Surviving almost unmolested for 300 million years, the horseshoe crab is now the object of an intense legal and ethical struggle involving marine biologists, environmentalists, U.S. government officials, biotechnologists, and international corporations. The source of this friction is the discovery 25 years ago that horseshoe crab blood provides the basis for the most reliable test for the deadly and ubiquitous gram-negative bacteria.

Norman Sperling, a northern California freelance, has taught introductory astronomy to thousands of college students. This book was written as a supplement to conventional astronomy textbooks. The book flags out-dated paradigms, clarifies astronomy's confusing terminology (especially its oxymorons), presents perspectives that most texts leave out, provides supplemental information to help students, suggests fresh term-paper topics for students to research, and is laced with boners committed by Sperling's least-attentive students.

Mackenzie, a freelance mathematics and science writer, describes the current scientific consensus on the moon's origin, the "giant impact" theory or, as she calls it, "the Big Splat." She believes that the scientific mysteries, that we went to the moon to solve, have now been solved — at least in their broad outlines — with many details yet to be filled in.

Caruba, a New Jersey freelance writer, is founder of the media spoof The Boring Institute, (best known for its annual list "The Most Boring Celebrities of the Year") and of The National Anxiety Center, a clearing house for information about scare campaigns designed to influence public opinion and policy. The theme of his book, a collection of his columns, is "The good news is that the bad news is wrong."