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.

Rectangular photo of Melanie Kaplan’s office bookshelf showing works on dog behavior, dog research, animal research, medical research, and society and medicine. Photo credit: Melanie Kaplan.

Melanie D.G. Kaplan—Lab Dog: A Beagle and His Human Investigate the Surprising World of Animal Research

Hammy, the 4-year-old beagle Melanie Kaplan adopted, a former laboratory research subject, was jittery, skittish, and often listless. In Lab Dog: A Beagle and His Human Investigate the Surprising World of Animal Research, Kaplan tells how she helped Hammy adjust to life outside the lab and examines the breeding and use of animals for biomedical research, drug and product testing, and teaching.

Rectangular photo of Brendan Borrell’s desktop, showing some of the thousands of pages of court documents, including some providing days of Scholz’s own testimony, from the decade-long battle between Tom Scholz and his record label when he refused to hand over his third album until it met his exacting standards. Photo credit: Brendan Borrell.

Brendan Borrell—Power Soak: Invention, Obsession, and the Pursuit of the Perfect Sound

“More Than a Feeling,” the rock band Boston’s most enduring hit, attracting more than a billion listens on Spotify, marks its 50th anniversary in 2026. In Power Soak: Invention, Obsession, and the Pursuit of the Perfect Sound, Brendan Borrell tells the story of MIT-trained engineer Tom Scholz, who built Boston’s sound in his basement and later invented sound devices used by other big-name bands.

Rectangular photo of Dennis Meredith’s office bookshelf showing works on climate change, climate change and society, climate justice, dire predictions, extinctions, and the war on science. Photo credit: Dennis Meredith.

Dennis Meredith—Angelians

In Dennis Meredith's latest scifi novel, Angelians, an environmental journalist discovers his fiancée, a brilliant and compassionate neurologist, is an extraterrestrial being. Having fled one of Jupiter’s dying moons, she and fellow aliens live seemingly normal lives on Earth. Many strive to help humans protect our climate. A rogue group aims to eliminate humans instead. AI plays a big role.

Rectangular photo of Alaina G. Levine’s office bookshelf showing works on public speaking, crisis management, sales, tips for entrepreneurs, and the author’s own book, Networking for Nerds. Photo credit: Alaina G. Levine.

Alaina G. Levine—Create Your Unicorn Career: A Practical Guide to Designing the Authentic Career That Brings You Joy, Meaning, and Money—Even in Uncertain Times

What’s your dream job? How can you find or create it? If hit by a layoff, what should you do next? In Create Your Unicorn Career: A Practical Guide to Designing the Authentic Career That Brings You Joy, Meaning, and Money – Even in Uncertain Times, Alaina G. Levine provides tactics she has shared in her column in Science and as a professional speaker, science writer, career coach, & TEDx speaker.

Rectangular photo of Charles Piller’s office bookshelf showing works on topics that include Alzheimer’s Disease, the Theranos scandal, unsafe manufacturing of generic medications, bias and fraud in medical research, and gene splicing, along with one of Piller’s own previous books, The Fail-Safe Society. Photo credit: Charles Piller.

Charles Piller—Doctored: Fraud, Arrogance, and Tragedy in the Quest to Cure Alzheimer's

Fraud in science and medicine erodes trust in these fields, harms patients and families, delays effective treatment, and wastes vast sums. In Doctored: Fraud, Arrogance, and Tragedy in the Quest to Cure Alzheimer's, Charles Piller exposes false data in 100s of Alzheimer’s research papers and explores the path forward. He won CASW’s 2025 Victor Cohn Prize for Excellence in Medical Science Reporting.

Rectangular photo of Bethann Garramon Merkle’s office bookshelf showing an eclectic mix of books on science communication, writing, poetry, collage art, feminism, burnout, and happiness. Photo credit: Bethann Garramon Merkle

Bethann Garramon Merkle (NASW member) and Stephen B. Heard—Teaching and Mentoring Writers in the Sciences: An Evidence-Based Approach

“Writing is hard. Teaching and mentoring writing often is even harder. It doesn’t have to be,” Bethann Garramon Merkle and Stephen Heard assert in Teaching and Mentoring Writers in the Sciences: An Evidence-Based Approach. Students need writing skills they can use over their entire careers, the authors say. They offer teachers a well-stocked toolbox of tactics to help students achieve that goal.

Rectangular photo of Jim Morris’ office bookshelf showing a small sample of the thousands of legal, medical, and other documents he used to write The Cancer Factory. Photo credit: Jim Morris.

Jim Morris—The Cancer Factory: Industrial Chemicals, Corporate Deception, and the Hidden Deaths of American Workers

Cancer and other work-related illnesses take 120,000 lives in the U.S. annually, Jim Morris writes in The Cancer Factory: Industrial Chemicals, Corporate Deception, and the Hidden Deaths of American Workers, NASW’s 2025 Science in Society Book Award winner. Workers are mostly on their own, he says. Workplace safety varies. OSHA’s ineffectual. Physicians often fail to ask patients what work they do.

Rectangular photo of Barbara Gastel’s office bookshelf showing books on writing, editing, fact-checking, and copy-editing, along with several standard style manuals. Photo credit: Barbara Gastel

Barbara Gastel—Medical Editing: A Guide to Learning the Craft and Building Your Career

Medical editing is a helping profession that benefits publishers, authors, patients, the media, and the public, Barbara Gastel asserts in Medical Editing: A Guide to Learning the Craft and Building Your Career. Her book aims to introduce the field, foster readers’ core knowledge and skills, and describe career possibilities. “Even the best writers,” she says, “benefit from the input of an editor.”

Rectangular photo of Marie Zhuikov’s office bookshelf, showing many books of poems by individual poets, poetry anthologies, and books on writing. Photo credit: Marie Zhuikov.

Marie Zhuikov—High Fire Danger: Poems of Love and Nature

“My body contains more Neanderthal DNA variants than 87% of the rest of customers in the 23andMe database,” Marie Zhuikov reports in her poem, “Unwitting Neanderthals.” It appears in High Fire Danger: Poems of Love & Nature”, a collection of works written during Zhuikov’s three decades as a science writer for Wisconsin Sea Grant. Another poem, “Lake Superior Auntie,” recounts that experience.

Rectangular photo of Brad Fox’s office bookshelf showing works on the Amazon, folk healing, plants, and indigenous cultures. Photo credit: Brad Fox.

Brad Fox—Another Bone-Swapping Event

On March 9, 2020, Brad Fox flew from New York to Peru to spend 10 days with a traditional curandero, or healer, learning about plant medicines in a remote jungle four hours’ walk from the nearest dirt road. After WHO declared the COVID pandemic two days later, Peru shut down international and domestic travel. In Another Bone-Swapping Event, Fox shares experiences from his 14 months there.