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| Volume 49, Number 2, Summer 2000 |
by Ruth Winter
The Monk In The Garden: The Lost and Found Genius of Gregor Mendel by Robin Marantz Henig (NASW), published by Houghton Mifflin.
A Maryland freelance, Marantz Henig writes about the mischievous, joke-telling monk whose work laid the foundation for today's mapping of the human genome and the development of techniques and medications that will finally make curable many the incurable conditions that have plagued us. She points out that most people know that Mendel, who patiently grew his peas in a monastery garden, shaped our understanding of inheritance. But people might not know that Mendel's work was ignored in his own lifetime. Marantz Henig describes the perplexing silence that greeted Mendel's discovery, and his ultimate canonization as the father of genetics-a tale of intrigue, jealousy, and a healthy dose of bad timing. Thirty-five years after Mendel's death, his work was rescued from obscurity, in the Spring of 1900, when three different investigators nearly simultaneously dusted off Mendel's ground-breaking paper and finally recognized its profound significance. Marantz Henig's book is an alternate of the Book of the Month Club and the Quality Paperback Book Clubs, and foreign rights have been sold in Germany, Italy, and the UK. Its publication involves great timing with the completion of the Human Genome Project. Marantz Henig can be reached by phone 301-270-0148, fax 301-270-8194, or e-mail Robinhenig@nasw.org. The PR for the book is Maya Rutherford Baran, who can be reached by phone 212-420-5841 or e-mail maya_bran@hmco.com.
DISCOVERY: Windows on the Life Sciences by Ricki Lewis, Ph.D. (NASW), published by Blackwell Science.
Lewis is a contributing editor of The Scientist and a medical/biotech editor of Biophotonics International. This is her first non-textbook. It is a collection of essays that explore the roots of various "hot topics" in biology, such as telomeres, archaea, stem cells, cloning, origin-of-life research, homocysteine, gene therapy, GM foods, genome projects, and prions. The style is similar to her articles in The Scientist, including many interviews, both with the stars of science and also with several scientists whose contributions were pivotal but unrecognized. She's discovered some luminaries who have never been mentioned in popular articles before, and their stories are fascinating. The book is useful for providing background to science journalists, for anyone interested in the full stories behind the headlines minus the hype. Lewis can be reached by phone at 518-399-2017, fax 518-399-0713, or e-mail rickilewis@nasw.org
HUMAN GENETICS: CONCEPTS AND APPLICATIONS (4th edition) by Ricki Lewis, Ph.D. (NASW), published by McGraw-Hill.
The top-selling human genetics text for non-science majors in the United States. Many sidebars are written by people with genetic disease, unlike most textbooks that profile only scientists. Lewis says the new edition is intriguing because she wrote on the assurance of those in the know that the human genome project would be completed by the time the book was published. The text provides great background for any science journalist who needs a concise explanation of the basics of human genetics as well as new areas such as genomics and DNA chips. Lewis can be reached by phone at 518-399-2017, fax 518-399-0713, or e-mail rickilewis@nasw.org
Recent Advances and Issues In Environmental Science by Joan Callahan, Ph.D. (NASW), published by Oryx Press.
Callahan, a Hemet, CA, freelance and biologist provides a concise introduction to key topics in environmental science focusing on events of the three years prior to publication (1996-1999). Oryx intends to issue periodic updates of this book and other volumes in its Frontiers of Science series. Originally intended as a library reference for the general public, Callahan's book has emerged as a potential resource for working professionals. In 1999, an anonymous Society for Environmental Journalism reviewer cited its value to journalists specializing in the field. Among the subjects covered are:
Callahan can be reached at e-mail jrc@aol.com. The PR for the book is Martha Wilke. For a review copy contact her by phone at 800-279-6799 or e-mail martha@oryxpress.com.
Science Sources 2000 published by The American Association For The Advancement of Science.
This is an invaluable resource for all NASW members. It is an international directory of college and universities, corporate and industrial research organizations, federal agencies and laboratories, museums of science and technology and scientific, and professional societies. Each listing contains media contact names, phone numbers, fax numbers, e-mail addresses, and Internet addresses. Published by the AAAS, Science Sources can be accessed online at www.eurekalert.org. Updates, corrections, and new listings for the book may also be submitted to this site. For an old-fashioned paperback copy, contact Eugenia McKinney by phone at 202-326-6408 or e-mail emckinne@aaas.org.
The Body Clock Guide to Better Health: How to Use Your Body's Natural Clock to Fight Illness and Achieve Maximum Health by Michael Smolensky, Ph.D., and Lynne Lamberg (NASW), published by Henry Holt & Company.
Lamberg, a freelancer who specializes in mental health and writes frequently on sleep medicine and biological clocks for JAMA, Psychiatric News, and other publications, co-authored this book with Smolensky, who directs the Center for Chronobiology and Chronotherapeutics at the University of Texas Health Science Center, in Houston. The book explores chronomedicine. It urges readers to pay attention to when symptoms appear, when they undergo diagnostic tests, and when they take medicines or receive other treatment, including surgery. NBC's Dateline based a lead feature on the book (transcript available at www.msnbc.com/news/422738.asp#TOP). Time magazine called The Body Clock Guide "provocative," and said "even skeptical readers may be won over by this persuasive book." (www.pathfinder.com/time/daily/0,2960,47686, 00.html). Excerpts from the book can be viewed at www.bodyclocks.com. Reach Lamberg by phone 410-486-0297 or e-mail llamberg@nasw.org. PR contact is Heather Fain, pone 212-886-9270 or e-mail heather.fain@hholt.com.
Animals Among Us: Living With Suburban Wildlife by Frances Hodgkins (NASW), published by Shoe String Press/Linnet Books.
Although intended primarily for the young-adult market, Hodgkins, a Lynn, MA, freelance, says she hopes to get a lot of crossover readership. The book is a consideration of the effects of suburban expansion and development and of how animals have adapted to living with us humans-and how we must now adapt to living with them. A review in the Horn Book called it "eye-opening" and stated "Hodgkins is evenhanded in her treatment of highly political controversies over suburban wildlife control." Booklist described it as "intriguing" and "engaging and informative." Hodgkins can be reached by e-mail fhodgkins@usa.net or phone at 781-598-5573. The publisher can be reached by phone at 203-239-2702.
The Earth Around Us: Maintaining A Liveable Planet, Jill S. Schneiderman (editor), published by Freeman.
An associate professor of geology at Vassar College, Schneiderman has edited a collection of 31 essays by a diverse array of science writers, most of them professors. Most are experts in the earth sciences but the book also includes John McPhee, a staff writer for the New Yorker, and Thomas Downham II, a professor of dermatology at Wayne State University School of Medicine, in Michigan. The collection is organized into several parts:
The PR for the book is Dian Zucker whose phone is 914-437-7404 and fax 914-437-7239.
Deep-Sky Wonders by Water Scott Houston, Stephen James O'Meara (editor), published by Sky Publishing.
Houston, an amateur astronomer, wrote the column "Deep Sky Wonders" for Sky & Telescope from 1946 to 1994. In the column, he explored the dim denizens of the deep sky-asterisms, double and variable stars, open and globular clusters, nebulae, and galaxies. His writing continues to inspire and influence amateur astronomers. In this book, Stephen James O'Meara, contributing editor to Sky & Telescope and an accomplished deep-sky observer, presents a selection of Houston's columns. He introduces each section with his own reminiscences and impressions, and each chapter concludes with a table of the objects discussed. Sky publishing, which is in Cambridge, MA, can be reached at http: www.skypub.com.
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Online Medical Resources by Joan Price, published by Alpha Books.
Price, a physical-fitness specialist and co-author of The Complete Idiot's Guide to Online Health and Fitness, presents in her new book "idiot-proof steps for evaluating the information you find" online and "down-to-earth advice for learning about diseases and medical conditions" online. She gives the "Best Alternative/Complementary Sites" such as The National Center For Complementary and Alternative Medicine (nccam.nih.gov) and Health Web's Alternative/Complementary Medicine (www.medsch.wisc.edu/chslib/hw/altmed). She also gives a "bunko blaster" to the US Department of Health and Human Services (www.wellweb.com/bunko/binko.htm). She has a source for almost anything that may trouble your physical or mental health including, a site for women sex addicts (www.ncsac.org/women_sex_addicts.htm) and Dr. Ruth's Web site (www.drruth.com). If you can't resist searching the last two, you can find in Price's book "The Sexual Addiction Screening Test" at (www.sexhelp.com/sast.cfm). You can reach Price at www.joanprice.com and Alpha Books at www.mcp.com.
Betrayal of Trust: The Collapse of Global Public Health by Laurie Garrett (NASW), published by Hyperion.
Garrett takes readers around the world to reveal how a series of potential and present public health catastrophes mark the death of public health, which taken together form a terrifying portrait of a global disaster in the making. Garrett takes us to India, where she examines the course of the country's pneumonic plague; to Zaire, where the Ebola virus is still largely unchecked; to Russia, where bad policy and a collapsing society have made for setbacks in all areas of health; and back to the United States, where a drastically reduced public health system struggles, often unsuccessfully, to cope with new global threats to the nation's food, water, hospitals, and communities. Garrett also exposes the increasingly chaotic, ungoverned world of biological terrorism, a threat we have yet to fully comprehend. Betrayal of Trust is an account of the other side of globalization, and why it may be too late to avert full-out crisis. PR for the book is Megan Underwood who can be reached at 212-446-5104.
Send material about new books to 44 Holly Drive, Short Hills, NJ 07078, or e-mail ruthwrite@aol.com. Include the name of the publisher's PR and appropriate contact information as well as how you prefer members get in touch with you.