Harding, a New York freelance, has included 500 entries in her book describing the advances in the treatment of disease and the understanding of human health. The developments she cites cover a wide range. For example, she notes that the first ovariotomy was the removal of a 22-pound tumor from the ovary of Jane Todd Crawford by Dr. Ephraim McDowell in 1809, before the days of antisepsis or anesthesia.

The newest addition to the Houghton Mifflin successful Best American Series. Collected by guest editor David Quammen and Best American Series editor Burkhard Bilger, this anthology showcases some of the finest literary nonfiction writing on scientific and natural history topics published in 1999.

Tally, who is a science writer at Purdue University specializing in biotechnology and genomics, veers from the serious to the humorous in his other speciality-pop history. In the book he presents the "what ifs" of the United States' past: What if George Washington had chosen not to cross the Delaware River? What if Neil Armstrong had chosen to abort the moon landing when his computers indicated that he was about to crash?

Bartusiak says that she first was formally introduced to the science of gravity waves nearly two decades ago while on an assignment for the late magazine Science 85. She became intrigued with laser interferometry and its promise for astronomy. She asks: "What if we could hear the heavens?" "What if the cosmic display we've observed over the years had a sound track?"