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| Volume 51, Number 1, Winter 2001-2002 |
BOOKS BY AND FOR MEMBERSby Ruth Winter
El Nino: Unlocking the Secrets of the Master Weather-Maker by J. Madeleine Nash (NASW), published by Warner Books. Scientists are now starting to talk about the possibility that there will be a new El Ni-o next year. Madeleine Nash says her book has many levels: "It's an adventure story, it's a scientific detective story, and it's an exploration of the eternally complicated relationship between humans and nature." (Every chapter begins with an epigraph from Moby Dick or from some other text relating to the topic of Leviathans). Nash says that, in the end, the book is about the struggle to understand something monstrous and immense, a struggle she experienced first-hand. "To gather material, I climbed to the top of a shrinking 18,700-foot ice cap in Peru, swam through stressed-out coral reefs in the middle of the equatorial Pacific, and roamed through the rainforests of Borneo in the wake of the worst fires in living memory." She says she knew things had gotten out of hand two years ago when her mother called and asked how the book was instead of how her husband was. "It was clear that my mother was mightily annoyed with my book," Nash reveals. "Fortunately editors at Time--where I was senior science correspondent for 15 years--were tolerant when I needed an extra leave to finish the book." Nash can be reached at 630-665-6305 or fax at 630-665-6918. The Warner Books' publicist, Lauren Lawson who can be reached at Lauren_Lawson@timeinc.com. Sex: A Natural History by Joann Ellison Rodgers (NASW), published by W.H. Freeman/Times Books/Henry Holt & Co. Former NASW president Joann Rodgers, deputy director of public affairs at Johns Hopkins Medical Institution, has chosen a subject that is of immense interest but is probably one of the most difficult to write about-sex. She describes a wide range of evidence from the laboratory to the natural world that demystifies the entire process of how we mate. The book provides insights into attraction, flirtation, arousal, love, courtship, intercourse, and fidelity, by exploring what happens chemically to our bodies at every stage. She gives the answers to such questions as:
Rodgers writes: "We humans make a lot of assumptions about how much 'control' we have over our sexual natures, prerogatives, preferences, and performances. But even our most vaunted and valued ones turn out to be evolution's necessity rather than our invention, and, as the growing amount of observation and experimentation seem to demonstrate, no one sex has the ultimate edge . . .. Think the penis evolved, at least in part, to wow the ladies, increase pleasure for a couple, or make copulation possible? In fact, most birds don't have penises, but sex is prominent among them." This is just one of the many informative and fun observations in Sex: A Natural History. Rodgers can be reached at 410-995-8659 or jrodgers@jhmi.edu. Holt's PR department can be reached at 212-886-9272 or by fax at 212-647-1874. Sleeping Well: The Sourcebook for Sleep and Sleep Disorders by Michael Thorpy, M.D. and Jan Yager, Ph.D. (NASW), published by Checkmark Books/ Facts On File; and Sleep and Sleep Disorders (Second Edition), by Michael Thorpy, M.D. and Jan Yager, Ph.D. (NASW), published by Facts On File Library of Healthy Living. Jan Yager, a new member of NASW but a veteran of the publishing field, is wide awake when it comes to both being a publisher herself (Hannacroix Books) and also selling her own work to mainstream publishers. She is always very generous in counseling other writers. In Sleeping Well, among the topics the authors cover are:
Yager's co-author is director of the Sleep-Wake Disorders Center at Montefiore Medical Center, Bronx, N.Y. and associate professor of neurology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Sleep and Sleep Disorders describes everything from "nocturnal eating (drinking) syndrome" to uvulopalatopharyngoplasty. The book also lists accredited sleep-disorder centers and laboratories as well as provides other sources of information about sleep problems. The publicist for the books is Megan Kennedy, 212-896-4278, mkennedy@factsonfile.com. Yager can be reached at 203-968-8098 or jyager@aol.com. Switching Careers: Career Changers Tell How and Why They Did It-How You Can, Too by Robert K. Otterbourg, published by Kiplinger Books. Robert Otterbourg, who decided in his mid-50s to switch from public relations to writing about what really interested him, is now a columnist for the Raleigh News Observer on career-related topics and the author of three books. Among the career-changers he describes in his newest book is an abstract painter who became a physician, a newspaper editor who became a corporate lawyer, and a librarian who became a rabbi. The examples in the book teach readers how a career change can affect the family, how long it takes to get established in a new field, and how old skills marry with new ones. He writes, "Thanks to a diverse range of trends from downsizing to telecommuting, we are no longer a nation of 'company men/women' dedicated to a single company, and a career for life . . . . As a result, there are career options today that were unheard of a generation ago." The publicist for the book is Jennifer Heggers at 310-544-9780. Lords of The Harvest: Biotech, Big Money and the Future of Food by Daniel Charles, published by Perseus Publishing. Raised on a farm and planted as a technology reporter at National Public Radio and New Scientist, Dan Charles has covered everything from the misadventures of the Mir Space Station to earthquakes in India, and nuclear smuggling in Germany. He says he wrote this biotechnology book because he discovered "amazing tales of invention, cutthroat business dealings, blood feuds between arrogant companies, and public interest groups that were willing to twist the truth as much as any corporate public relations official." Among the benefits of genetically altered food, he lists:
Among the risks, he cites:
The publicist for the book is Lissa Warren (lissa.warren@perseusbooks.com). Dream Machine: J.C.R. Licklider and the Revolution That Made Computing Personal by M. Mitchell Waldrop (NASW), published by Viking. This is the story of the unsung visionary who not only helped develop the concept of personal computing, but who then set in motion the revolution that would change our lives. M. Mitchell Waldrop, author of the critically acclaimed Complexity and formerly a senior writer at Science magazine, brings to life the story of J.C.R. Licklider (or "Lick" as he was generally known) -a gifted MIT psychologist with a proficiency in subjects ranging from electrical engineering to mathematics. It was this broad range of interests, coupled with his sharp intelligence and insatiable curiosity, which initially brought Lick to computers. At the Pentagon in the early 1960s, Lick organized a program of computer research that would set in motion the forces that would one day give rise to the Internet, personal computers, the windows-and-mouse interface, graphical displays, and essentially all the rest of modern computing. Lick's role in articulating the dream of personal computing led to the most spectacularly successful programs of government-sponsored research ever and set the stage for the microcomputer to emerge from the garages of Silicon Valley, yet today he is a forgotten figure in the historical roots of personal computing. Waldrop can be reached at mmwaldrop@msn.com. The publicist for the book is Holly Watson at hwatson@penguinputnam.com. Creatures of the Deep: In Search of The Sea's "Monsters" and The World They Live In by Erich Hoyt published, by Firefly Books Ltd. Whether you think sharks are scary or beautiful, Hoyt has a book for you. Weaving together details from the latest scientific research about sharks, giant squid, dragonfish, and the huge tube worms, clams and tiny microbes of the deep-seavents, he describes how the bottom of the sea is inhabited not by vicious monsters but by diverse species of pale starfish and mud eating sea cucumbers. Hoyt unravels the complex predator-prey relationships from "killer" copepods to battles among giant squid and sperm whales, presenting compelling portraits of animals that are superbly adapted denizen of a dark high-pressure world. And he presents the findings of new life forms, independent of sunlight and photosynthesis that flourish around the hot, sulfurous deep-sea vents in the rift valley of the mid-ocean ride, the world's longest mountain range. Hoyt can be reached at e-hoyt@compuserve.com. Fireflybooks can be reached by phone 800-387-5085 or fax 800-565-6034. # Send material about new books to Ruth Winter, 44 Holly Drive, Short Hills, NJ 07078, or e-mail ruthwrite@aol.com. Include the name of the publicist and appropriate contact information, as well as how you prefer members to get in touch with you. |
