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| Volume 49, Number 1, Spring 2000 |
By Ruth Winter
The Establishment of Science In America by Sally Gregory Kohlstedt, Michael Sokal and Bruce V. Lewenstein (NASW), published by Rutgers University Press.
On the morning of September 20, 1848, scientific leaders met in the library of the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia and created the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). A comprehensive history of the largest organization of scientists in the United States, the book provides a unique insight into the development of science in this country during the past 150 years. Lewenstein can be reached via e-mail BVL1@cornell.edu or by phone 607-255-8310. PR for the book is Lisa Hanson, phone 732-445-7762, ext. 626.
The Balance Within: The Science Connecting Health & Emotions by Esther M. Sternberg, M.D., published by W.H. Freeman.
For years, New Age gurus and others have claimed that a healthy spirit will result in a healthy body. But without scientific proof, doctors have not been able to explain or support that belief. Sternberg, director of Molecular, Cellular & Behavioral Interactive Neuroscience Program at the National Institute of Mental Health, and other researchers are now making advances that show the actual pathways that connect the areas of our brain that control immunity with those that generate feelings and thoughts. This book explains the mechanisms and their significance: how nerves, molecules, and hormones connect the brain and immune system, how the immune system signals the brain and affects our emotions, and documents how our brain can signal the immune system, making us more vulnerable to illness. They have not only discovered the links, but have demonstrated how they work and what the implications can be for treatable and chronic diseases. For more information and a review copy, contact Jeff Theis by phone 212-561-8221 or e-mail jtheis@whfreeman.com.
One Universe: At Home in the Cosmos by Neil deGrasse Tyson, Charles Liu, and Robert Irion (NASW), published by the Joseph Henry Press, an imprint of the National Academy Press.
Robert Irion, a Santa Cruz freelance and contributing correspondent to Science and Astronomy magazines, is a co-author of this large-format book which explores the universal principles of physics that control both our own familiar world and the distant reaches of the cosmos. One Universe is a lay-language coffee-table book full of astronomical photographs and original illustrations, but it contains far more science than most other such volumes. A review in Publisher's Weekly stated: "Startling, sparkling color photos and very accessible explanations of the laws and history of physics make this book a treat . . .. [The authors] make the science they explain sound both awesome and painless." Tyson, director of the Hayden Planetarium in New York, conceived the book and Liu, an astrophysicist at Columbia University contributed to it. The publicist for the book is Jennifer Prost at 973-746-8723. Contact Irion at irion@nasw.org or 831-457-9395.
The Eighth Continent: Life, Death, and Discovery in the Lost World of Madagascar, by Peter Tyson (NASW), published by HarperCollins.
Tyson, online producer at Nova, says the book grew out of articles on Madagascar he wrote for the Atlantic Monthly, The Sciences, and Earthwatch magazine, and is based on four trips he took there between 1993 and 1997. The reader follows the work of four scientists who are trying to answer some of the mysteries that cling to Madagascar like driftwood: a herpetologist seeking to determine where the island's glorious assortment of reptiles and amphibians came from and why they speciated so wildly; a paleoecologist trying to figure out who or what killed off all the giant lemurs, elephant birds, and other so-called "megafauna" sometime in the past 2,000 years; an archeologist searching for clues to the origins of the Malagasy people, whose language and customs, curiously enough, hail from Indonesia, and a primatologist and conservationist hell-bent on finding ways to save Madagascar and its treasures. Along the way, the reader learns what you should do if a leech gets in your eye or what happens if you get into the clutches of the fabled man-eating tree of Madagascar. Tyson can be reached by e-mail: peter_tyson@wgbh.org. PR contact at Harper- Collins is Sharyn Rosenblum, 212-207-7470.
Zero by Charles Seife (NASW), published by Viking-Penguin.
Seife, US correspondent for New Scientist, follows this innocent looking number from its birth as an Eastern philosophical concept to its struggle for acceptance in Europe, its rise and transcendence in the West, and its ever-present threat to modern physics. Here are the legendary thinkers-from Pythagoras to Newton to Heisenberg, from the Kabalists to today's astrophysicists-who have tried to understand it and whose clashes shook the foundations of philosophy, science, mathematics, and religion. Today, zero lies at the heart of one of the biggest scientific controversies of all time, the quest for a theory of everything. Seife can be reached at cgseife@nasw.org. The PR Contact for the book is Alisa Wyatt, phone 212-366-2754; e-mail awyatt@penguinputnam.com.
Illuminating Life: Selected Papers from Cold Spring Harbor (1903-1969) by Jan Witkowski (NASW), published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, 1999.
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory is known for its research, its role in science education, and the science that won three recent Nobel prizes. This book, an intellectual history of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, can be enjoyed by anyone interested in the development of contemporary science, regardless of technical background. It contains facsimiles of 20 papers from Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, published between 1903 and 1969. A short illustrated essay describing the investigations that were done, who did them, and why they were important precedes each paper. The essays make an integrated series that provides an historical sketch of the laboratory and a sampling of biological research during these years. A listing of the contents will be found at www.cshl.org/books/illumlif.htm. Witkowski, director of the Banbury Center at Cold Spring Harbor, can be reached by phone at 516-367-8398, by fax at 516- 367-5106, and at www.cshl.org/banbury or Watson School of Biological Sciences www.cshl.org/gradschool.
Adopting Alyosha-A Single Man Finds a Son in Russia by Robert Klose (NASW), published by University of Mississippi Press.
Klose, an assistant professor of biological sciences at the University College, Maine, describes the story of his adoption of his son, Alyosha, born in Russia. "Given the number of children languishing in orphanages overseas and the number of Americans clamoring to adopt," declares a Publishers Weekly review, "one would think that it would be a relatively quick and straightforward process to bring them together." Such was not the case for Klose, who teaches marine biology. It took him two-and-a-half years to trek through the painful, frustrating, up-and-down steps to single male parenthood. The New York Times wrote, "Being a single male parent means occupying the lowest spot on the totem pole of parental preferability. This partly explains why adoptions by single men are rare, and why Robert Klose's account of the long, grueling road he took to adopt a child is so enthralling." Publishers Weekly concluded "This is a wonderful read, even for those uninvolved in adoption." Reach Klose by phone 207-581-6140 or e-mail klose@maine.edu. Book's publicist is Steven B. Yates, phone 601-432-6205, e-mail: syates@ihl.state.ms.us.
Organ Transplants: Making the Most of Your Gift of Life by Robert Finn (NASW), published by Patient-Centered Guides, A Division of O'Reilly & Associates.
Finn, a freelance from Half Moon Bay, CA, wrote this book for people who find themselves or family members in need of an organ or tissue transplant. He provides information on:
Finn says that potential recipients can increase their chances for getting an organ and adapting successfully by understanding how the transplant system works and what to expect. You can reach him at finn@nasw.org or by phone 650-560-9637. The PR contact is Lisa Olson, phone 800-998-9938 ext.320 or e-mail lisao@oreilly.com.
What Einstein Told His Barber by Robert L. Wolke (NASW), published by Dell Trade Paperback.
Wolke, professor emeritus of chemistry at the University of Pittsburgh, provides amusing explanations of such everyday phenomena as gravity (If you are in a falling elevator, will jumping at the last minute save your life?). He also provides answer to other baffling questions such as:
Wolke can be reached by e-mail woleke@pop.ptt.edu, phone 412-481-1620, or fax 412-481-6302. The phone number for the PR department at Dell is 212-782-9000.
Earth Odyssey: Around the World In Search of Our Environmental Future by Mark Hertsgaard, published by Broadway Books.
Hertsgaard, a regular commentator for National Public Radio, and a freelance, writes that the dawning of the new millennium poses many questions about our future, and surely one of the most important concerns the fate of our environment. Environmentally retrofitting our civilization from top to bottom, he says, would generate huge amounts of jobs and profits even as it reverses our perilous ecological decline. Hertsgaard, with no family or nine-to-five job to hold him back, left the United States in 1991 to travel the world; six years later, he returned from China to begin work on the book. Besides the obvious pleasures of roaming the world, Hertsgaard's travels were aimed at investigating one great question: Will the human species survive the many environmental crises looming at the dawn of the twenty-first century? He said all NASW members would receive a copy of the book. The contact at Broadway is Alana Watkins, phone 212-782-9000.
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