Roberta Kwok—Lost in Curiosity: Field Notes from Scientists' Adventures into the Unknown

Advance copy: Backstories on books by NASW members

Cover of the book Lost in Curiosity: Field Notes from Scientists
Lost in Curiosity
LOST IN CURIOSITY:
FIELD NOTES FROM SCIENTISTS' ADVENTURES
INTO THE UNKNOWN
Roberta Kwok
Sourcebooks, July 21, 2026
Hardcover: $27.99, eBook: $14.99, Audio Book: $17.50
Hardcover ISBN-13: 9781728275970
eBook ISBN-13: 9781728275987
Audio Book ISBN-13: 9781464285493

Kwok reports:

In 2006, I tagged along on a 20-hour sunflower genetics experiment with a biologist friend and wrote an essay detailing the twists and turns, including mislabeled samples, a malfunctioning growth chamber, and an unpleasant surprise around midnight. That experience planted a seed in my mind. I wanted to explore the “messy middle” of science, where errors and uncertainty reigned—the opposite of a Eureka moment.

Portrait photo of Roberta Kwok
Roberta Kwok
Photo by Jenny Jimenez
Twelve years later, I started thinking about writing a book in which each chapter followed a research project from a different field, ranging from astronomy to zoology. I began reporting close to my home in Washington state and visited a paleontologist analyzing an ancient tusk in Seattle, as well as engineers devising “Emerald Tutus” to protect cities from storms in Oregon.

That reporting led to an MIT Knight Science Journalism project fellowship, which provided nine months of support. With a book proposal in hand, I signed with agent Alice Martell, who landed a book deal with Sourcebooks. An Alfred P. Sloan Foundation grant paid for travel to a Greenland glacier, a soil screening event on the Navajo Nation, and a paper-crumpling physics lab.

To organize my materials, I used Zotero for papers, Scrivener for interview notes and drafts, and OmniOutliner for outlining.

Visiting some fieldwork sites—such as a rainforest in Borneo—wasn’t financially feasible, so I relied on Zoom calls and WhatsApp voice memos. To follow an international astronomy team’s efforts to detect signals from a distant moon, I joined their video calls month after month. To my surprise, these virtually reported chapters still turned out well. The most critical factor in creating a compelling narrative wasn’t in-person visits but having enough access to researchers’ thoughts and conversations to reconstruct how their ideas evolved.

I wish I’d known how much time I would need to devote to promotion, and I would advise aspiring authors to factor those unpaid hours into their plans. Because as important as it is to write a good book, it is just as important to make sure that people actually read the book.

Contact Info:

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Tell your fellow NASW members how you came up with the idea for your book, developed a proposal, found an agent and publisher, funded and conducted research, and put the book together. Include what you wish you had known before you began working on your book or what you might have done differently.

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Banner image adapted from original photo by Roberta Kwok.

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Advance Copy

The path from idea to book may take myriad routes. The Advance Copy column, started in 2000 by NASW volunteer book editor Lynne Lamberg, features NASW authors telling the stories behind their books. Authors are asked to report how they got their idea, honed it into a proposal, found an agent and a publisher, funded and conducted their research, and organized their writing process. They also are asked to share what they wish they’d known when they started or would do differently next time, and what advice they can offer aspiring authors. Lamberg edits the authors’ answers to produce the Advance Copy reports.

NASW members: Will your book be published soon? Visit www.nasw.org/advance-copy-submission-guidelines for information on submitting your report.

Publication of NASW author reports in Advance Copy does not constitute NASW's endorsement of any publication or the ideas, values, or material contained within or espoused by authors or their books. We hope this column stimulates productive discussions on important topics now and in the future as both science and societies progress. We welcome your discussion in the comments section below.

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