The Best American Science Writing 2011 by Rebecca Skloot

The Best American Science Writing 2011 Reviews

• 
  David Rubenstein

  This is a wonderful collection of essays about science. Here, the word "science" is loosely defined, and includes a grab-bag of topics, all absolutely fascinating.
  
  Here I learned that the explosion of BP's Deepwater Horizon oil rig was not the worst aspect of the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. The disaster was worsened by BP's actions; cover-up, and terrible clean-up operations that worsened the disaster instead of mitigating it. BP used a chemical called Corexit to disperse the oil in and above the water, despite being ordered to stop. While both oil and Corexit are toxic to life, oil treated with Corexit is even more toxic! Then they set out boom, which does exactly the opposite of dispersal, so the clean-up actions conflict with each other!
  
  I learned about the use of LSD in psychopharmacology. I learned about people who are obsessed with hoarding. I learned about the sad story of people who like to be cruel to animals. I learned of underground seams of coal that are burning all over the world, releasing toxins and polluting groundwater. I learned about a very bad computer virus, the so-called Conficker worm, that remains a mystery. I learned why many TV weathermen are of the strangely of the opinion that the global climate is not warming; some even think that it is a scam!
  
  There are many more topics, all engaging and never dull. While most of the essays are doom and gloom, there is a fun essay about the longest-range baseball home run that is physically possible; 748 feet from home plate!
• 
  Logan

  As you might expect from a collection like this, you may need to put your cell phone on silent and put the TV on mute: you're about to get some learnin'. Although not every essay is heady or stuffed with esoteric lexicon of the hard sciences, some of them grapple with subjects that, if you wield no working knowledge of its focus, you may feel the vertigo of information overflow (likely to happen in a max of 3 essays that mostly deal with microbiology).
  
  This is not a very large collection; there are only 21 essays. A handful of them are light on empirical data sets and instead opt for abnormal-but-palatable psychology (Michael Rosenwald's "The Mess He Made" on the neurosis of hording, Charles Siebert's "The Animal-Cruelty Syndrome," and Cari Beauchamp and Judy Balaban's "Cary In The Sky With Diamonds," a brow-raising look at the Hollywood of the 1950s and the LSD culture that existed in celebrity circles before Tim Leary championed it into the age of hippies).
  
  Its two pet topics are definitely slanted towards environmentalism (the two best being Charles Homan's "Hot Air" on why many meteorologists are not equipped to judge global warming and Julia Whitty's devastating "BP's Deep Secrets") and computer science (Mark Bowden's "The Enemy Within" is a dramatic essay about a mundane subject matter [an impenetrable computer virus] so good that it'd make Aaron Sorkin dribble pee in his pants; Carl Zimmer's "The Singularity" is a refreshing take down of Ray Kurzweil's techno-hokum of the same name).
  
  The best essay by far—one of the best, most interesting things I read all year—is Burkhard Bilger's "Nature's Spoils," an essay that manages to teach you deeply interesting things about cooking, bacteria, gayborhoods, and one man's journey from political inaugurate to illegal food cook extraordinaire. Despite some overlapping subjects, it's a collection that gives attention to many different types of sciences (physics, entomology, cartography, botany, etc. all given some attention).
• 
  Callie

  A decent collection of science writing, although a bit on the bleak side. The first three stories were about the author discovering he is a hoarder, a father being kept alive by pacemaker while suffering dementia, and a mother who has two sons diagnosed with a rare form of muscular dystrophy, and her attempts to procure funding for research. What's great about these articles is that even when they occasionally get technical, they never feel too pretentious or bogged down.
  
  
  
  
• 
  Jennifer

  I love this series and always find it thought-provoking and full of good writing - this year is no exception. The pieces on hoarding (written by a hoarder!) and the craziness of medical care for the elderly (and our messed up health care system) were especially good. Very recommended.
  
• 
  Jayla

  While some of the stories were a bit boring, most of them (especially "The Mess He Made") were quite interesting!
• 
  Nick

  
  Good times!
  
  Pick this up and learn about the following, and more:
  
  - The incredibly-sad story of a pacemaker extending a family's suffering and a look at the policies and ethics of life extension etc.
  
  - A mother sets out to slow or cure a rare form of Muscular Dystrophy (Duchenne) to save people from the disease that killed her sons. She fights hard to change the minds and policies of doctors and administrators, and to fight against a corrupt and broken financially-motivated medical system. Incidentally, an interesting topic. Can we have a fair and functional medical system that is motivated by money? Isn't it the only way? Or can we all love and help, or dog-eat-dog? Singapore might have the answer.
  
  - Many meteorologists against climate change aren't real Meteorologists and/or don't know what the heck they're talking about, but people traditionally respect them as popular science advocates.
  
  - BP's spill in the the Gulf of Mexico is much worse than I thought. They poisoned the DSL (Deep Scattering Layer) of the ocean, a layer full of sea life, food chains, and potential for future alternative energy projects. Various terrible leaks could also happen at any time and BP's cleanup was a monumental f#ck-up.
  
  - A look at the scarily-confusing and complicated evidence peri-menopausal women consult to decide if they should take Estrogen or not
  
  - A look at a robotic companion seal and other therapeutic inventions
  
  - The story of Cary Grant and other 1950s Hollywood personalities being therapeutically-treated with LSD by eccentric psychotherapists. Many said they gained new perspectives on their lives and place in the universe. I didn't know so many old/dead Hollywood stars had taken LSD.
  
  - A look at fermentation, primal diets and BACTERIA. Makes me want to make sauerkraut!
  
  - Coal seam fires, how they've been burning for thousands of years, how entire towns became ghost towns because of them (like Silent Hill), and how deadly and crazy they are
  
  - A look at India's massively-corrupt and unfair medical system, its red light district 'clinics' and 'doctors', and deadly misdiagnoses by quacks and money grubbers. It turns out many public service doctors supplement their income by sending their patients to private clinics -- often clinics they work in, getting fees in the process. This is, of course, the fault of their own greed, but also the fault of Indian government (for not paying them much) and Indian society and culture (massive, corrupt, caste system, etc.)
  
  
  There are a few other great articles, and some duds as well. Most don't go into a level of depth or 'wow' to really make them stand out, but some come close. Some of the articles are pretty darn depressing, but most are fascinating.
  
  True Rating: 4.2 Stars
• 
  Amanda

  This is one of the best anthologies I've ever read. Rebecca and Floyd Skloot gathered some of the most engaging and compelling pieces of science writing in this volume; my favorites include: "The Animal Cruelty Syndrome" by Charles Siebert, "Mother Courage" by John Colapinto, and "The Estrogen Dilemma" by Cynthia Gorney. It's hard to review anthologies, because by nature they are fragmented and composed of so many different styles, but this extremely digestible volume is a must read for anyone who is even remotely interested in science, current events, or just humanity. These articles range from touching to horrifying to funny, and they are all immensely thought-provoking. Each is preceded by a tiny abstract which makes it easy to skip around and read the articles out of order. Extremely versatile, this series is a great concept. My only problem with it is that it is "American" writing, which baffles me since Ed Yong(included in this volume and one of my favorite writers) is British-I suppose they mean these articles are published in American publications, but the distinction makes me wonder, what about other science writing? Is there a Best European or Best Asian compilation floating around? I'd be interested in those too. America is hardly the only country invested in exciting research.
• 
  Patty

  I obviously like the Best American series since I have ten volumes from six different series on my bookshelf here. I have more of them on my real wooden bookcases, that I glance through from time to time. I know that trying to keep up with these series is an impossible task, but I keep acquiring them.
  
  I suspect family and friends would prefer that I didn't read this kind of book. My inclination when I learn new facts that are fascinating to me, is to share them with anyone within earshot. So while I was reading these 25 essays, I told people about fermentation, weather forecasters who don't believe in climate change, underground coal fires and even how long a home run could possibly be. I know that no one would believe that there were facts I learned that I didn't tell them. But I figured I had bored them enough.
  
  If you enjoy learning about new worlds, new ideas, or encountering creative writers and thinkers, there is a Best American series for you.
  
  
• 
  Holly

  The standouts in the collection were Charles Homans's unsettling expose "Hot Air," on TV weathercasters' conservative and anti-scientific views of global warming and climate change (and their tendency to apply metereological models to climatological events); Cynthia Gorney's "The Estrogen Dilemma" on new medical thinking on estrogen replacement therapy since the Women's Health Initiative (and some vital missing- and mis-information that has not been corrected in the public's minds); the particularly well-written collaborative essay called "Cary in the Sky with Diamonds" by Cari Beauchamp and Judy Balaban, on pre-Timothy Leary uses of LSD in 1950s Hollywood; and Burkhard Bilger's long New Yorker piece on freegan-opportunivores, fermented foods, and the human gut, titled "Nature's Spoils."
• 
  Melissa

  A very well-curated collection of science essays spanning from perennial sources The New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, and Discover to Vanity Fair and Mother Jones to the Speakeasy Science and Not Exactly Rocket Science blogs. Great breadth of sources.
  
  Must-read articles include "What Broke My Father's Heart" (included in
  The Best American Essays 2011, "BP's Dark Secrets", "The Estrogen Dilemma" (this one is really good, I took a course in clinical epidemiology from one of the original researchers on the WHI study that was terminated due to unexpectedly poor outcomes), "Cary in the Sky With Diamonds", and "The Enemy Within".
• 
  Margaret Sankey

  Somehow I missed this one and had to double back--another fine anthology of popular science writing, with the highlights being pieces on the psychological basis of hoarding, the damage done by many TV weather people being climate change deniers, the connection between domestic and animal abuse, Cary Grant's therapy using LSD, the statistician responsible for tracking catastrophic high school sports injuries, how gut bacteria acquired from eating nori helps many Japanese extract better nutrition from their food, a coal fire that has been burning since 2007, the Conficker computer worm and the dangers of misdiagnosing TB in India and producing drug-resistant strains.
• 
  Carrie

  "The Mess He Made" -- author's personal experience with hoarding. Not very science-y, but interesting.
  
  "What Broke My Father's Heart" -- another personal essay, about the downside of a pacemaker artificially extending the life of an elderly man unable to care for himself after a stroke. Powerful & informative.
• 
  Melissa

  Definitely worth a read!
• 
  Laura

  Always like this series.
• 
  Sally

  Well worth reading, the articles are still timely. I recommend it.
• 
  Meredith

  Good mix of topics.
• 
  Brendan

  Didn't know the ' Conficker ' computer worm was such a big deal
• 
  Peter

  Didn't like it as much as the math ones: it wasn't just that I didn't understand or wasn't as interested in some of the articles... There were just too many that I had to stop reading due to the content (like many of the medical ones). I will stick to the less-emotional math series