Get The Best American Science And Nature Writing 2019 Curated By Sy Montgomery Readable In Paperback
impression: a little disappointed, I like Sy Montgomery, so I was looking forward to this, but I read the sitelinkfirst essay, which didn't do much to grab me.
And then the sitelinksecond, They were fine essays, don't get me wrong, but I wasn't really sucked into the book, And then I realized that the pieces were simply sorted in alphabetical order, To me, who reads anthologies front to back rather than just dipping in, one of an anthologist's main tasks is organization, There's more to a good anthology than simply the selection of the right pieces, Whether stories are grouped thematically or not, there needs to be a flow, Good organization makes an anthology more than just the sum of its pieces and this is especially so in anthologies like this, where most of the essays are easily and freely accessible online.
The sitelinkthird essay, by Peter Brannen, was okay, but felt slight, especially having read this year's magnificent "sitelinkThe Anthropocene Is a Joke" by the same author.
It wasn't until the sitelinkfourth piece that I found myself really engaged and interested in this anthology,
I'll update this review with more discussion of the content once I've finished the book,
P. S. Here's a link to one of my own favorite bits of nature writing from, which was not available for reprint in this book but which stuck in my imagination as much as anything I read last year: "sitelinkSnarge" by Gary Kroll, collected in the anthology sitelinkFuture Remains: A Cabinet of Curiosities for the Anthropocene.
A sold collection of science writing published in the/, I enjoyed quite a few of the essays, but my favorites were probably the last three that discuss medicine amp health, A good chunk of the collection focuses on the current ecological/climatic crises we are in and that is something I already think about in my day to day life.
I had to put this anthology down for several weeks because every time I read it, I would cry thinking about all of the terrible things happening in the world.
The most unusual essay was "why does the paper jam persist" and was an enjoyable read apparently what type of tree the paper comes from matters.
Ironically, one of the essays was about the next pandemic, . and this anthology was published in October, one month before the first confirmed case of SARScov, Fun.
Been reading this off and on for over a year finally finished it, Fascinating stories on a wide variety of interesting and often heartbreaking topics, And I cant believe Ed Yong, after his nearpsychic reporting in “When the Next Plague Hits” The Atlantic, summer, didnt publish a followup piece in earlycalled “I Told You So”.
I've only read one other in the Best American Science and Nature Writing serieswas decentand I liked it then, so I checked out.
A good compilation even if I did not think all of them were spectacular enough to be the "Best", Still don't know to what degree a featured editor does except choose amongst what a series editor selects,
Snippets of my thoughts of each piece since I feel like getting some typing practice in today:
Philip Ball A Compassionate Substance: Water does not have memory, Elsa of Arendell stop supporting pseudoscience
Rebecca Boyle The Search for Alien Life Begins in Earth's Oldest Desert: Earth has some areas that are tutorial mode for Mars exploration and extremeophile research is good for finding extraterrestrial life, probably
Peter Brannen Glimpses of a Mass Extinction in ModernDay Western New York: trilobites! otherwise, I don't remember much from this one
Chris Colin This Sand is Your Sand Very funny and also navigable river water public rights just seem right based on my bias for the principle of the matter.
Reminds me of rights of ways for walking paths,
Douglas Fox The Brain, Reimagined: I now want a biologist to fight a physicist about neurons, Preferably in in a boxing ring,
Conor Gearin Little Golden FlowerRoom: On Wild Places and Intimacy: Good Hamlet quote"I could be bounded in a nutshell, and count myself a king of infinite space, were it not that I have bad dreams"otherwise not for me but probably does something for someone.
Ben GoldFarb The Endling: Watching a Species Vanish in Real Time: Lonesome George will always be my favorite endling mainly due to the straightforward name vaquita means 'little cow'! Oh, my heart it's adorable but not endearing enough for important people to rally for it and we're failing so hard to save it.
Gary Greenberg What If the Placebo Effect Is Not a Trick There is already money to be made in sugar pills so many vitamin/supplements are full of sugar
Jeremy Hance The Great Rhino UTurn: I wonder if anyone has looked to see if Iron Storage Disease could be used to balance out the anemics in the human world
Holly Haworth The Fading Stars: A Constellation: Did not like writer's writing style.
Phrasing, please the amount of times 'penetrate' is written about a feminized night sky is bit excessive or the usage of the original "milk'd" when Milton just wants his blind self to have his words transcribed as he dictated.
Also, I am still mad that the Catholic Church put Galileo under house arrest for the theory of heliocentrism but then eventually accepted the theory.
Not cool.
Eva Holland Saving Baby Boy Green My heart sank when the mom was mentioned to have IVF and the only thing I know about it is its expensive and often leads to twins but the title sadness
Apricot Irving The Fire at Eagle Creek: Good balance of multiple POVs in a clear timeline of disaster also the young person who stupidly caused the fire with fireworks is going to live with this for the rest of their lives.
oof
Rowan Jacobsen Deleting a Species Ehh, my old friend CRISPR reminds me of a proposed gene editing situation in a book about mosquitoes I read once Make those suckers sterile, and hopefully it does not cause everything to collapse
Brooke Jarvis The Insect Apocalypse Is Here: How did I not know about this Another thing that sucks to add to the suck list
Matt Jones No Heart, No Moon: Distinctive writing style good angle to explaining the extinction of a series directly and indirectly due to humanity
Kevin Krajick The Scientific Detectives Probing the Secrets of Ancient Oracles: Rocks myth busters basically the prophecy version of huffing paint
J.
B. MacKinnon You Really Don't Want to Know What It's Like to Be a Right Whale These Days: Brutal descriptions but great journalism yep there's a duty of care in there somewhere, but I do not know what to do which would not be met by great resistance
Bill McKibben How Extreme Weather Is Shrinking the Planet: Yeah, pretty much.
U. S. ' inaction and complicity is so sad and disappointing, Also, Exxon's role in the 'debate' of climate change and policy change about it is detestable, I still have a reliance of nonrenewable energy so I can't be all high and mighty, but, geez, the shortterm profits and selfishness of denying the science is messed up.
Rebecca Mead The Story of a Face: Very respectful reporting of a delicate subject reminds me that surgery is fascinating, but I also don't have the guts to do it especially on the face saw off some bone all day, but the thought of suturing some eyelids for a little bit just gives me the heebie geebies.
Molly Osberg How to Not Die in America: Yeah, the U, S. healthcare system is definitely tread water or be thrown to the sharks with the chum, Real easy. Also, that's real bad
luck with the rare strep strain,
Joshua Rothman Why Paper Jams Persist: Even if Rothman mentioned it once, my head could only think of the Office Space movie scene smashing that cursed printer the way it deserves half the time
Jordan Michael Smith The Professor of Horrible Deeds: Tough read not sure I could have that much empathy for those type of people.
Shannon Stirone Welcome to the Center of the Universe: Yep, NASA needs more funding less thanof the annual budget, really Still since I last heard that stat Only a miracle or a freak accident could actually lead to a bigger budget.
Linda Villarosa The Hidden Toll Racist society affects black mothers' and black babies' mortality rates, Because America. Still curious as how different doulas are from midwifes, More advocating than catching babies Might look up some other time when it comes up again
Ed Yong When the Next Plague Hits My dude, Ed Yong! I remember liking his writing in his book "I Contain Multitudes".
Like others probably have mentioned by now, it is uncanny how accurate and prescient Yong's assessment of preparedness for the next and due plague was especially America's probable reaction.
Reading this after Covidhit the U, S. is one way to appreciate the good reporting these writers do, Also, the Nebraska team watched Contagion together like/of the U, S. population did this Spring. Article/Debrouillezvous vs. nous sommes ensemble
Ilana Yurkiewicz: Paper Trails: Since I read a book by a health care systems person before reading this book, I was just nodding my head constantly because the exchange of Electronic Health Records helps with crosscoordinated care.
Glad good science writing is still surviving even if I am guilty of not reading it when it's fresh, Still a good series, but I would recommend jumping about in the articles to find the ones with topics that interest you unless you are like me and have fits of being a completionist.
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