallpox and the threat of bio-warfare, and why our government cannot seem to get any new, fresh vaccine made. Many other great articles. Worth the read.