The Best American Science & Nature Writing 2001
E-Book Overview
Both the misery and the majesty of modern publishing, it seems
to me, are equal justifications for anthologies like this one. Simply
put, there is more good writing out there than ever before, and it is
harder and harder to find it. And if that's true for journalism of all kinds,
it's doubly true for science and nature writing. The premier journals and
magazines in the field — Nature, Science, Cell, and so forth —
have never been great sources for literary journalism, nor
are they meant to be. Instead, the best essays and articles are scattered
among a bewildering array of literary and general interest
magazines. Edward Wilson and I had a few strict criteria in assembling
this volume: no fiction, poetry, prose poems, book chapters
(unless published as stand-alone articles) , or plays; only nonfiction
published in the last calendar year. But that still left thousands of issues
and articles to sift and sort. [...]
As you might expect — or even hope — from a book guest edited
by Edward Wilson, this year's selections lean somewhat toward
the natural sciences. Geology, physics, mathematics, and chemistry
are all represented, but they are surrounded on all sides by crocodiles,
harpy eagles, great apes, and a host of other creatures microand
macroscopic. The result, I think, is a vindication of an oft-maligned
field and a hopeful glimpse of its future.
[From the Preface by BURKHARD BlLGER]
E-Book Information
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Series: The Best American Series
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Year: 2,001
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Pages: xxii + 272
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Pages In File: 308
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Language: English
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Topic: 178
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Identifier: 0618153594, 9780618153596
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Ddc: 500
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Lcc: N/A
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Dpi: 400
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Color: 1
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Paginated: 1
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Org File Size: 38,972,984
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Extension: pdf
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Toc: Foreword ix
Edward O. Wilson Introduction: Life Is a Narrative xiii
David Berlinski Iterations of Immortality 1
Mark Cherrington To Save a Watering Hole 8
Edwin Dobb New Life in a Death Trap 15
Gregg Easterbrook Abortion and Brain Waves 23
Malcolm Gladwell Baby Steps 34
Jane Goodall In the Forests of Gombe 47
Jerome Groopman The Doubting Disease 54
Stephen S. Hall The Recycled Generation 63
Bernd Heinrich Endurance Predator 82
Edward Hoagland Harpy Eagles 90
Bill Joy Why the Future Doesn 't Need Us 96
Ted Kerasote A Killing at Dawn 127
Barbara Kingsolver and Steven Hopp Seeing Scarlet 132
Verlyn Klinkenborg The Best Clock in the World 139
Jon R. Luoma The Wild World 's Scotland Yard 147
Cynthia Mills Breeding Discontent 155
Oliver Morton Ice Station Vostok 165
Val Plumwood Being Prey 186
Sandra Postel Troubled Waters 196
Richard Preston The Genome Warrior 207
David Quammen Megatransect 238
Donovan Webster Inside the Volcano 253
Contributors' Notes 263
Other Notable Science and Nature Writing of 2000 267