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.
William Laurence, New York Times science writer and, from 1956-’64, NYT science editor, received two Pulitzer Prizes. In 1934, he helped launch NASW. He also took money from sources to skew stories, Vincent Kiernan asserts in Atomic Bill: A Journalist’s Dangerous Ambition in the Shadow of the Bomb. Laurence focused on serving himself, Kiernan maintains, not the NYT or his readers.
Lingering, often disabling Covid symptoms have spurred attention to aftereffects of Chronic Lyme, ME/CFS, & other persistent diseases, Ryan Prior notes in The Long Haul: Solving The Puzzle of the Pandemic’s Long Haulers and How They Are Changing Healthcare Forever. “Studying why some people get sick and stay sick,” he says, “could be one of the greatest scientific opportunities of our lifetime.”
The study of human feces can aid disease detection in individuals and communities, help solve crimes, and inform archeological study, Bryn Nelson reports in Flush: The Remarkable Science of an Unlikely Treasure. Fecal transplants increasingly are used to treat digestive disorders. Poop even is a source of green energy. Nelson calls poop “the world’s most squandered and misplaced natural asset.”
How do we manage when familiar seasonal changes fade, creeks and lakes dry up, farms and front yards fall arid, ocean temperature rises, and weather becomes hotter, stormier, and more unpredictable? In At Home on an Unruly Planet: Finding Refuge on a Changed Earth, Madeline Ostrander recounts efforts by individuals and groups to rout toxic effects of climate change on the places they call home.
Needlesticks, though a necessary part of pediatric care, still hurt. Children’s pain, often trivialized or ignored, is not rare and may be chronic, NASW member Rachel Rabkin Peachman and psychologist Anna Wilson report. In When Children Feel Pain: From Everyday Aches to Chronic Conditions, they call for wider use of state-of-the-art pain management and treatment strategies for children.
Beavers have orange teeth, an indicator of the iron content that gives them the strength to cut down trees. An Australian lizard flashes its tongue to deter potential predators: the aptly named blue-tongued skink. Some animals dazzle with bright colors while others that seemingly blend into their environment at times may surprise. Jane Park unmasks the latter in her children’s picture book, Hidden Animal Colors.
More frequent use of podcasts, social media, and other public relations tactics could help science writers gain sources and clients and broaden their audience, Sheeva Azma asserts in Amplifying Science Communication with Public Relations. Scientists can benefit from using PR tactics, too, she says, to improve public understanding of science and foster collaborations to advance research.
Rattlesnakes use heat sensors to locate warm-blooded prey. African elephants have powerful odor detectors that enable them to find foods they like in a maze. Electric eels stun their quarry with high-voltage blasts. Some animals owe their survival to senses humans lack, Rebecca E. Hirsch reports in Sensational Senses: Amazing Ways Animals Perceive the World, her book for readers in Grades 3-8.
Ladybird beetles, aka ladybugs, with their bright colors and polka dots, may be “the world’s cutest killers,” Sneed B. Collard III writes in his amply illustrated Little Killers: The Ferocious Lives of Puny Predators. These and other tiny predators, some microscopic in size, use poisons, teeth, hooks, and other weapons to hunt, says new NASW member Collard, author of 85+ children’s science books.