Advance Copy: Backstories on books by NASW members

For this column, NASW book editor Lynne Lamberg asks NASW authors to tell how they came up with the idea for their book, developed a proposal, found an agent and publisher, funded and conducted research, and put the book together. She also asks what they wish they had known before they began working on their book, what they might do differently the next time, and what tips they can offer aspiring authors. She then edits the A part of that Q&A to produce the author reports you see here.

NASW members: Will your book be published soon? Visit www.nasw.org/advance-copy-submission-guidelines to submit your report.

Publication of NASW members' reports in Advance Copy does not constitute NASW's endorsement of their books. NASW welcomes your comments and hopes this column stimulates productive discussions.

David Baron—The Martians: The True Story of an Alien Craze That Captured Turn-of-the-Century America

Our infatuation with Mars, David Baron writes, “began in a strange era, not that long ago, when it was the astronauts who were fiction and the Martians that were real.” In The Martians: The True Story of an Alien Craze That Captured Turn-of-the-Century America, Baron explores the consequences of astronomer Percival Lowell’s 1894 assertion that “canals” he saw on Mars suggested life existed there.

Claire Wilcox MD—Rewire Your Food-Addicted Brain: Fight Cravings and Break Free from a High-Sugar, Ultra-Processed Diet Using Neuroscience

It's no surprise that food manufacturers design products to taste good. Ultra-processed foods promote overeating, often leading to obesity, Claire Wilcox writes in Rewire Your Food-Addicted Brain: Fight Cravings and Break Free from a High-Sugar, Ultra-Processed Diet Using Neuroscience. Healthier food choices, she asserts, can normalize brain chemistry, foster weight loss, & benefit overall health.

Starre Vartan—The Stronger Sex: What Science Tells Us About the Power of the Female Body

Women’s bodies have many often overlooked strengths, Starre Vartan reports in The Stronger Sex: What Science Tells Us About the Power of the Female Body. Women have greater endurance for long-distance events, tolerance for pain, and resistance to infections than men. “When we know more about female bodies,” Vartan says, “we find solutions to problems and illnesses that can apply to all humans.”

Sarah Boon—Meltdown: The Making and Breaking of a Field Scientist

Many women in science face a glass obstacle course, if not a glass ceiling, Sarah Boon writes in Meltdown: The Making and Breaking of a Field Scientist. “Students are taught to work harder, not smarter,” she notes. She details her struggles with depression as a PhD student and describes her work as a professor of glacier hydrology who also writes and gives talks on her field for the general public.

Lisa S. Gardiner—Reefs of Time: What Fossils Reveal about Coral Survival

Rising global temperatures, pollution, overfishing, and other human-caused problems pose increasing threats to coral reef existence today, Lisa S. Gardiner asserts in Reefs of Time: What Fossils Reveal about Coral Survival. Learning how coral reefs flourished or struggled in the past, she contends, can help us understand how they function now and find ways to help them continue to survive.

Chris Berdik—Clamor: How Noise Took Over the World and How We Can Take It Back

Restaurants where patrons have to shout to converse. Car alarms and traffic that disrupt sleep. In Clamor: How Noise Took Over the World and How We Can Take It Back, Chris Berdik tells not only how noise harms hearing and health, but also how better soundscapes in schools, offices, hospitals, streets, airports, and even parks can lower stress, improve well-being, and boost quality of life.

Rebecca Hirsch—Wonder Wings: Guess Who's Flying

Dragonflies are acrobats of the air, with four wings that can move in different directions simultaneously. Bats are the only mammals that can fly. Rebecca E. Hirsch explores the functions of wings in insects, birds, seeds, and even airplanes in Wonder Wings: Guess Who's Flying, her illustrated book of rhyming science riddles for 4-to-8-year-olds. Additional text helps adults expand the content.

Mindy Weisberger—Rise of the Zombie Bugs: The Surprising Science of Parasitic Mind-Control

While most of us regard zombies as a sci-fi staple, real-world zombies live in virtually all habitats where terrestrial invertebrates dwell. In Rise of the Zombie Bugs: The Surprising Science of Parasitic Mind Control, Mindy Weisberger describes the zombification process with horror-movie immediacy & tells how understanding it may benefit agriculture, drug development, studies of behavior, & more.

Emily Falk—What We Value: The Neuroscience of Choice and Change

Exercise or watch TV? How do we make everyday choices? Do our choices serve our big-picture goals? In What We Value: The Neuroscience of Choice and Change, Emily Falk explores the brain systems at work in making—and improving—our daily decisions. Her studies at UPenn’s Annenberg School draw on functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine the neural underpinnings of what we do and why we do it.