Every year I look forward to reading this collection of the best American Science writing has to offer, and every year I am exultant. As always, Atul Gawande gets my vote for best contribution - he's an assistant professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School, who writes lucidly and articulately about medical issues that matter. His usual style is to begin with a specific case or incident, widen it out into a broader discussion of one aspect of the case, then bring it back to the specific. This year his contribution recounts his journey with a World Health Organisation team trying to contain what may be the last outbreaks of polio on the planet.
In addition to the brilliant Dr Gawande this collection features notable articles by neurologist Oliver Sacks (on the creation of unstable elements and the hope for stable super-heavy, 'magic' elements), epidemiologist Philip Alcabes (on how preoccupation with the threat of bioterrorism is leaving America vulnerable to more lethal, likely, and under-funded health threats), senior NY Times writer William J Broad (on the potential ramifications of a switch in earth's polarity, a topic I'm particularly interested in after reading Robert J Sawyer's brilliant Parallax trilogy), Beth Israel's chief of experimental medicine, Dr Jerome Groopman (on the surprising results of research into the mind-body connection), science writer Natalie Angier (on pioneering chemistry professor Dr Jacqueline K Barton (who blends cutting edge DNA research, a zeal for making science accessible, and a strong commitment to family time), and science writer Ben Harder (on the medical use of maggot therapy), among many others.
My understanding of most of the sciences falls firmly into the popular end of the scale: as always I found some articles inaccessible or uninteresting. Also as always, these were by far the minority. This is the fifth year I've purchased this collection, and I cannot recommend the series highly enough to anyone interested in broadening their outlook and learning a little more about aspects of the world of which they were previously unaware. - Alex
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