Best Sci-Tech Books 2004: The Masters of Science Writing

Within the community of science writers, just a handful are recognized—often via best books lists and literary awards—as the elite. Of the 36 authors whose works are cited below as the best in science and technology for 2004, 19 have seen their previous books on this list. These include Pulitzer Prize winners (Richard Rhodes, Jonathan Weiner, Edward Larson), renowned scientist-scholars (Richard Dawkins, Brian Greene, Peter Ward), and leading science journalists (Steven Johnson, Robin Marantz Henig, and Carl Zimmer). All have mastered the difficult art of exceptional science writing for general readers.

There are several first-timers here, too, such as Mark Lynas, Michael Gordin, Ann Parson, Trevor Corson, and Alan Tennant, who bear watching in the future. Science writers offer a variety of perspectives, but as LJ's Best Sci-Tech list reveals each year, the best among them stand out consistently.

FEDEROFF, NINA V. NANCY MARIE BROWN. Mendel in the Kitchen: A Scientist's View of Genetically Modified Foods. Joseph Henry: National Academy. 370p. illus. bibliog. index. ISBN 0-309-09205-1. $24.95. A noted geneticist and a science writer argue that, despite exaggerated concerns, genetically modified food can increase harvests, improve nutrition, reduce the use of pesticides, and, ultimately, present the best hope for feeding a hungry world. (LJ 10/15/04)

TYSON, NEIL DEGRASSE DONALD GOLDSMITH. Origins: Fourteen Billion Years of Cosmic Evolution. Norton. 345p. photogs. index. ISBN 0-393-05992-8. $27.95. Tyson, the director of New York City's Hayden Planetarium, and astronomy writer Goldsmith distill the origins of the universe into prose that not only aids in comprehension but also illustrates its grandeur. (LJ 9/1/04)

GOLDSMITH, BARBARA. Obsessive Genius: The Inner World of Marie Curie. Atlas Bks., dist. by Norton. 256p. photogs. bibliog. ISBN 0-393-05137-4. $23.95. Nothing came easy for Marie Curie, as this excellent portrait reveals. From her impoverished childhood to her struggles against sexual prejudice and battles for recognition, she met every obstacle with relentless drive and determination. (LJ 11/1/04)

JARDINE, LISA. The Curious Life of Robert Hooke: The Man Who Measured London. HarperCollins. 422p. illus. index. ISBN 0-06-053897-X. $27.95. A sometimes overlooked player in 17th-century science, Hooke, an engineer, inventor, and microscopist, served as London's chief surveyor after the Great Fire. This definitive biography acknowledges his many accomplishments while capturing his obsessive, irascible, and even arrogant personality. (LJ 1/04)

RHODES, RICHARD. John James Audubon: The Making of an American. Knopf. 514p. illus. maps. bibliog. index. ISBN 0-375-41412-6. $30. Audubon, the bastard son of a French naval officer, fled to America to avoid military service in France, yet in many ways became an archetypal American: an artist, a naturalist, an adventurer…and, as Rhodes demonstrates, his masterpiece, Birds of America, showcased all of his skills. (LJ 9/15/04)

GORDIN, MICHAEL D. A Well-Ordered Thing: Dmitrii Mendeleev and the Shadow of the Periodic Table. Basic. 364p. illus. bibliog. index. ISBN 0-465-02775-X. $30. Mendeleev's signal scientific achievement was the periodic table of chemical elements. He also dreamt of a similarly well-organized Russian society, with science at its center. Gordin sheds new light on Mendeleev's tumultuous pursuit of both science and social change. (LJ 4/15/04)

LYNAS, MARK. High Tide: The Truth About Our Climate Crisis. Picador: St. Martin's. 304p. illus. index. ISBN 0-312-30365-3. pap. $14. Ordinary people who live in fragile environments are already feeling the impact of global warming in their daily lives. Lynas ranges across the globe, from Alaska to the Pacific Islands, to report on their experiences. (LJ 8/04)

FORTEY, RICHARD. Earth: An Intimate History. Knopf. 480p. illus. index. ISBN 0-375-40626-3. $30. Part travelog, part natural history, Fortey's tour of planet Earth takes readers across diverse geological terrains and through deep time. He also acknowledges how humans have both shaped and been formed by the land. (LJ 11/15/04)

LAMB, SIMON. Devil in the Mountain: A Search for the Origin of the Andes. Princeton Univ. 336p. illus. bibliog. index. ISBN 0-691-11596-6. $29.95. For much of a decade, British scientist Lamb has studied the geology of the Bolivian Andes—the planet's second highest mountain range and a seismically active region. His field work is full of adventures; his theories of mountain formation are influential.

EHRLICH, PAUL ANNE EHRLICH. One with Nineveh: Politics, Consumption, and the Human Future. Shearwater: Island. 447p. index. ISBN 1-55963-879-6. $27. Two leading scientists argue that three perils—increasing consumption, growing population, and the imbalance of global power—threaten the world environment. The authors are specifically critical of the current U.S. administration's policies.

SPETH, JAMES GUSTAVE. Red Sky at Morning: America and the Crisis of the Global Environment. Yale Univ. 299p. bibliog. index. ISBN 0-300-10232-1. $24. A founder of the National Resources Defense Council explains why we are running out of time to preserve the environment and how governments, in particular that of the United States, have failed to address today's leading ecological issues.

DAWKINS, RICHARD. The Ancestor's Tale: A Pilgrimage to the Dawn of Life. Houghton. 673p. bibliog. index. ISBN 0-618-00583-8. $28. Modeling his narrative after The Canterbury Tales, biologist Dawkins embarks upon an evolutionary "pilgrimage" back through time. Species tell their own stories, noting how evolution connects them to earlier groups. (LJ9/15/04)

LARSON, EDWARD. Evolution: The Remarkable History of a Scientific Idea. Modern Library. 368p. illus. index. ISBN 0-679-64288-9. $21.95. Although a sensation when it was first published, Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection only gained consensus after myriad subsequent discoveries in such fields as geology, paleontology, and genetics. Historian Larson provides the theory's broad social and cultural context as it "evolved" over time. (LJ 5/15/04)

GEE, HENRY. Jacob's Ladder: The History of the Human Genome. Norton. 353p. illus. index. ISBN 0-393-05083-1. $25.95. Now that the human genome has been decoded, what does it reveal and how might that knowledge be used? Evolutionary biologist Gee argues that answering these questions represents the next steps of a ladder to the future. (LJ 7/04)

ANGELL, MARCIA. The Truth About the Drug Companies: How They Deceive Us and What To Do About It. Random. 305p. bibliog. index. ISBN 0-375-50846-5. $24.95. The former editor of the New England Journal of Medicine attacks the pharmaceutical industry's profiteering and corruption, which, she claims, directly result in increased drug costs for consumers and possibly threatens their health. (LJ 7/04)

JEFFREYS, DIARMUID. Aspirin: The Remarkable Story of a Wonder Drug. Bloomsbury. 335p. bibliog. index. ISBN 1-58234-386-1. $25.95. "Take two aspirin and call me in the morning," advises the stereotypical physician. A BBC journalist reveals why, now and throughout history, that is actually sound medical advice. (LJ 9/15/04)

PARSON, ANN B. The Proteus Effect: Stem Cells and Their Promise for Medicine. Joseph Henry: National Academy. 301p. index. ISBN 0-309-08988-3. $24.95. Science journalist Parson presents a well-rounded overview of a controversial topic, outlining medical possibilities and grappling with the sensitive moral issues involved. (LJ 9/15/04)

WEINER, JONATHAN. His Brother's Keeper: A Story from the Edge of Medicine. Ecco: HarperCollins. 356p. ISBN 0-06-001007-X. $26.95. This gripping tale of two brothers, one with a fatal disease and another who became a genetic engineer in a frantic quest to find a cure, resonated with the author as his own mother suffered a similar illness. (LJ 4/15/04)

BARRY, JOHN M. The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History. Viking. 560p. bibliog. index. ISBN 0-670-89473-7. $29.95. Historian Barry's in-depth history of the 1918 flu outbreak that killed up to 50 million people worldwide reminds us of how deadly the virus has been in the past and how dangerous it remains today.

HENIG, ROBIN MARANTZ. Pandora's Baby: How the First Test Tube Baby Sparked the Reproductive Revolution. Houghton. 326p. index. ISBN 0-618-22415-7. $25. Before the debates about stems cells and human cloning, there were passionate ethical arguments for and against in vitro fertilization (IVF). Revolutionary in the 1970s and now a standard medical procedure, IVF has redefined the terms of bioethics. (LJ 1/04)

ZIMMER, CARL. Soul Made Flesh: The Discovery of the Brain—and How It Changed the World. Free Pr: S. & S. 384p. illus. bibliog. index. ISBN 0-7432-3038-8. $26. London in the 17th century was home to many of the founders of modern scientific methodology. Among them, at the center of an extraordinary group of scholars called the "Oxford Circle," was the physician Thomas Willis, whose groundbreaking studies of brain anatomy established the science of neurology. (LJ 12/03)

OLSON, STEVE. Count Down: Six Kids Vie for Glory at the World's Toughest Math Competition. Houghton. 256p. index. ISBN 0-618-25141-3. $24. Despite concern about the poor quality of American mathematics education, the six high school students who compete in the International Mathematics Olympiad give reason for hope as they revel in the excitement of doing math. (LJ 4/15/04)

BOTKIN, DANIEL B. Beyond the Stony Mountains: Nature in the American West from Lewis and Clark to Today. Oxford Univ. 284p. photogs. maps. index. ISBN 0-19-516243-9. $35. Two hundred years after the epic treks of Lewis and Clark, naturalist Botkin retraces their route and compares the landscape of today with that which they initially encountered. (LJ 8/04)

MAYNARD, W. BARKSDALE. Walden Pond: A History. Oxford Univ. 404p. illus. bibliog. index. ISBN 0-19-516841-0. $35. Since Thoreau, Walden Pond has been a destination for people seeking a wilderness refuge, but, as Maynard reveals, that is precisely why it has become such a fragile and embattled environment.

JOHNSON, STEVEN. Mind Wide Open: Your Brain and the Neuroscience of Everyday Life. Scribner. 274p. bibliog. index. ISBN 0-7432-4165-7. $25. In the interest of investigative journalism, Johnson served as his own guinea pig, submitting himself to a variety of neurological scans and tests. Those experiences, combined with solid research, convinced him that technologies exist today to "open" the mind to unprecedented scrutiny.

WARD, PETER. Gorgon: Paleontology, Obsession, and the Greatest Catastrophe in Earth's History. Viking. 288p. photogs. bibliog. index. ISBN 0-670-03094-5. $27.95. Prior to the extinction of the dinosaurs, a larger and more mysterious extinction occurred during the Permian period, when giant mammal-like reptiles dominated the planet. Ward (Univ. of Washington, Seattle) reports on field work in the South African desert aimed at learning about the lives and deaths of these fearsome creatures. (LJ 1/04)

GREENE, BRIAN. The Fabric of the Cosmos: Space, Time, and the Texture of Reality. Knopf. 512p. illus. index. ISBN 0-375-41288-3. $28.95. Frogs in bowls. Ants on lily pads. Physicist Greene uses images from everyday life to help readers understand the complex, ever-evolving concepts that form scientific cosmology, including string theory, the inflationary universe, and an ultimate unified theory of the universe. (LJ 3/15/04)

KAKU, MICHIO. Parallel Worlds: A Journey Through Creation, Higher Dimensions, and the Future of the Cosmos. Doubleday. 448p. bibliog. index. ISBN 0-385-50986-3. $27.50. Theorists have always pushed the limits of what is believable. The so-called "M theory" almost sounds unassuming, but, as Kaku explains, its implications include the existence of parallel universes, 11 dimensions of hyperspace, and big bangs continuously creating multiple universes. (LJ 12/04)

GREENSPAN, STANLEY I. STUART G. SHANKER. The First Idea: How Symbols, Language and Intelligence Evolved from Our Primate Ancestors to Modern Humans. Da Capo. 504p. index. ISBN 0-7382-0680-6. $25. Is intelligence genetically hardwired, or culturally stimulated, or both, and in what degrees? The authors look at the social power of symbols to communicate and transmit shared values as the primary source of intelligence. (LJ 11/1/04)

GROOPMAN, JEROME. The Anatomy of Hope: How Patients Prevail in the Face of Illness. Random. 272p. ISBN 0-375-50638-1. $24.95. In his experiences treating cancer patients, Groopman witnessed how important it is to hold onto hope when facing disease. He also discusses scientific evidence for why the mind-body connection works to heal. (LJ 12/03)

BALL, PHILLIP. Critical Mass: How One Thing Leads to Another. Farrar. 502p. illus. bibliog. index. ISBN 0-374-28125-4. $26. After decades of increasing specialization, interdisciplinary research is making a comeback in the sciences. For example, science writer Ball speculates that many emerging principles in statistical physics may be further applied to describe—even predict—human behaviors. (LJ 5/15/04)

PERKOWITZ, SIDNEY. Digital People: From Bionic Humans to Androids. Joseph Henry: National Academy. 238p. index. ISBN 0-309-08987-5. $24.95. This physicist's overview of the state-of-the-art in robotics includes a multifaceted discussion of what it would mean to medicine, culture, and philosophy if one day a human being were equipped with more robotic parts than biological ones.

ROMM, JOSEPH J. The Hype About Hydrogen: Fact and Fiction in the Race To Save the Climate. Shearwater: Island. 238p. index. ISBN 1-55963-703-X. $25. As the world's supplies of fossil fuels diminish, hydrogen has been touted as a clean, abundant alternative source. Romm, formerly with the Department of Energy, cautions that it won't be so easy and that the "hydrogen hype" should not delay immediate actions to develop other efficient energy technologies. (LJ 4/1/04)

CORSON, TREVOR. The Secret Life of Lobsters. HarperCollins. 304p. bibliog. ISBN 0-06-055558-0. $24.95. Maine is synonymous with lobster delicacies, but its lobster population has been in serious decline. Corson, a journalist who worked on commercial lobster boats, examines the lives of these crustaceans and the ecological reasons for their slide. (LJ 4/15/04)

SULLIVAN, ROBERT. Rats: Observations on the History and Habitat of the City's Most Unwanted Inhabitants. Bloomsbury. 242p. ISBN 1-58234-385-3. $23.95. Despise them if you must, but grant rats this much—they are adaptable. Sullivan takes readers into the bowels of New York City to show us where and how rats thrive, despite all human efforts to exterminate them. (LJ 3/1/04)

TENNANT, ALAN. On the Wing: To the Edge of the Earth with the Peregrine Falcon. Random. 320p. photogs. ISBN 0-375-41551-3. $25. Much of the best nature writing takes the form of a journey of discovery. In that tradition, Tennant boards his rickety Cessna to follow the seasonal migrations of peregrine falcons from the Texas barrier islands to the Arctic, then back to the Caribbean. (LJ 9/1/04)