The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2004

Science buffs will find a smorgasbord of lively pieces in this anthology selected by renowned Harvard psychologist Pinker (The Blank Slate; etc.). Many readers will jump straight to Ron Rosenbaum’s “Sex Week at Yale,” an entertaining exposé of how academics can give their audience a headache when they yammer on about sex. Even the most science-wary readers will enjoy Peggy Orenstein’s “Where Have All the Lisas Gone?” about trends in naming babies. Bird lovers (and cat haters) will laugh out loud at the Letters to the Bird Brain collected in Michael O’Connor’s “Bird Watcher’s General Store.” And ailurophiles will be stunned by Robert Sapolsky’s report (“Bugs in the Brain”) on how the pathogen that causes toxoplasmosis alters its carriers’ (rodents) brains so they no longer fear their number one predator (cats). Medical buffs will look for Atul Gawande’s extended profile of the amazing Francis Moore, a pioneer in treatment of burns, nuclear medicine, hormone replacement therapies and organ transplants. Both Pinker’s choice of subjects (linguistics, psychology) as well as sources (The American Conservative, The Cape Codder) range happily beyond the usual suspects; everyone will find something they haven’t already read. The collection is recommended for intellectually omnivorous readers in this and all other universes.

Introduction / Steven Pinker —
Genesis of suicide terrorism / Scott Atran —
The battle for your brain / Ronald Bailey —
Fearing the worst should anyone produce a cloned baby / Philip M. Boffey —
The bittersweet science / Austin Bunn —
The new celebrity / Jennet Conant —
The mythical threat of genetic determinism / Daniel C. Dennett —
We’re all gonna die! / Gregg Easterbrook —
Far-out television / Garrett G. Fagan —
A war on obesity, not the obese / Jeffrey M. Friedman —
Desperate measures / Atul Gawande —
The stuff of genes / Horace Freeland Judson —
The bloody crossroads of grammar and politics / Geoffrey Nunberg —
Ask the bird folks / Mike O’Connor —
Where have all the lisas gone? / Peggy Orenstein —
The design of your life / Virginia Postrel —
Caring for your introvert / Jonathan Rauch —
All the old sciences have starring roles / Chet Raymo —
Sex week at Yale / Ron Rosenbaum —
The cousin marriage conundrum / Steve Sailer —
Bugs in the brain / Robert Sapolsky —
Through the eye of an octopus / Eric Scigliano —
Captivated / Meredith F. Small —
Parallel universes / Max Tegmark —
In click languages, an echo of the tongues of the ancients / Nicholas Wade —
A prolific Genghis Khan, it seems, helped people the world / Nicholas Wade