Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
With The Best American Science and Nature Writing, Houghton Mifflin expands its stellar Best American series with a volume that honors our long and distinguished history of publishing the best writers in these fields.
David Quammen, together with series editor Burkhard Bilger, has assembled a remarkable group of writers whose selections appeared in periodicals from NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC, SCIENCE, and THE NEW YORKER to PUERTO DEL SOL and DOUBLETAKE. Among the acclaimed writers represented in this volume are Richard Preston on The Demon in the Freezer,” John McPhee bidding Farewell to the Nineteeth Century,” Oliver Sacks remembering the Brilliant Light” of his boyhood, and Wendell Berry going Back to the Land.” Also including such literary lights as Anne Fadiman, David Guterson, Edward Hoagland, Natalie Angier, and Peter Matthiessen, this new collection presents selections bound together by their timelessness.
About the Author
'David Quammen, a former Rhodes scholar, has written the highly acclaimed SONG OF THE DODO (1997: Simon and Schuster), a series of books based on his columns for OUTSIDE magazine, and three novels. All of his nonfiction books are still in print. His writing for OUTSIDE garnered that magazine a National Magazine Award. Although he\'s likely to be found conducting research anywhere from Rumania to Congo, he lives in Bozeman, Montana.Burkhard Bilger is a staff writer at The New Yorker and a former editor at Discover and The Sciences. His work has appeared in The Atlantic Monthly, Harper\'s, The New York Times, Outside, and numerous other publications, and has been anthologized in The Best American Science and Nature Writing and The Best American Sports Writing. His book, \"Noodling for Flatheads: Moonshine, Monster Catfish, and Other Southern Comforts,\" was a finalist for the Pen-Faulkner Award for First Nonfiction in 2000.'
Table of Contents
Contents Foreword ix Introduction: The Vine-Tree by David Quammen xiii Natalie Angier. Men, Women, Sex, and Darwin 1 from The New York Times Magazine Wendell Berry. Back to the Land 14 from The Amicus Journal Richard Conniff. Africas Wild Dogs 22 from National Geographic Paul De Palma. http://www.when_is_enough_enough?.com 34 from The American Scholar Helen Epstein. Something Happened 48 from The New York Review of Books Aanne Fadiman. Under Water 63 from The New Yorker Atul Gawande. The Cancer-Cluster Myth 67 from The New Yorker Brian Hayes. Clock of Ages 75 from The Sciences Edward Hoagland. That Sense of Falling 87 from Preservation Judith Hooper. A New Germ Theory 91 from The Atlantic Monthly Wendy Johnson. Heavy Grace 114 from Tricycle Ken Lamberton. The Wisdom of Toads 116 from Puerto del Sol Peter Matthiessen. The Island at the End of the Earth 125 from Audubon Cullen Murphy. Lulu, Queen of the Camels 135 from The Atlantic Monthly Richard Preston. The Demon in the Freezer 150 from The New Yorker Oliver Sacks. Brilliant Light 179 from The New Yorker Hampton Sdes. This Is Not the Place 209 from DoubleTake Craig b. Stanford. Gorilla Warfare 235 from The Sciences Gary Taubes. String Theorists Find a Rosetta Stone 245 from Science Contributors Notes 257 Other Notable Science and Nature Writing of 1999 261