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.

Kavin Senapathy—The Progressive Parent: Harnessing the Power of Science and Social Justice to Raise Awesome Kids

“There’s nothing more complicated than parenthood,” Kavin Senapathy asserts in The Progressive Parent: Harnessing the Power of Science and Social Justice to Raise Awesome Kids. She aims to help parents make evidence-based decisions about breast-feeding, vaccines, and food additives, and help their children acquire a positive racial, cultural, and gender identity, along with a social conscience.

Alison Bass—Rebecca of Ivanhoe

In her novel, Rebecca of Ivanhoe, Alison Bass imagines the life of Rebecca, a 12th-century healer saved from being burned alive as a witch, after she flees from England to Spain and then to Egypt. Bass describes botanical remedies and other therapies used in medieval medical practice. She incorporates historical characters, wars, and other events occurring in the background of daily life.

Vince Beiser—Power Metal: The Race for the Resources That Will Shape the Future

Do you need a new cell phone? Could you manage without a car? In Power Metal: The Race for the Resources That Will Shape the Future, Vince Beiser explores the damage to human and planetary health caused by mining metals to manufacture cars, phones, computers, and other everyday “necessities.” Repairing, reusing, and recycling products isn’t enough, he asserts. He suggests mindful DIY action.

Patchen Barss—The Impossible Man: Roger Penrose and the Cost of Genius

Studying a sundial at age six, Roger Penrose first glimpsed a mathematical “world behind the world” where the shape of things revealed the universe’s deep secrets. In The Impossible Man: Roger Penrose and the Cost of Genius, Patchen Barss follows Penrose from childhood to Nobel Prize, capturing the intense mix of joy and sacrifice that allowed him to rewrite our understanding of the cosmos.

Lina Zeldovich—The Living Medicine: How a Lifesaving Cure Was Nearly Lost—and Why It Will Rescue Us When Antibiotics Fail

Viruses that prey on bacteria, known as phages, may be our best defense against the next bacterial pandemic, Lina Zeldovich asserts in The Living Medicine: How a Lifesaving Cure Was Nearly Lost—and Why It Will Rescue Us When Antibiotics Fail. Multi drug-resistant bacteria kill more than a million people annually, she reports. Anthony Fauci and others have called for further phage research.

Siri Carpenter, Ed.—The Craft of Science Writing: Selections from the Open Notebook (Expanded Edition)

Essays on how to evaluate ideas before you pitch, conduct difficult interviews, write a great lede and self-edit are among 42 articles in The Craft of Science Writing: Selections from The Open Notebook, expanded edition, edited by Siri Carpenter. Beyond craft, the book also addresses such topics as working with a sensitivity reader and dealing with the emotional toll science reporting may take.

Dennis Meredith—Attack of the Food Zombies

Imagine a food additive that makes any food irresistible. Restaurant buffets would prompt stampedes. People unable to slake their cravings may devour unpalatable items. Terrorists could use the additive to destabilize large populations. That’s the sci-fi scenario Dennis Meredith presents in Attack of the Food Zombies, a cautionary tale on the risks of food additives and manufactured foods.

Funke Afolabi-Brown—Beyond Tired: A Sleep Physician's Guide to Solving Your Child’s Sleep Problems for Good

When a child sleeps poorly, parents may, too. In Beyond Tired: A Sleep Physician's Guide to Solving Your Child’s Sleep Problems for Good, Funke Afolabi-Brown draws on personal and professional experience to offer practical tips. She addresses such topics as the need for children who shuttle between homes to have consistent sleep schedules and for adolescents to have healthy school start times.

Lisa Baril—The Age of Melt: What Glaciers, Ice Mummies, and Ancient Artifacts Teach Us about Climate, Culture, and a Future Without Ice

As the climate warms, perennial patches of ice and snow in mountain ranges around the world melt, exposing artifacts hidden for 100s, even 1000s of years. After travels to Norway, the Alps, the Andes, and around the US, Lisa Baril tells what archeologists have found in The Age of Melt: What Glaciers, Ice Mummies, and Ancient Artifacts Teach Us about Climate, Culture, and a Future Without Ice.

Sneed B. Collard III—Defending Nature: How the Military Protects Threatened and Endangered Species

Military bases often serve as islands of biodiversity. Nearly 500 threatened or endangered species live on US military bases, more than in US National Parks, Sneed Collard III reports in Defending Nature: How the US Military Protects Threatened and Endangered Species. In this book for readers ages 9-14, Collard focuses on three at-risk species and the biologists and others working to save them.