Communicating science: two new books just received

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Hope Jahren, author of Lab Girl, is the guest editor of The Best American Science and Nature Writing, 2017.   Jahren is the recipient of three Fulbright Awards and is one of four scientists, and the only woman, to have been awarded both of the Young Investigator Medals given within the Earth Sciences.  Included among the essays is "Out Here, No One Can Hear You Scream," by Kathryn Joyce (Huffington Post).  It is an all too timely account of sexual harassment and hostility targeting women who work for various national and state agencies that protect America's natural heritage.

An essay by Elizabeth Kolbert, author of The Sixth Extinction and Field Notes from a Catastrophe, also appears in this volume.  "A Song of Ice" (from The New Yorker) recounts her visits to Greenland, where the effects of global warming are extraordinary and devastating.

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All of the essays, as always in this series, are important reading.  Borrow the book over Winter Term - an essay a night will get you through the month of January with a lot to ponder.

Learn more about the science of science communication with this new handbook from Oxford University Press.  A key question considered in the handbook is: "What can we know empirically about the impact of the full range of scientists' linguistic choices and potential alternatives on public debate?"  Given the importance of scientific literacy (or at least realistic perceptions of scientists' work) for a healthy, just society, David Kirby's chapter on "The Changing Popular Images of Science" is very instructive.

Find these books on the new book shelf.