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.
Bees can count and ants can recognize themselves in mirrors. That degree of surprising detail abounds in Margie Patlak’s Insect Safari: Exploring the Wondrous World of Everyday Bugs. Patlak observed, photographed, and delved into the lives of hundreds of insects in her Maine garden and Philadelphia courtyard. She invites readers to join in. Her last chapter: “If you plant it, they will come.”
In medicine, doctors make decisions based on rigorous studies that test whether treatments work. Evidence from research benefits other fields, e.g., schools, social policy, & conservation, Helen Pearson reports in Beyond Belief: How Evidence Shows What Really Works. “Evidence rarely provides certainty,” she notes. “But it can reduce uncertainty and improve decisions—and that can be life-changing.”
In Body Weather: Notes on Chronic Illness in the Anthropocene Lorraine Boissoneault likens variations in symptoms of her autoimmune illnesses to encounters with hot and cold weather, tornadoes, hurricanes, fires, and other climate extremes. "Illness has taught me determination, creativity, resilience, and the importance of community," she says, "knowledge we all need to foster a healthier planet."
“The tools for caring have been woven into our DNA,” Elizabeth Preston writes in The Creatures' Guide to Caring: How Animal Parents Teach Us That Humans Were Born to Care. From spiders to bats to whales, nature on land and sea is replete with examples. Humans and other animals’ shared biology and brain circuitry not only enable caring for our young, she says, but also living together in societies.
Contrary to common belief, we constantly experience genetic mutations. Some cause illnesses, such as cancer & heart disease. Others correct inherited disorders. In Beyond Inheritance: Our Ever-Mutating Cells and a New Understanding of Health Roxanne Khamsi reports successes, challenges, and risks of blocking or erasing some non-inherited mutations and tapping the healing potential of others.
Methadone is a life-saving medication upon which users are dependent in the same way people with diabetes require insulin, Melody Glenn notes. In Mother of Methadone: A Doctor's Quest, a Forgotten History, and a Modern-Day Crisis, Glenn interweaves the biography of Marie Nyswander, co-founder of methadone maintenance treatment, with experiences from her own training as an addiction physician.
When beavers become a nuisance in Washington State, chopping down trees and damming streams near homes, the Tulalip Tribes come to the rescue. They send biologists to transfer the beavers to ancestral tribal land in the Cascade Mountains. As Alison Pearce Stevens tells young readers in When Beavers Move In, the beavers thrive in their new homes and help restore trout and salmon populations.
Growing up blind in the Netherlands, Geerat Vermeij learned to navigate the world via touch. Visits to the nearby ocean fostered his fascination with seashells and led to his discoveries on the evolution of both mollusks and their predators. In Shell Seeker: The Life, Work, and Adventures of a Blind Biologist, Suzanne Sherman highlights the value of curiosity and perseverance for K-5 readers.
The term “climate change” is too tame, Meera Subramanian and Danica Novgorodoff assert. In their graphic nonfiction book, A Better World is Possible: Global Youth Confront the Climate Crisis, they interweave climate science with reports from four young activists who helped organize a youth climate protest that drew over 250,000 people to New York, part of a Sept 2019 worldwide wave of climate rallies.
